''Faction Paradox
'' is a series of novels, audio stories, short story anthologies, and comics set in and around a "War in Heaven", a history-spanning conflict between godlike "Great Houses" and their mysterious enemy. The series is named after a group originally created by author
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles (born 15 March 1972 in Middlesex) is a science fiction author known for his work on original ''Doctor Who'' novels (for both the Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books series) and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox. He is also ...
for
BBC Books
BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidia ...
' ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' novels.
Overviews
Originally a subplot in the
Eighth Doctor Adventures
The ''Eighth Doctor Adventures'' (sometimes abbreviated as EDA or referred to as the EDAs) are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and published under the BBC Books impri ...
, the War involves several characters and concepts evolved from the original ''Doctor Who'' set-up. In several cases, the ''Faction Paradox'' series still features these groups, albeit with names changed for reasons both literary (most of the groups or items mentioned are described from different perspectives) and legal (the Faction and the Enemy are Miles's creations, but other elements are not – thus the Great Houses are the Faction Paradox range's equivalent to ''Doctor Whos
Time Lord
The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Time Lords are so named for their command of time travel technology and their Nonli ...
s). Faction Paradox themselves are ''not'' the enemy in this War, and play a neutral part, willing to act against both sides in their own interests. Miles has described them as "a ritualistic time-travelling guerrilla organisation".
The semi-mythical founder of Faction Paradox is Grandfather Paradox, named after the
grandfather paradox
A temporal paradox, time paradox, or time travel paradox, is a paradox, an apparent contradiction, or logical contradiction associated with the idea of time travel or other foreknowledge of the future. While the notion of time travel to the futu ...
of time travel theory. Originally a member of the Great Houses himself, the Grandfather created a new group after he became frustrated with the ways of the Great Houses. Faction Paradox therefore takes a good deal of pleasure in irritating the Great Houses, and many of their traditions and rituals are aligned in direct opposition to the way the Great Houses do things. Their time machines are bigger on the inside, in much the same way as TARDISes are, and the familial titles its members use (e.g. "Father", "Cousin") reference family units which the Great Houses lost when they became sterile.
Faction Paradox also take a perverse pride in causing time paradoxes (something that is against the laws of the Great Houses) and achieving impossible or absurd effects for their own sake. For instance, they typically wear ritual skull masks which are in fact the skulls of vampirised members of the Great Houses who, in the Great Houses' version of history, never existed. Their stronghold on Earth exists in a version of London, within what they call "The Eleven-Day Empire", bought from the British government in 1752. In that year, the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
first adopted the Gregorian calendar, and in so doing had to correct their dating scheme by 11 days (2 September 1752 being followed by 14 September 1752). Faction Paradox claimed the missing 11 days as their base (building on the illogicity that only the numbering scheme changed and no days were actually "missing").
One method of recruitment utilised by the Faction involves infecting others with the Paradox biodata virus, which warps the mind of the infected subject to share the Faction's perspective. A key storyline in the Eighth Doctor's adventures at this time involves the Faction manipulating the Doctor into changing his own history so that the
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is an incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, the protagonist of the British Science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee. Within the series' ...
not only regenerates "ahead of schedule" on the planet Dust, but also in a manner that allows him to be infected by a Paradox virus while his system is weakened by his regeneration. While the virus would still be too weak to affect the Doctor immediately, it would gain greater influence on him until the time of his eighth incarnation, at which point the Doctor would be converted to a Faction agent. Fortunately, the TARDIS was aware of this divergence from the timeline and took the infected timeline into itself, thus essentially preserving the timeline where the Doctor wasn't infected even as the timeline where the Doctor becomes a Faction agent still had the potential to exist.
Stories
Doctor Who (BBC Books)
After a brief mention of Grandfather Paradox in the
Virgin New Adventures
The ''Virgin New Adventures'' (NA series, or NAs) are a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. They continued the story of the Doctor from th ...
novel ''
Christmas on a Rational Planet'', Faction Paradox and the War in Heaven made their debut in
BBC Books
BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidia ...
'
Eighth Doctor novels.
The most relevant books to the ''Faction Paradox'' universe are:
*''Alien Bodies'' (
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles (born 15 March 1972 in Middlesex) is a science fiction author known for his work on original ''Doctor Who'' novels (for both the Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books series) and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox. He is also ...
, 1997)
*''
Unnatural History'' (
Kate Orman and
Jon Blum, 1999)
*''Interference: Book One (Shock Tactic)'' (Lawrence Miles, 1999) - Featuring the Eighth and Third Doctors, Sam, Fitz, Sarah Jane, and K-9, this book shows Sam dealing with matters in her own life while also being an unwitting part, along with the Doctor, of a million-year old year conspiracy with universe-wide effects, and which draws in the Doctor not once, but twice, at different points in time
*''Interference: Book Two (The Hour of the Geek)'' (Lawrence Miles, 1999) - Continuing the story of the previous book, the Doctor finds himself dealing with his enemy across time and space, getting caught between the results of cause and effect coming together. The book also marks Sam's departure, the introduction of new companion Compassion, and culminates in an alternate regeneration for the Third Doctor.
*''The Blue Angel'' (
Paul Magrs, 1999)- Featureing the
Eighth Doctor,
Fitz,
Compassion
Compassion is a social feeling that motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is sensitivity to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based ...
and
Iris Wildthyme, the author described the novel as
social realist
Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...
.
*''The Taking of Planet 5'' (
Simon Bucher Jones and
Mark Clapham, 1999) - Featuring the Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Compassion, it is partly a sequel to the television serial
Image of the Fendahl. It features references to many elements from the Cthulhu Mythos stories of H. P. Lovecraft, in particular the Elder Things and their ancient Antarctic city from At the Mountains of Madness.
*''The Shadows of Avalon'' (
Paul Cornell
Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer. He has worked in television drama and ''Doctor Who'' fiction, being the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield.
Other British television dramas f ...
, 2000)
*''
The Adventuress of Henrietta Street'' (Lawrence Miles, 2001)
Several other ''Doctor Who'' novels featured or referenced Faction Paradox, most notably ''
The Ancestor Cell'' (written by
Stephen Cole and Peter Anghelides in 2000), ''
The Quantum Archangel'' (written by
Craig Hinton
Craig Peter Hinton (7 May 1964 – 3 December 2006) was a British writer best known for his work on various Doctor Who spin-offs, spin-offs from the BBC Television series ''Doctor Who''.
He also wrote articles for various science fiction m ...
in 2001), and ''
The Gallifrey Chronicles'' (written by
Lance Parkin in 2005), but were contradicted or otherwise ignored in the ''Faction Paradox'' series.
Faction Paradox (BBV)
A series of full-cast audio dramas dubbed ''The Faction Paradox Protocols'' was produced by
BBV between 2001 and 2004. All were written by
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles (born 15 March 1972 in Middlesex) is a science fiction author known for his work on original ''Doctor Who'' novels (for both the Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books series) and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox. He is also ...
. These stories centred on two Cousins of the Faction, Justine and Eliza. (Justine had previously featured in the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
novel ''Alien Bodies'', and Eliza appeared in ''
Dead Romance'' as "Christine Summerfield".) The first two stories were set in the Eleven-Day Empire; the second two in 18th century London; and the last two were split between Justine's pre-Faction past and the Great Houses'
prison facility. Although there were six releases and an ongoing story, each pair (usually released close together) formed a two-part story. In order they were:
*''The Eleven-Day Empire'' (2001)
*''The Shadow Play'' (2001)
*''Sabbath Dei'' (2003)
*''In the Year of the Cat'' (2003)
*''Movers'' (2003)
*''A Labyrinth of Histories'' (2004)
June 2021 saw the return to BBV of the series as audio downloads
Also, a 5-minute video crossover with BBV's ''
P.R.O.B.E.'' series was released. Lawrence Miles said of these productions, 'I no longer have full control over the copyright, but I strongly recommend that you don't buy any Faction Paradox material from BBV.'
*''Daylight Savings'' (video crossover with ''P.R.O.B.E.'', James Hornby, 2021)
*''Eternal Escape'' (James Hornby, 2021)
*''Dionus's War''
**''Call Me Ishmael'' (J.T. Mulholland, 2021)
**''The Healer's Sin'' (J.T. Mulholland, 2021)
**''Me & My Ghost'' (Bill Baggs, 2021)
*''Sabbath and the King'' (Aristide Twain, 2021)
*''The Confession of Brother Signet'' (Michael Gilroy-Sinclair, 2021)
*''Hellscape''
**''Lucifer'' (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
**''Lucifer's Sleep'' (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
**''Babylon's Own Personal Hell'' (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
**''Brother's Keeper'' (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
**''Unwanted Guest'' (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
**''Lilith Fades'' (Trevor Spencer, 2022)
On August 28 2023, BBV Productions continued, as promised, the Hellscape series as a Faction Paradox spin off with the first half of the audio series's second season (titled The Lilium Saga) and a free episode (episode 5) of the video series Hellscape: MorningStar.
Faction Paradox (Mad Norwegian Press)
In 2002
Mad Norwegian Press published a multi-author faux-encyclopedia to the first 50 years of the War in Heaven, edited by Faction Paradox creator
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles (born 15 March 1972 in Middlesex) is a science fiction author known for his work on original ''Doctor Who'' novels (for both the Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books series) and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox. He is also ...
, as a companion to the BBV audios. After the success of ''The Book of the War'', Mad Norwegian began publishing a ''Faction Paradox'' series of novels set in the same universe. These novels roam the ongoing War in Heaven; despite the series' name, the Faction and its members are not the focus, sometimes featuring only as minor characters, and sometimes not appearing at all. The books also featured characters from the ''Doctor Who'' novels, including
Chris Cwej
This is a list of fictional characters who were companion (Doctor Who), companions of the Doctor (Doctor Who), Doctor, in various Doctor Who spinoffs, spinoff media based on the long-running British science fiction on television, science ficti ...
and
Compassion
Compassion is a social feeling that motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is sensitivity to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based ...
.
*''
The Book of the War'' (
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles (born 15 March 1972 in Middlesex) is a science fiction author known for his work on original ''Doctor Who'' novels (for both the Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books series) and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox. He is also ...
et al., 2002)
*''
This Town Will Never Let Us Go'' (
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles (born 15 March 1972 in Middlesex) is a science fiction author known for his work on original ''Doctor Who'' novels (for both the Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books series) and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox. He is also ...
, 2003)
*''
Of the City of the Saved...'' (
Philip Purser-Hallard
Philip Purser-Hallard (born 1971 as Philip Hallard) is a fantasy, science fiction and crime author described by the British Fantasy Society as "the best kept secret in British genre writing". , 2004)
*''
Warlords of Utopia'' (
Lance Parkin, 2004)
*''
Warring States
The Warring States period in Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and struggles for gre ...
'' (
Mags L Halliday, 2005)
*''
Erasing Sherlock'' (Kelly Hale, 2006)
Mad Norwegian also republished the
Virgin New Adventures
The ''Virgin New Adventures'' (NA series, or NAs) are a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. They continued the story of the Doctor from th ...
novel ''
Dead Romance'' as part of their ''Faction Paradox'' line in 2003.
Faction Paradox (Image Comics)
In 2003, the first two issues of a Faction Paradox comic were produced by Mad Norwegian and published by
Image Comics
Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...
. The series was subsequently cancelled. The comic was written by
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles (born 15 March 1972 in Middlesex) is a science fiction author known for his work on original ''Doctor Who'' novels (for both the Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books series) and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox. He is also ...
with art from
Jim Calafiore and inks by
Peter Palmiotti. It was set after the events of the War in Heaven, though due to its short run it did not give much detail on the post-War universe. It tied into events described in ''The Faction Paradox Protocols'', ''
The Book of the War'', and ''
The Adventuress of Henrietta Street''.
Faction Paradox (Magic Bullet)
In 2004,
Magic Bullet Productions, known for their ''
Kaldor City'' audio dramas, obtained the license to produce further ''Faction Paradox'' audios, dubbed ''The True History of Faction Paradox''. The narrative of this series continued from ''The Faction Paradox Protocols'', although the first CD was also written to be accessible to newcomers. Like the BBV audios, these stories focused on Cousin Justine and Cousin Eliza, but the characters were recast.
The dramas in the series, released between 2005 and 2009, have featured guest stars including
Julian Glover
Julian Wyatt Glover (born 27 March 1935) is an English actor with many stage, television, and film roles. Classically trained, he is a recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award and has performed many times for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Gl ...
,
Peter Miles,
Philip Madoc and
Gabriel Woolf. Woolf plays the ancient Egyptian god
Sutekh, whom he had previously played in the 1975 ''Doctor Who'' story ''
Pyramids of Mars''. The six titles are:
*''Coming To Dust''
*''The Ship of a Billion Years''
*''Body Politic''
*''Words from Nine Divinities''
*''Ozymandias''
*''The Judgment of Sutekh''
Faction Paradox (Random Static)
In 2007, New Zealand-based publisher
Random Static announced they would be publishing further ''Faction Paradox'' novels. What turned out to be the sole title of the new range was published in January 2008. The cover art, by Emma Weakley, won the
Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Artwork in 2009.
*''
Newtons Sleep'' (
Daniel O'Mahony, 2008)
Faction Paradox (Obverse Books)
In June 2010,
Obverse Books acquired a license to produce collections of ''Faction Paradox'' short stories and longer fiction.
*''
A Romance in Twelve Parts'' (ed
Stuart Douglas, 2011)
*''
Burning with Optimism's Flames'' (ed
Julian Eales, 2012)
*''
Against Nature'' (
Lawrence Burton, 2013)
*''
The Brakespeare Voyage'' (
Simon Bucher-Jones
Simon Bucher-Jones (born Simon Jones, 6 September 1964) is an author, poet, and amateur actor. He is best known for his Doctor Who novels for Virgin Books, Virgin and BBC Books, BBC and as a contributor to the Faction Paradox spin-off series. Betw ...
and Jonathan Dennis, 2013)
*''
Liberating Earth'' (ed
Kate Orman, 2015)
*''
Head of State
A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "he head of state
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads
* He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English
* He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana)
* Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...
'' (
Andrew Hickey, 2015)
*''
Weapons Grade Snake Oil'' (Blair Bidmead, 2017)
*''
Spinning Jenny
The spinning jenny is a multi- spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialisation of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764–1765 by James Hargreaves in Stan ...
'' (Dale Smith, 2017)
*''
The Book of the Enemy'' (ed Simon Bucher-Jones, 2018)
*''
The Book of the Peace'' (ed Philip Marsh, 2018)
Faction Hollywood
In 2019, Obverse Books published a first story featuring Faction Hollywood, a group introduced by Jonathan Dennis in ''The Book of the War''.
*''Hyponormalisation: A Faction Hollywood Production'' (Jonathan Dennis, as part of ''An Obverse Sextet'', 2019)
Worlds of the Spiral Politic
*''The Boulevard: Volume 1'' (ed Stuart Douglas, 2022)
*''Inward Collapse'' (Lawrence Burton, 2023)
*''The Boulevard: Volume 2'' (ed Stuart Douglas, 2024)
The City of the Saved
In 2012, Obverse Books launched a series of anthologies set in the
City of the Saved, a setting first introduced and explored in the ''Faction Paradox'' series.
*''
Tales of the City'' (ed
Philip Purser-Hallard
Philip Purser-Hallard (born 1971 as Philip Hallard) is a fantasy, science fiction and crime author described by the British Fantasy Society as "the best kept secret in British genre writing". , 2012)
*''
More Tales of the City'' (ed Philip Purser-Hallard, 2013)
*''
Tales of the Great Detectives'' (ed Philip Purser-Hallard, 2014)
*''
Furthest Tales of the City'' (ed Philip Purser-Hallard, 2015)
*''
Tales of the Civil War'' (ed Philip Purser-Hallard, 2017)
*''
Stranger Tales of the City'' (ed Elizabeth Evershed, 2018)
*''Vanishing Tales of the City'' (novella, by
Kara Dennison, as part of ''An Obverse Sextet'', 2019)
References
External links
Official WebsiteFaction Paradox at Mad Norwegian PressRandom StaticObverse Books*
{{Doctor Who books, selected=Other
Doctor Who spinoffs
Fictional organized crime groups
Book series
Image Comics titles
Fictional cults
Fictional terrorist organizations