Parkin first became known in
Doctor Who fan circles, writing both criticism and
fan fiction. His most notable work was for Seventh Door Fanzines, including the novella
Snare in the
Odyssey series (which he edited for a period) and 1994's
The Doctor Who Chronology, a detailed timeline of events in the
Doctor Who universe. The
Odyssey series later included novellas by Parkin's then-girlfriend Cassandra May and his later protégé
Mark Clapham. Parkin's first professional novel,
Just War, published in 1996, for
Virgin's
New Adventures series of original fiction
Doctor Who novels. This was followed by
A History of the Universe (a re-working of his
Chronology) and a second novel,
Cold Fusion, for Virgin's
Missing Adventures series. Virgin lost the licence to publish
Doctor Who fiction, and Parkin landed the job of writing the last New Adventure to feature the character of the Doctor, 1997's
The Dying Days. This was also the only Virgin novel to feature the
eighth incarnation of the Doctor, played in the 1996
Doctor Who television movie by
Paul McGann. The Virgin
Who books went out of print with the loss of the
Doctor Who licence and
The Dying Days. The New Adventures continued without the
Doctor Who label and Parkin returned to the series with 1998's
Beige Planet Mars, written with Mark Clapham. Parkin continued writing official
Doctor Who prose fiction for
BBC Books, including a number of event books, including the 35th anniversary celebration
The Infinity Doctors.
The Dying Days became the first of several Virgin
Doctor Who books to be re-worked as
e-books for the BBC's
Doctor Who website. He wrote the last in BBC series of
eighth Doctor novel adventures,
The Gallifrey Chronicles (2005). In 2006 he updated
A History of the Universe for Mad Norwegian with
AHistory: An Unauthorized History of the Doctor Who Universe. In June 2008 it was announced that he would write a
New Series Adventures novel,
The Eyeless, starring the
Tenth Doctor alone for release on
Boxing Day 2008. A trademark of Parkin's
Doctor Who novels is the inclusion of a character written as if played by
Ian Richardson, beginning with Oscar Steinmann in
Just War. Parkin has said "I’m sure there was a very good reason for that at one point, but if there is, I’ve forgotten it". ==Other works==