The Sleep of Reason

For the work by Goya, see The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. For the C. P. Snow novel, see Strangers and Brothers.

Doctor Who book
The Sleep of Reason
Series	Eighth Doctor Adventures
Release number	70
Featuring	Eighth Doctor Fitz, Trix
Writer	Martin Day
Publisher	BBC Books
ISBN	ISBN 0-563-48620-1
Number of pages	288
Release date	August 2004
Preceded by	The Tomorrow Windows
Followed by	The Deadstone Memorial

The Sleep of Reason is a BBC Books original novel written by Martin Day and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Trix.

As with all Doctor Who spin-off media, its relationship to the televised serials is open to interpretation.

Plot

The Doctor poses as a psychiatrist to investigate strange goings on at a mental health hosptial.

Continuity

• The Eighth Doctor ages about 100 years during this novel, because he travels back in time using a Sholem-Luz portal to shape events at the turn of the century, and then has to sleep in a casket in the cathedral to return to the present.

• The Doctor is always referred to as 'Smith' in this story, except by Fitz and Trix. This is a reference to the classic series, when The Doctor would sometimes call himself John Smith (a very common British name).

Notes

• Day said on the Jade Pagoda discussion group [1] that the first chapter of The Sleep of Reason had originally been written for a non-Doctor Who novel that was never completed. Day then adapted it for the Doctor Who format.

Outside References

• The title is a take from the 1799 Francisco Goya aquatint etching "El sueno de la razon produce monstruos" ("The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters"), part of the artist's Los Caprichos set.

External links

• The Sleep of Reason at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Cloister Library - The Sleep of Reason
• The Sleep of Reason at The TARDIS Library
• The Sleep of Reason publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Reviews

• The Sleep of Reason reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• The Sleep of Reason reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide