Love and War (novel)



Love and War was the ninth novel in the Virgin New Adventures series. It was written by Paul Cornell and features the Seventh Doctor and Ace. It introduced Professor Bernice Summerfield. In 2012, Big Finish Productions adapted the novel for audio to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its original release.

Publisher's summary
On a planet called Heaven, all hell is breaking loose.

Heaven is a paradise for both humans and Draconians - a place of rest in more ways than one. The Doctor comes here on a trivial mission - to find a book, or so he says - and Ace, wandering alone in the city, becomes involved with a charismatic Traveller called Jan.

But the Doctor is strenuously opposed to the romance. What is he trying to prevent? Is he planning some more deadly game connected with the mysterious objects causing the military forces of Heaven such concern?

Archaeologist Bernice Summerfield thinks so. Her destiny is inextricably linked with that of the Doctor, but even she may not be able to save Ace from the Time Lord's plans.

This time, has the Doctor gone too far?

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * The Seventh Doctor
 * Ace
 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Jan Rydd
 * Christopher
 * Máire Mab Finn
 * Roisa McIlnery
 * Brother Phaedrus
 * Death

Currency

 * Dalek eyestalks are worth twenty decacredits in bounty at an imperial base.

The Doctor

 * The Doctor is known as Karshtakavaar - the Oncoming Storm - by the Draconians.
 * This is the first time the Doctor is mentioned as Time's Champion.
 * The Doctor can blow fire using an oil lamp.
 * He deliberately "killed" his sixth incarnation (though he was unborn at the time), knowing that Time would need a champion.

"Death laughed, and raised a soft finger between the Doctor's eyes. 'Don't lie to me! You sacrificed the colourful jester because you needed to be born! Time would have her champion and he was just the compost for your blooming. You ran your TARDIS into the Rani's beam joyfully. Hah! Your sixth self hates you for that, he will become Valeyard for that..."

Culture

 * The 20th century is Bernice Summerfield's favourite era.
 * Cruk as a swear word is mentioned and used in conversation for the first time.

Groups

 * The Travellers are a group of people who originated on Earth as anarchists and unhappy people. Currently there are thirty Travellers on Heaven. They use Puterspace instead of drugs to attain higher states of consciousness.

Individuals

 * Máire mentions Abslom Daak, a Dalek Killer who has also met the Doctor. She was also a Dalek Killer.
 * Chad Boyle suddenly started mailing Christmas cards to everyone from his school days.
 * Whilst in the escape pod, Ace is visited by The Trickster in a clown costume. He tells her Jan is one of his. However, in the context of the story, this could be a vision of the Doctor, his manipulative nature and his plans that involve Jan rather then the modern Trickster.
 * Ace becomes formally engaged to Jan by Máire.
 * Julian was a friend of Ace's while she was growing up. When he died, he was absorbed into the Hoothi consciousness.
 * Bernice Surprise Summerfield is thirty years old. She has only ever had three boyfriends.
 * Ace learnt to ride a horse in Adelaide in 1967.
 * Ace also lost her viginity to Glitz while on Iceworld.

Libraries and archives

 * The Doctor goes to Joycetown Library on Heaven to get a book to take to the Monks of Felsecar.

Organisations

 * The Vacuum Church believes only death and suicide can relieve the pain of life.

Planets

 * Bernice Summerfield was raised on Beta Caprisis.
 * Heaven is a planet on the edge of both human and Draconian space and is considered neutral ground. It was settled after the Dragon Wars.

Psychic powers

 * Jan Rydd has pyrokinetic powers which he gained through experiments with the military. His "secret" name is Aradath.
 * Christopher also has extensive mental powers, but was rendered sexless by the military experiments.

Species

 * Earth Reptile is the politically correct term for Silurian.
 * The Hoothi are fungoid creatures which can exist as spores or as a planet-sized gas-filled sphere travelling through space. They live off decaying organic matter. They know of the Time Lords and the Doctor.
 * The Sontarans are currently "busy" in the Magellanic Clouds.

Theories and concepts

 * The First Law of Time is a moral law as well as a legal one.
 * Death and Time are referred to as Eternals.

Continuity

 * Chad Boyle first appeared in PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation which also explains why he suddenly starts sending Christmas cards.
 * Dalek Killers were first mentioned in COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer.
 * The Draconians first appeared in TV: Frontier in Space.
 * IMC is on Heaven. They were first mentioned in TV: Colony in Space.
 * The Hoothi were first mentioned in TV: The Brain of Morbius.
 * Further Spacefleet experiments on people are revealed in PROSE: Return of the Living Dad.
 * Ace returns in PROSE: Deceit.
 * The origins of the work Cruk are explained in AUDIO: Death and the Daleks.
 * Bernice returns to Heaven in AUDIO: Death and the Daleks.
 * There is a prequel to this story in BFBS: Missing Adventures.
 * The Draconians refer to the Doctor as "The Oncoming Storm". This name was later used as a term the Daleks used for the Doctor in TV: The Parting of the Ways.
 * Felsecar Abbey (first mentioned in this novel) is visited by the Doctor in AUDIO: Seasons of Fear.
 * The Travellers reappear in PROSE: Happy Endings.
 * Although this is Bernice Summerfield's first encounter with the Doctor from her perspective, the same is not true of him. The Sixth Doctor and his companion Evelyn Smythe had met Benny and Irving Braxiatel on a dig conducted by Irving's collection. The Sixth Doctor remained completely ignorant of the fact that Benny would later travel with him. It can be assumed the archaeologist did not reveal this information to him to avoid disrupting the Web of Time. For the same reason, the Doctor does not reveal to Benny that he has previously met her future self. (AUDIO: The 100 Days of the Doctor)
 * A phrase on the first page of the novel ('Long ago, when love was real') is used as the first line of an eighty-page love poem. Romana reads it and knows from the line that this is the worst thing she will ever read. (PROSE: Tomb of Valdemar)
 * The Doctor refers to his encounter with Harry Houdini. Prior to their arrival in 1963, his first incarnation and his granddaughter Susan Foreman met Houdini in the United States. Houdini taught the Doctor how to perform sleight-of-hand tricks. (PROSE: The Sorcerer's Apprentice)
 * While in the Land of Fiction library, Ace would later find a fictionalised version of these events in the form of a novel entitled Love and War. (PROSE: Conundrum)
 * An alternative version of the Doctor. (PROSE: So Vile a Sin)

Audio adaptation
Big Finish Productions has announced it will release a two-disc audio drama adaptation of the novel, adapted by Jacqueline Rayner, on 31st October 2012. The release, which will star Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Ace and Lisa Bowerman as Bernice, is being produced to mark the twentieth anniversary of the introduction of the character. In addition to the novel, the recording sessions for the adaptation included a performance of the DWM prelude short story which will be released as a podcast teaser for the main release.

On the 14 March 2012 Big Finish podcast, it was announced that the audio adaptation has no implications for any other stories that Big Finish have already produced, or will produce in the future. In the words of producer David Richardson, "Love and War is just very much a representation of the New Adventures line and . . . it does stand outside the canon of the main Big Finish range."