British writer
Craig Hinton
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![Craig Hinton, Coventry 1989](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Craig_P_Hinton.jpg/220px-Craig_P_Hinton.jpg) Craig Hinton, Coventry 1989
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Born
| (
1964-05-07
)
7 May 1964
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Died
| 3 December 2006
(2006-12-03)
(aged 42)
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Nationality
| British
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Genre
| science fiction
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Notable works
| Doctor Who
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Craig Peter Hinton
(7 May 1964 – 3 December 2006) was a British writer best known for his work on various
spin-offs
from the
BBC Television
series
Doctor Who
.
He also wrote articles for various
science fiction
magazines, and was the Coordinator of the
Doctor Who Appreciation Society
. He most recently lived in
London
, where he taught mathematics. Hinton was found dead in his home on 3 December 2006. The cause of death was given as heart attack.
[1]
Work
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]
Hinton first became known for his articles about various science fiction television programmes, including
Doctor Who
and
Star Trek
. These brought him to the attention of the editor of
Marvel UK
's
Doctor Who Magazine
, who offered him the role of reviewing merchandise for the magazine's
Shelf Life
section. It was whilst writing for the magazine that Hinton had his first novel published,
The Crystal Bucephalus
, as part of
Virgin Publishing
's
Missing Adventures
range. The book ? which Hinton often referred to as "The Crystal Bucket" ? was originally submitted for Virgin's
New Adventures
, and 50,000 words of this version were written before the change was made.
This novel was followed by a further
Missing Adventure
,
Millennial Rites
in 1995, and then by Hinton's only
New Adventure
in 1996,
GodEngine
, which features the
Ice Warriors
as well as oblique appearances by the
Daleks
.
Following Virgin's loss of their licence to produce
Doctor Who
merchandise, Hinton began submitting proposals to
BBC Books
and in 2001 they published his novel
The Quantum Archangel
as part of their
Past Doctor Adventures
range. This was followed in 2004 by the novel
Synthespians™
, which again had started life as a proposal for the current incumbent
Doctor
before being altered to feature a previous Doctor.
Synthespians™
also came into difficulties when an image of the television show
Dynasty
was used on the cover: the cover's creators had arranged for permission to use the copyrighted image, but had neglected to arrange permission to alter it, and so at the last minute a replacement cover had to be produced. It is this that appears on the cover of the novel.
Hinton's
Doctor Who
novels often contain references to or explanations of elements of past continuity. He was the originator of the term "
fanwank
", which he applied to his own work.
[2]
[3]
Hinton also continued to work with Virgin, writing
pseudonymously
under the name Paul C. Alexander for their Idol range. He authored three books in the range:
Chains of Deceit
,
The Final Restraint
and
Code of Submission
. These titles were a major departure from his science fiction, and explored aspects of his sexuality that were only suggested in his other works.
Hinton wrote for
Big Finish Productions
'
audio adventures
, with the play
Excelis Decays
being produced in 2002 for their
Doctor Who
range and
The Lords of Forever
in 2005 for their
Tomorrow People
range. Hinton also wrote short stories for a variety of their short fiction collections.
Before his death, Hinton had proposed a
Doctor Who
novel to BBC Books dealing with the final adventure of the
Sixth Doctor
. His proposal was rejected,
[4]
but Hinton continued to work on the manuscript.
[1]
After his death, the novel,
Time's Champion
, was completed by Chris McKeon, and edited and published by
David J. Howe
using the facilities of
Telos Publishing Ltd.
, as a benefit for the
British Heart Foundation
.
[2]
In addition to this an anthology,
Shelf Life
(named after his review column), was edited and published by Jay Eales,
David A. McIntee
and Adrian Middleton, also for the benefit of the
British Heart Foundation
. A limited edition second printing of
Time's Champion
was briefly made available in November 2020.
Outside of the science fiction world Hinton was a noted IT journalist in the UK, editing magazines in the mid-1990s for VNU Business Publications in London and moving on to ITNetwork.com shortly afterwards.
References
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External links
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