Wexford born author Eoin Colfer has penned one of the 11 new “Doctor Who” books to mark the 50th anniversary of the TV series.

The “Doctor Who” franchise has long been a cherished fantasy sci-fi phenomenon and in the past decade has recruited millions of other fans with the reboot of the BBC series featuring Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith as the newest Doctors.

The new series of books, released for the Doctor’s anniversary, will be published every month, from January to November, this year. Colfer’s book “A Big Hand for the Doctor” is the first in the series and will be published globally as an eBook on January 23.

Each of the 11 books will feature one of Doctors so far. Colfers features the first Doctor who was played by William Hartnell, in 1963.

While it’s a great honor to be attached to the cult favorite “Doctor Who” the Wexford author has built a high profile for himself starting with his children’s books “Artemis Fowl”, which sold over 20 million copies. After the death of Douglas Adams, the genius behind “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” Colfer was chosen by Adams’ widow to write the new Hitchhiker book, which was published in 2012.

Speaking about his new book Colfer admits he’s been a lifelong fan. He told the Irish Independent “When I started reading the 'Doctor Who' books we didn't have BBC TV at home in Wexford but, when I eventually saw it, the Doctor was exactly as I had imagined him," said Colfer.

Colfer also talked about the challenge of taking on the first Doctor’s character. He said “The original character was more of a curmudgeon and less of a quirky adventurer than the more recent Doctor Whos and I'm going back to that in the story. The original was a sort of Scrooge in Space.

“Also, my last book is set in Victorian times so that helped in setting this story in 1900s London."

To preorder the book visit Amazon.com.