Cole, Stephen
Entry updated 24 February 2025. Tagged: Author.

(1971- ) UK editor and author, who has also written as by Michael Collier and as by Tara Samms, and who as Commissioning Editor, Sci-Fi Titles for BBC Worldwide was responsible for the Doctor Who list in the late 1990s. His own contributions to that list began in 1998 with the two Eighth Doctor Ties Doctor Who: Longest Day (1998) and Doctor Who: The Taint (1999) both as by Michael Collier (since the BBC at that time required his fiction contributions to be pseudonymous) and with such anthologies as Doctor Who: Side Trips (anth 1998). He later wrote several further fiction titles, sometimes in collaboration, beginning with Doctor Who: Parallel 59 (2000) with Natalie Dallaire. He is thought to be safe hands with this material, though the Doctor Who tie-ins during this period did not possess the revisionist creative heat they had had in the early 1990s. His later The Wereling sequence is Young Adult horror; the Thieves sequence beginning with Thieves Like Us (2006) is closer to full sf, placing a boy with perhaps supernatural powers of cognition in an essentially mundane setting.
His lengthy Astrosaurs sequence for younger children, featuring crime-fighting herbivore Dinosaurs in Spaceships, begins with Riddle of the Raptors (2005) as Steve Cole, which was followed by three more titles in the same year; besides recurring conflict with carnivorous saurians the series deployed many sf tropes including Identity Exchange, Mad Scientists, Robots, space pirates, and Time in Reverse effects, and was a considerable commercial success. The Adventure Duck trio, also Children's SF and opening with Adventure Duck vs Power Pug (2019) as Steve Cole, pits the titular bird Superhero against various Villains or Supervillains. [JC/DRL]
Stephen Cole
born Bedfordshire: 11 September 1971
works
series
Doctor Who
- Doctor Who: Longest Day (London: BBC Books, 1998) as by Michael Collier [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor: pb/Colin Howard]
- Doctor Who: The Taint (London: BBC Books, 1999) as by Michael Collier [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor: pb/blacksheep]
- Doctor Who: Parallel 59 (London: BBC Books, 2000) with Natalie Dallaire [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: New Adventures: pb/blacksheep]
- Doctor Who: The Ancestor Cell (London: BBC Books, 2000) with Peter Anghelides [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: New Adventures: pb/blacksheep]
- Doctor Who: The Shadow in the Glass (London: BBC Books, 2000) with Justin Richards [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: Past Doctors: pb/blacksheep]
- Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Gods of the Underworld (London: Big Finish Productions, 2001) [tie: other titles in this series are audiobooks and are not listed here: Doctor Who: Bernice Summerfield: pb/Carolyn Edwards]
- Doctor Who: Vanishing Point (London: BBC Books, 2001) [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: New Adventures: pb/blacksheep]
- Doctor Who: Ten Little Aliens (London: BBC Books, 2002) [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: Past Doctors: pb/blacksheep & Mike Tucker]
- Doctor Who Novellas: Frayed (Tolworth, Surrey: Telos, 2003) as by Tara Samms [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who Novellas: hb/nonpictorial]
- Doctor Who: Timeless (London: BBC Books, 2003) [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: New Adventures: pb/blacksheep]
- Doctor Who: To the Slaughter (London: BBC Books, 2005) [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: pb/]
- Doctor Who: Sting of the Zygons (London: BBC Books, 2005) [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: hb/]
- Doctor Who: The Monsters Inside (London: BBC Books, 2005) [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: hb/Henry Steadman]
- Doctor Who: The Feast of the Drowned (London: BBC Books, 2006) [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: hb/Henry Steadman]
- Doctor Who: The Art of Destruction (London: BBC Books, 2006) [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: hb/]
- Combat Magicks (London: BBC Books, 2018) [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: hb/]
- The Knight, The Fool and The Dead (London: BBC Books, 2020) [tie to Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious: hb/]
- I, TARDIS: Memoirs Of An Impossible Blue Box (London, BBC Books, 2024) as Steve Cole [tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: hb/]
The Wereling
- The Wereling: Wounded (London: Bloomsbury, 2003) [The Wereling: pb/]
- The Wereling: Prey (London: Bloomsbury, 2004) [The Wereling: pb/Ken de Silva]
- The Wereling: Resurrection (London: Bloomsbury, 2004) [The Wereling: pb/Ken de Silva]
Astrosaurs
- Riddle of the Raptors (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2005) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/Charlie Fowkes]
- The Hatching Horror (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2005) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/Charlie Fowkes]
- The Seas of Doom (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2005) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/Charlie Fowkes]
- The Mind-Swap Menace (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2005) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/Charlie Fowkes]
- Astrosaurs: 4 Book Set (New York: Simon and Schuster/Aladdin, 2012) as Steve Cole [omni of the above four: ebook: na/]
- The Skies of Fear (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2006) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/Steve Richards]
- The Space Ghosts (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2006) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/Steve Richards]
- Day of the Dino-droids (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2006) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/Steve Richards]
- The Terror-bird Trap (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2007) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- Teeth of the T-Rex (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2009) as Steve Cole [chap: Astrosaurs: pb/]
- Megabookasaurus! (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2007) as Steve Cole [omni of the above with The Hatching Horror and The Mind-Swap Menace: Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Planet of Peril (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2007) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Star Pirates (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2007) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Claws of Christmas (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2007) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Sun-Snatchers (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2008) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/Dynamo Design]
- Revenge of the Fang (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2008) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Carnivore Curse (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2009) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Dreams of Dread (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2009) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Robot Raiders (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2010) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Twist of Time (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2010) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Sabre-Tooth Secret (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2011) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Forest of Evil (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2011) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- Earth Attack! (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2011) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The T. Rex Invasion (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2012) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- The Castle of Frankensaur (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2012) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
- Astrosaurs vs Cows in Action: The Dinosaur Moo-tants (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2013) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs: pb/]
Astrosaurs Academy
- Contest Carnage! (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2008) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs Academy: pb/]
- Destination Danger! (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2008) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs Academy: pb/]
- Terror Underground! (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2008) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs Academy: pb/]
- Jungle Horror! (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2009) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs Academy: pb/]
- Deadly Drama! (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2009) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs Academy: pb/]
- Christmas Crisis! (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2009) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs Academy: pb/]
- Volcano Invaders! (London: Random House/Red Fox, 2010) as Steve Cole [Astrosaurs Academy: pb/]
Thieves
- Thieves Like Us (London: Bloomsbury, 2006) [Thieves: pb/Ian Butterworth]
- The Aztec Code (London: Bloomsbury, 2007) [Thieves: pb/]
- Thieves Till We Die (New York: Bloomsbury, 2007) [vt of the above: Thieves: pb/Ian Keltie]
- The Bloodline Cipher (London: Bloomsbury, 2008) [Thieves: pb/]
Adventure Duck
- Adventure Duck vs Power Pug (London: Orchard Books, 2019) as Steve Cole [Adventure Duck: pb/]
- Adventure Duck vs the Armadillo Army (London: Orchard Books, 2019) as Steve Cole [Adventure Duck: pb/]
- Adventure Duck vs the Wicked Walrus (London: Orchard Books, 2020) as Steve Cole [Adventure Duck: pb/Aleksei Bitskoff]
works as editor
Doctor Who
- Doctor Who: Short Trips (London: BBC Books, 1998) as Steve Cole [anth: tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: pb/blacksheep]
- Doctor Who: More Short Trips (London: BBC Books, 1999) as Steve Cole [anth: tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: pb/blacksheep]
- Doctor Who: Short Trips and Side Steps (London: BBC Books, 2000) with Jacqueline Rayner [anth: tie to Doctor Who: Doctor Who: pb/blacksheep]
links
previous versions of this entry