Jonathan Blum (born May 1972) is an American writer most known for his work for various ''Doctor Who'' spin-offs, usually with his wife Kate Orman although he has also been published on his own.

Personal life

Blum grew up in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and attended the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

. He is a member of

Alpha Phi Omega Alpha Phi Omega (), commonly known as APO, but also A-Phi-O and A-Phi-Q, is a national Mixed-sex education, coeducational Service fraternities and sororities, service Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It is the largest College fraterniti ...

co-ed service fraternity.

Work

Blum started out as a fan of the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'', and in particular the spin-off range of novels the '' New Adventures'', and was mostly known for his discussions of the program and its spin-offs on RADW, and also for writing and starring in several fan films such as ''Time Rift'', in which he impersonated

Sylvester McCoy Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian, he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long ...

as the

Seventh Doctor The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-o ...

. Blum has joked that he slept his way into the Doctor Who range—his first credited professional work was the

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidia ...

' Eighth Doctor Adventure ''

Vampire Science ''Vampire Science'' is the second novel in the BBC Books series, the Eighth Doctor Adventures, based upon the BBC's long-running science fiction television series, ''Doctor Who''. It was written by Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman. Synopsis An a ...

'' (BBC Books, 1997) written with his soon-to-be wife Kate Orman, who had already made her name with several popular ''New Adventures''. (He had contributed scenes to a couple of those books, '' Return of the Living Dad'' and '' The Room with No Doors'', and been credited internally but not on the cover.) He has since written two further Eighth Doctor Adventures with Orman, '' Seeing I'' (BBC Books, 1998) and '' Unnatural History'' (BBC Books, 1999). Orman's 2001 solo novel '' The Year of Intelligent Tigers'' was credited on the spine to Orman, but internally as "story by Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman"; Blum provided the full outline and several interlude segments, as well as scenes for Orman's ''Blue Box'' (BBC Books, 2003). Blum's work as a solo writer began with the short story ''Model Train Set'' from the first BBC Short Trips collect in 1998. He has also written the

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

'' Fallen Gods'', published by Telos Publishing Ltd. in 2003, which was highly popular and won the

Aurealis Award The Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award. History The Aurealis Award was established in 1995 by ...

for Best Australian Science Fiction Novel in 2003: the novella is credited to both Blum and Orman, but both authors have acknowledged that Blum did the majority of the writing and Orman's input was limited. Blum has also written for Big Finish's range of audio adventures, with '' The Fearmonger'' being released in 2000. Blum has also written several short stories for Big Finish's short story collections, '' Short Trips'', and stories and novellas for their Bernice Summerfield and Iris Wildthyme series. He has been nominated twice for the

(winning once) and once for the Ditmar Award. His other novel work includes ''Mediasphere'' (2015), a ''

Blake's 7 ''Blake's 7'' is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Four series of thirteen 50-minute episodes were broadcast on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also wrote the first series, prod ...

'' novel co-written with Orman, and ''The Prisoners Dilemma'' (2005), a novel based on

Patrick McGoohan Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor of film, television, and theatre. Born in New York City to Irish parents, he was raised in Ireland and England. He began his career in England during t ...

's series ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysteri ...

'', co-written with his friend Rupert Booth and featuring an introduction by

J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski, known as J. Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is known as the creator of the science fiction televi ...

. Blum has also written and directed a number of short films, including ''Audition For Murder'', a tribute to the Australian adventure-spoof series Danger 5 which was approved by the show's producers. In 2003 and 2005, he edited two no-budget, ''Doctor Who'' "inspired" indie shorts for Australian fan Andrew Merkelbach, ''The Curse of the Del Garria'' and ''Red''. The films each received a single (separate) cinema screening at the same

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

cinema local to their director, but neither is available to purchase or view. Blum also wrote several drafts of the ''Doctor Who'' spinoff BBV production '' Zygon'' (2007) but asked for his name to be removed from the credits. He also assistant-directed and edited Kyla Ward's short horror-comedy ''Bad Reception'', as shown at the A Night of Horror International Film Festival, and directed various other video clips constructed around Ward's poetry.

External links

Half-a-Dozen Lemmings Productions website
(Jon's U.S.-based fan-made video production team) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Jonathan 1972 births American science fiction writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers Living people University of Maryland, College Park alumni 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male novelists American male dramatists and playwrights Writers of Doctor Who novels 21st-century American male writers