Daniel O'Mahony (born 24 July 1973) is a half-British half-Irish author, born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

. He is the oldest of five children, his siblings including Eoin O'Mahony of the band Hamfatter, and Madeleine O'Mahony, who has designed and made hats for

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, Princess of Wales, (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, making Catherine the likely next ...

Biography

O'Mahony's first professionally published work were original ''Doctor Who'' novels in the 1990s. A fan of the series, when he was still at school he had pitched ideas to the BBC for episodes and also wrote to

Nigel Robinson Nigel Robinson is an English author, known for such works as the ''First Contact'' series. Nigel was born in Preston, Lancashire and attended St Thomas More school. Robinson's first published book was ''The Tolkien Quiz Book'' in 1981, co-writte ...

— the then editor of

Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well ...

novelizations A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative work, derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, Play (theatre), stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particula ...

— asking to write the

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of some of the few outstanding television stories yet to be adapted. Following the announcement of Virgin's intention to start publishing the

New Adventures New Adventures is a British dance-theatre company. Founded by choreographer Matthew Bourne in 2001, the company developed from an earlier company Adventures in Motion Pictures, now dissolved. History Adventures in Motion Pictures (AMP) was es ...

, O'Mahony submitted a number of proposals for novels, the third of which ('' Falls the Shadow'') was accepted and published in November 1994. This was the only book that O'Mahony wrote for the New Adventures. However, in July 1994 Virgin began publishing the Missing Adventures, and O'Mahony pitched a novel for this series and was accepted. The novel, '' The Man in the Velvet Mask'' was published in February 1996. O'Mahony did not write any novels for BBC Books'

Past Doctor Adventures The ''Past Doctor Adventures'' (sometimes known by the abbreviation ''PDA'' or ''PDAs'') were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and published under the BBC Books imprin ...

and

Eighth Doctor Adventures The ''Eighth Doctor Adventures'' (sometimes abbreviated as EDA or referred to as the EDAs) are a series of Doctor Who spin-offs, spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and published unde ...

ranges. In fact since 1996 he has written only two traditional ''Doctor Who'' adventure stories, most prominently the Big Finish audio story Return to the Web Planet (2007). However, he also wrote the short story "Nothing at the End of the Lane" (in ''Short Trips and Side Steps'' in March 2000) and the 2003 novella ''

The Cabinet of Light ''The Cabinet of Light'' was the ninth novella published by Telos Publishing Ltd. as part of its Doctor Who novellas series. It was written by Daniel O'Mahony and was published as a standard edition hardback and a deluxe edition with a frontisp ...

'' for

Telos Telos (; ) is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the final cause of a natural organ or entity, or of a work of human art. Intentional actualization of potential or inherent purpose,"Telos.''Philosophy Terms'' Retrieved 3 May 2020. ...

as part of their range of

Doctor Who novellas Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

. These are

fabulation In literary criticism, the term fabulation was popularized by Robert Scholes, in his work ''The Fabulators'', to describe the large and growing class of mostly 20th century novels that are in a style similar to magical realism, and do not fit into ...

s based around ''Doctor Who'' elements rather than ''Doctor Who'' stories proper, and feature the Doctor minimally if at all.

introduced the characters of

Honoré Lechasseur Honoré Lechasseur is one of two main characters in the '' Doctor Who'' spin-off ''Time Hunter'' series published by Telos Publishing Ltd. He is a time sensitive, which means that he possess the ability to see into people's pasts and futures whe ...

and

Emily Blandish Emily may refer to: * Emily (given name), including a list of people with the name Music * "Emily" (1964 song), title song by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer to the film ''The Americanization of Emily'' * "Emily" (Dave Koz song), a 1990 song ...

, who were later to star in Telos'

Time Hunter Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to co ...

range of novellas. O'Mahony had very little creative involvement with this series. An audiobook of ''The Cabinet of Light'' was later released as part of the ''Time Hunter'' series and with minor textual changes to distinguish it from ''Doctor Who''. In 2002, O'Mahony was one of the writers who contributed to

Mad Norwegian Press Mad Norwegian Press is an American publisher of science-fiction guides and novels. The company has worked with authors such as Harlan Ellison, Peter David, Diana Gabaldon, Tanya Huff, Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, Mary Robinette Kowal, Seanan McGu ...

's fictional encyclopaedia ''The Book of the War'', the first in their

Faction Paradox ''Faction Paradox'' is a series of novels, audio stories, short story anthologies, and comics set in and around a "War in Heaven", a history-spanning conflict between godlike "Great Houses" and their mysterious enemy. The series is named after a ...

series headed by

Lawrence Miles Lawrence Miles (born 15 March 1972 in Middlesex) is a science fiction author known for his work on original ''Doctor Who'' novels (for both the Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books series) and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox. He is also ...

. He followed this up in 2004 with the sixth installment in the popular

Kaldor City ''Kaldor City'' is a series of audio plays using elements from the British TV series '' Doctor Who'' and ''Blake's 7''. Many of the elements borrowed from these series for use in ''Kaldor City'' were originated by Chris Boucher, who wrote for '' ...

series, ''Storm Mine'' which to date is the final installment of that series. He has also written the audio dramas '' Timeless Passages'', '' The Tub Full of Cats'' and '' Absence'' for Big Finish Productions's

Bernice Summerfield Bernice Surprise Summerfield (later Professor Bernice Summerfield or just Benny) is a fictional character created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishing's range of original full-length ''Doctor Who ...

series. His first original novel ''Force Majeure'' was published by Telos in August 2007. This was followed by ''

Newtons Sleep ''Newtons Sleep'' is an original novel by Daniel O'Mahony set in the Faction Paradox universe. It is the only Faction Paradox novel to be published by Random Static. Although taking place in a shared universe, it is a stand-alone work that does ...

'', published in the loosely connected ''Faction Paradox'' series from new publishers Random Static, published in January 2008. He has also written one comic strip, ''Sisters of the Head'', illustrated by Terry Wiley and published in The Girly Comic. In 2010 he contributed stories to several of Piper Books' Mature Reading Instruction series of teenage and adult literacy titles. He has stated his literary influences include authors such as

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

, John Crowley,

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, w ...

(on his early work, though he has since said he no longer regards Morrison as an important influence),

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...

and

Gene Wolfe Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and nove ...

Bibliography

Novels/Novellas * '' Falls the Shadow'' (Virgin, 1994) * '' The Man in the Velvet Mask'' (Virgin, 1996) * ''

The Book of the War ''The Book of the War'' is a hypertext multi-author novel presented in the form of an encyclopedia of the first 50 years of the War in the Faction Paradox universe based on the '' Doctor Who'' universe. The book was edited by Lawrence Miles, a ...

'' Contributor (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002) * ''

'' (Telos Publishing, 2003) * ''Force Majeure'' (Telos Publishing, 2007) * ''

'' (Random Static, 2008) Audio Drama * ''Kaldor City: Storm Mine'' (

Magic Bullet Productions Magic Bullet Productions is an independent audio-production company formed in 2000 by Alan Stevens, focusing on ''Doctor Who'' and ''Blake's 7'' spinoff audios. Originally set up to produce the Kaldor City audios, in 2004 they acquired the right ...

, 2004) * '' Bernice Summerfield: Timeless Passages'' (Big Finish Productions, 2006) * '' Bernice Summerfield: The Tub Full of Cats'' (Big Finish Productions, 2007) * ''Doctor Who: Return to the Web Planet'' (Big Finish Productions, 2007) * '' Bernice Summerfield: Absence'' (Big Finish Productions, 2009) Piper Books * ''The Pirate Queen'' (2011) * ''Starship'' (2011) * ''Robot City'' (2011)

External links

BBC interview with O'MahonyTelos Publishing website, including preview of ''Force Majeure''Newtons Sleep InformationFirst page of ''Sisters of the Head''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omahony, Daniel 1973 births Living people English science fiction writers English short story writers English people of Irish descent Writers of Doctor Who novels 20th-century English novelists 21st-century British novelists