When the Purwells set out to explore the land of the real King Arthur, they find themselves caught up in a hunt for the Moon Stallion, a beautiful but dangerous beast without mortal master. Mortenhurze, Purwell's patron, wants revenge. Todman, a horse warlock, has more sinister intentions. Both men seek to capture the mysterious horse, so that its magic powers will become theirs to command. But they are no match for the dark forces of myth and magic which still exist among the Berkshire hills. Only Diana, who is blind, is allowed a glimpse of the truth. With Merlin's help, she learns that the Moon Stallion is beyond the reach of ambitious men. It is part of a legend which unites past, present and future... Based on the 1978 BBC Children's fantasy drama starring Sarah Sutton, John Abineri, and David Haig. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Best known for his work on Doctor Who, he wrote a total of six stories and created the iconic Celestial Toymaker and The Ice Warriors! Hayles wrote for such television series as The Regiment, Barlow at Large, Doomwatch, Out of the Unknown, United!, Legend of Death, Public Eye, Z-Cars, BBC Playhouse, The Wednesday Thriller and Suspense. In addition to script writing for the radio series The Archers, Hayles penned a novel based on the soap called Spring at Brookfield (Tandem, 1975) set in the period between the two world wars. His other books included novelisations of his Doctor Who stories, and two horror plays for children, The Curse of the Labyrinth (Dobson, 1976) and Hour of the Werewolf (Dobson, 1976). An original novel entitled Goldhawk (NEL, 1979) was published posthumously.
Author
Brian Hayles (7 March 1931 - 30 October 1978) was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. His body of work as a writer for television and film, most notably for the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, lasted from 1963 to 1989. Hayles wrote six stories for Doctor Who and is best known for his creation of the Celestial Toymaker in the 1966 story of the same name, the Ice Warriors, introduced in the 1967 story of the same name, and the feudal planet Peladon, the setting for The Curse of Peladon and its sequel The Monster of Peladon. His other stories were The Smugglers and The Seeds of Death. In addition to script writing for the radio series The Archers, Hayles penned a novel based on the soap called Spring at Brookfield (Tandem, 1975) set in the period between the two world wars. His other books included novelisations of his Doctor Who serials The Curse of Peladon (Target, 1974) and The Ice Warriors (Target, 1976), an adaptation of his scripts for the BBC drama The Moon Stallion (Mirror Books, 1978), and two horror plays for children, The Curse of the Labyrinth (Dobson, 1976) and Hour of the Werewolf (Dobson, 1976). An original novel entitled Goldhawk (NEL, 1979) was published posthumously. Apart from Doctor Who, Hayles wrote for such television series as The Regiment, Barlow at Large, Doomwatch, Out of the Unknown, United!, Legend of Death, Public Eye, Z-Cars, BBC Playhouse, The Wednesday Thriller and Suspense. He also wrote the screenplays for the feature films Nothing But the Night (1972) and Warlords of Atlantis (1978). The novelisation of the latter by Paul Victor (Futura, 1978) included a preface by Hayles entitled 'The Thinking Behind Atlantis' in which he explained the origins of the film's central concepts. Hayles' final screenplay was for Arabian Adventure (1979), which he completed shortly before his death on 30 October 1978. The novelisation of the film by Keith Miles (Mirror Books, 1979) was dedicated to his memory.
