Langley - Doctor Who Psychology: A Madman with a Box

Tim Cogburn and Harlan Ellison introduced me to Doctor Who, whether they know it or not. When we were kids, Tim told me about this British science fiction program that science fiction author Ellison had praised as the greatest science fiction series of all time1 when relatively few Americans knew it existed. Intrigued, I sought out Doctor Who novelizations before I ever saw the show. Who was your first Doctor? For some of this books writers it was a classic Doctor such as Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor) or Colin Baker (Sixth), while for others it was a twenty-first century Doctor such as Christopher Eccleston (Ninth) or David Tennant (Tenth). Mine was my mental version based on novels that did not indicate which Doctor they featured.

All of us who wrote this book thank the folks at Sterling for letting us explore our relative dimensions in mind on page. My Sterling editors Connie Santisteban and Kate Zimmermann are bright, conscientious, fun people. Each is such a joy to work with. I thank them for all their hard work, wisdom, support, insight, cheesecake, and hot tea. Great people back them up and get these books to print: Ardi Alspach, Toula Ballas, Michael Cea, Marilyn Kretzer, Sari Lampert, Lauren Tambini, and too many more to name them all every time. I want to add a special thank you to publicist Blanca Oliviery.

This ambitious book series would be impossible without our writers. Different conventions created opportunities for many of us to meet and share ideas: the Comics Arts Conference (Peter Coogan, Randy Duncan, Kate McClancy), San Diego Comic-Con International (Eddie Ibrahim, Laura Jones, Sue Lord, Karen Mayugba, Adam Neese, Gary Sassaman), New York Comic Con (Lance Fensterman), many Wizard World cons (Christopher Jansen, Peter Katz, Donna Chin, Shelby Engquist, Danny Fingeroth, Tony Kim, Mo Lighning, Madeleine McManus, Jerry Milani, Alex Rae, Katie Ruark, Brittany Walloch), and more. The best part of any convention is making new friends and visiting with friends I dont normally see elsewhere, including many of our writers and my editorial assistants on this volume (Jenna Busch, Mara Whiteside Wood). I couldnt cosplay as John Hurts War Doctor without the right coat, which I got from chapter co-author Matt Munson (who wore a TARDIS jersey when I met him at Adam S.s Comic-Con party). Because I also discovered some of our writers through their blogs, mostly at PsychologyToday.com, I thank my Psychology Today editor, Kaja Perina.

I am truly fortunate to teach at Henderson State University where administrators like President Glen Jones, Provost Steve Adkison, and Dean John Hardee encourage creative ways of teaching. Our faculty writers group (Angela Boswell, Matthew Bowman, Vernon Miles, David Sesser, Suzanne Tartamella, Michael Taylor) reviewed portions of the manuscript. Librarian Lea Ann Alexander and the Huie Library staff keep our shelves full of unusual resources. David Bateman, Lecia Franklin, Carolyn Hatley, and Ermatine Johnston help me and my students go all the places we need to go. Millie Bowden, Renee Davis, Sandra D. Johnson, Salina Smith, Connie Testa, Flora Weeks, and other fine staff members help us all make sure things can get done. My fellow psychology faculty members show great support and encouragement: Rafael Bejarano, Emilie Beltzer, Rebecca Langley, Paul Williamson, and our chair, Aneeq Ahmadmost of all Rebecca as my best friend and so much more in this life.

Through specific classes and clubs, our students helped me merge the academic and nerdy sides of my life into becoming the same thing. Without leaders like Robert ONale, Nicholas Langley, Tiffany Pitcock, Dax Guilliams, and Randy Perry, we would have no Comic Arts Club and I would not have attended my first San Diego Comic-Con. Without founders Ashley Bles, Dillon Hall, Coley Henson, and Bobby Rutledge, we would not have one of our largest and liveliest campus organizations, the Legion of Nerds, which leaders Olivia Bean, Steven Jacobs, and John McManus keep going strong. And while I cannot begin to name the many leaders of our student psychology organizations (the Psychology Club and Psi Chi), I applaud them all.

Phil Collingwood, Kristen McHugh, Chris Murrin, and many others weighed in on social media to help point me in the right direction when Ive needed to confirm quotes. (Just because a lot of websites attribute a quote to a specific person doesnt prove the person really said it. Cite sources, people!) While we always check original sources as best we can, online databases like TARDIS Data Core (tardis.wikia.com) sometimes help us find the right episode, movie, audio play, comic book, or novel in the first place. The folks at OuterPlaces.com (Kieran Dickson, Louis Monoyudis, Janey Tracey) join us in our excursions, and everybody at NerdSpan.com (Dan Yun, Ian Carter, Ashley Darling, Keith Hendricks, Iain McNally, Alex Langley, Lou Reyna, Garrett Steele, and more) deserves a salute.

My literary agent Evan Gregory from the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency handles more details than readers probably want to know. Sons Nicholas and Alex each played roles in paving the path that led to this series of books. Family-not-by-blood Renee Couey, Marko Head, and Katrina Hill helped pave it, too. We thank Daniel Thompson, FirstGlances Bill Ostroff, and others for our author photos. Vic Frazao, Jeffrey Henderson, Chris Hesselbein, Jim and Kate Lloyd, Sharon Manning, Dustin McGinnis, Ed ONeil, Nick Robinson, Bethany San Juan, Fermina San Juan, Niki Wortman, and more Dax serve as our writers muses, mentors, devils advocates, founts of knowledge, and ground support. Eric Bailey, Austin and Hunter Biegert, Christine Boylan, Lawrence Brenner, Peter Capaldi, Carrie Goldman, Grant Imahara, Maurice Lamarche, Matt Langston, Paul McGann, Naoko Mori, Adam Savage, and Ross Taylor deserve mention for reasons diverse and sometimes paradoxical.