Stephen Cole (writer) facts for kids

Stephen Cole (born 1971), also known as Steve Cole, is an English author who writes books for children and young adults. He also writes science fiction stories. For a few years (1997-1999), he helped manage the merchandise for the TV show Doctor Who at BBC Worldwide. He also worked as a producer for Doctor Who audio dramas by Big Finish Productions.

In 2013, it was announced that Steve Cole would continue the Young Bond series. These books are about James Bond when he was a teenager. The first book he wrote for this series, Shoot to Kill, was published in the UK in November 2014.

Early Life and Writing Journey

Stephen grew up in Bedfordshire, England. He went to the University of East Anglia from 1989 to 1992. There, he studied English literature and film. He graduated with top honors.

After a short time working in local radio, he joined BBC Children's Magazines in 1993. By 1996, he was in charge of magazines for young children. In 1996, he wrote his first children's books. These included Cars on Mars and Alien Olympics.

Working with Doctor Who

Around that time, BBC Books got the rights to publish Doctor Who stories. This happened after the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie came out. New books were planned for the Eighth Doctor Adventures and Past Doctor Adventures series. Stephen, being a fan, applied for a job editing science fiction books. He got the job!

After the first six books in the Eighth Doctor Adventures series were released, Stephen also edited the BBC's Short Trips short story collections. He started writing some of these stories himself. He used different names like "Tara Samms" and "Paul Grice." He also wrote two novels using his friend's name, Michael Collier. He has written other works under these names, including the 2003 Doctor Who novella Frayed. He has also written several short stories and audio plays for Big Finish Productions.

Besides books, he also chose and shortened stories for Doctor Who audiobooks. He also picked TV stories to be released on home video.

Creating His Own Stories

Working on so many books and other projects was a lot of work. In 1999, Stephen changed roles in the Children's department. He started commissioning and writing children's books for TV shows like Walking With Dinosaurs. He still helped with some Doctor Who novels as a freelancer. Later, author-editor Justin Richards took over these books.

In October 1999, Stephen left BBC Worldwide. He became a managing editor for Ladybird Books. He continued to write books based on TV shows and movies. But he missed writing his own fiction. After working as a senior editor at Simon and Schuster Children's Books, he became a freelance writer in 2002. This allowed him to write more of his own books.

Popular Book Series

Stephen Cole's first original fiction was The Wereling, a series of three horror books for young adults. He then wrote another series about a clever teenage criminal named Jonah Wish and his friends. These books were Thieves Like Us, The Aztec Code (also called Thieves Till We Die), and The Bloodline Cipher. He has also written more Doctor Who books, including four based on the new TV series.

His most popular books are the Astrosaurs series for children. These are published under the name Steve Cole. The first two Astrosaurs books came out in 2005. There are 22 Astrosaurs books in total, including a special one for World Book Day in 2007.

After Astrosaurs, he created the Cows In Action series. The first two Cows In Action books were published in 2007. There are twelve books in this series. A spin-off series called Astrosaurs Academy started in 2008 and has 8 books.

Books by Stephen Cole

Astrosaurs Series

• Riddle of the Raptors, published 2005
• The Hatching Horror, published 2005
• The Seas of Doom, published 2005
• The Mind-Swap Menace, published 2005
• The Skies of fear, published 2006
• The Space Ghosts, published 2006
• The Day of the Dino Droids, published 2006
• The Terror Bird Trap, published 2006
• The Teeth of the T-Rex, published 2007
• The Planet of Peril, published 2007
• The Star Pirates, published 2007
• The Claws of Christmas, published 2007
• The Sun Snatchers, published 2008
• The Revenge of The Fang, published 2008
• The Carnivore Curse, published 2009
• The Dreams of Dread published 2009
• The Robot Raiders published 2010
• The Twist of Time published 2010
• The Sabre Tooth Secret published 2011
• The Forest of Evil published 2011
• Megabookasaurus! published 2009
• Earth Attack! published 2011
• The T.rex Invasion published 2012
• The Castle of Frankensaur published 2012
• Astrosaurs vs Cows In Action: The Dinosaur Moo-tants, published 2013 (features the Cows In Action)

Cows in Action Series

• The Ter-moo-nators, published 2007
• The Moo-my's Curse, published 2007
• The Roman Moo-stery, published 2007
• The Wild West Moo-nster, published 2008
• World War Moo, published 2008
• Battle for Christ-moos, published 2008
• The Pirate Mootiny, published 2009
• The Moo-gic of Merlin, published 2009
• The Victorian Moo-ders, published 2010
• The Moo-Limpics, published 2010
• First Cows on the Mooon, published 2011
• The Viking Emoo-gency, published 2012
• Astrosaurs vs Cows In Action: The Dinosaur Moo-tants, published 2013 (features the Astrosaurs)

Astrosaurs Academy Series

• Destination: Danger! – 2008
• Contest Carnage – 2008
• Terror Underground – 2008
• Jungle Horror – 2009
• Deadly Drama- 2009
• Christmas Crisis - 2009
• Volcano Invaders! - 2010
• Space Kidnap - 2011

The Slime Squad Series

• The Slime Squad vs The Toxic Teeth
• The Slime Squad vs The Fearsome Fists
• The Slime Squad vs The Cyber ...
• The Slime Squad vs The Supernatural Squid
• The Slime Squad vs The Killer Socks
• The Slime Squad vs The Last Chance Chicken
• The Slime Squad vs The Alligator Army
• The Slime Squad vs The Conquering Conks

The Hunting, or Z Trilogy

• Z. Rex
• Z. Raptor
• Z. Apocalypse

Tripwire Series

• Tripwire
• Tripwire DEATHWING

Young Adult Fiction

The Wereling Trilogy

• The Wereling: Wounded 2003
• The Wereling II: Prey 2004
• The Wereling III: Resurrection 2004

Thieves Like Us Trilogy

• Thieves Like Us 2006
• The Aztec Code 2007 (also published as Thieves Till We Die)
• The Bloodline Cipher 2008

Young James Bond Series

• Shoot to Kill, 2014
• Heads You Die, 2016
• Strike Lightning, 2016
• Red Nemesis, 2017

Doctor Who Novels

• Parallel 59 (with Natalie Dallaire), 2000
• The Ancestor Cell (with Peter Anghelides), 2000
• Vanishing Point, 2001
• The Shadow in the Glass (with Justin Richards), 2001
• Ten Little Aliens, 2002
• Timeless, 2003
• Frayed, 2003
• The Monsters Inside, 2005
• To the Slaughter, 2005
• The Feast of the Drowned, 2006
• The Art of Destruction, 2006
• Sting of the Zygons, 2007
• Combat Magicks, 2018
• Time Lord Victorious: The Knight, The Fool and the Dead, 2020

Other Children's Books (TV Tie-ins)

• The Adventures of Mr. Bean: Bear Essentials 2002
• The Adventures of Mr. Bean: No Pets! 2002
• Sea Captain Ned 2004
• The Thirsty Penguin 2004
• Josie's Big Jump 2004

Works Published by Big Finish

Bernice Summerfield Novels

• The Gods of the Underworld (Bernice Summerfield)

Doctor Who Audio Plays

• The Land of the Dead (Fifth Doctor) (1999)
• The Apocalypse Element (Sixth Doctor) (2001)
• The Wormery (Sixth Doctor, Iris Wildthyme with Paul Magrs) (2004)
• Fitz's Story (Eighth Doctor) part of The Company of Friends (2008)
• The Whispering Forest (Fifth Doctor) (2010)
• Kiss of Death (Fifth Doctor) (2011)
• Masquerade (Fifth Doctor) (2014)

Other Audio Plays

• The Plague Herds of Excelis (Bernice Summerfield, Iris Wildthyme)
• The Dance of the Dead (Bernice Summerfield)
• The Relics of Jegg-Sau (Bernice Summerfield)
• Gallifrey: Square One (Gallifrey)
• Gallifrey: Spirit (Gallifrey)
• Gallifrey: Fractures (Gallifrey)
• The Devil in Ms Wildthyme (Iris Wildthyme)
• Many Happy Returns (Bernice Summerfield; with Xanna Eve Chown, Paul Cornell, Stephen Fewell, Simon Guerrier, Scott Handcock, Rebecca Levene, Jacqueline Rayner, Justin Richards, Miles Richardson, Eddie Robson and Dave Stone)