Where Angels Fear (novel)

Where Angels Fear was the seventy-eighth Virgin New Adventures novel. It featured a return of Clarence (who was depicted on the cover) and the start of the "Dellah Gods" arc.

Publisher's summary
"Do you believe?"

Something very odd is happening on the cosmopolitan planet of Dellah, home to Bernice Summerfield, famed archaeologist, adventurer, raconteur and barfly. A long-ignored religion is rapidly gaining recruits. The faithful rejoice and talk of their God walking the land once more. And in secret rooms on campus, arcane arts are practised with dangerously successful results.

Behind these seeming absurdities, something far darker is going on, something that has consequences for everyone. The most powerful races of the universe are running scared, withdrawing to their own strongholds, and leaving the lesser races to their fate.

But what can have warped reality in this way? And why? Or has the time of the gods finally come? As Bernice and her friends begin to investigate, they soon realise that in the terrible conflict to come each of them will have to choose sides.

Chapter titles

 * Prologue
 * Chapter 1: Questions Raised
 * Chapter 2: A Day in the Life
 * Chapter 3: The Many-Coloured Valley
 * Chapter 4: It's Fun Finding Out About Cults
 * Chapter 5: War, War is Stupid
 * Chapter 6: Light and Shade
 * Chapter 7: Flight Begets Understanding
 * Chapter 8: New Deals
 * Chapter 9: Departures
 * Chapter 10: Perfect Victims
 * Chapter 11: We Meet Again
 * Chapter 12: Deus Ex Machina
 * Epilogue

Plot
After God withdraws the People from the Milky Way for undisclosed reasons, Clarence asks Benny to return with him to the Worldsphere for her safety, but she declines. She meets with Braxiatel in the Witch and Whirlwind and learns from James Harker that there has been a surge in membership of the Church of Maa'lon, which Braxiatel credits to reported sightings of Maa'lon on Dellah. The Grel arrive, pointed in Benny's direction by Emile Mars-Smith, and offer to exchange facts on Maa'lon, which she realises would be useful. After the bar closes, Benny returns with Braxiatel to his study and learn that the Time Lords have retreated and he refused to join them.

Braxiatel is stalked by John, who belongs to a species that he recognises, and asks Renée Thalia to spy on him. He also becomes aware of the Sultan of the Tashwari having set up a New Moral Army and encouraging others to embrace religion, in part by refusing residency permits to students without one. When Renée tells him that John was strange during their meeting, he plants micro scanners in John's building which are soon disabled and later has Renée join the New Moral Army.

Benny agrees to join the Grel and Harker in visiting the Hut'eri and tasks Emile with investigating the murder of captain and thirteen passengers of the Joanna as well as a customs officer. He finds that the bloody messages written at the scene are in several different languages and refer to several different religions, indicating that they were written by the victims, and decides to join each of the cults on Dellah for a maximum of two days. He starts with the Church of Ahriman the Great, but accepts Adnan's offer of joining a cult which hopes to gain godlike powers.

Looking into his past as a Ship, Clarence speaks with B-Aaron and Sara!qava.

Benny, Harker and the Grel meet Maa'lon and witness his miracles, which include saving a girl from death. After several Hut'eri are apparently killed by the N'a'm'thuli, Maa'lon ends his peaceful rhetoric and the town becomes a boot-camp for several days before the people march to the lands of their enemy, which is demarced by impaled corpses.

to be completed

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Clarence
 * God
 * B-Aaron
 * Adnan
 * Be'tha
 * Bree'tha
 * Demka
 * Elspeth
 * Fec
 * Grenke
 * Ham'tha
 * James Harker
 * Hay
 * Joe
 * John
 * Kalten
 * Kor'no
 * Maa'lon
 * Emile Mars-Smith
 * Salmon
 * SaRa!qava
 * Shemda
 * Sultan of the Tashwari
 * Tan'a
 * Renée Thalia
 * Uraz
 * Adam Wantman
 * Wolsey

Groups

 * The Obscene Topiary Interest Group built a park outside of the Worldsphere's spaceport.
 * B-Aaron is a member of the Apocalyptic Religions Interest Group.

Individuals

 * Harker was given a copy of the Maa'lon Code by an aunt.
 * Professor Mordechai works for the Theatrology Department.
 * The Followers of Maa'lon's religious code forbids the wearing of footwear because it disconnects them with the godly earth. As such, Benny is forced to take her shoes off and walk around barefoot most of the time, causing her much discomfort and injury. She also sprains an ankle trying to jump down a hole because she lacks shoes to cushion her fall.
 * As a result of a skimmer crash Benny shatters an ankle and crushes both her feet. They are later bandaged to aid her healing, but she writes that her swollen ankle looks like a boiled egg someone tried to open with a sledgehammer.
 * Benny befriends Shemda, a member of the Grel.
 * Following a brush with a firing squad, Renée Thalia's breasts touching Irving Braxiatel's naked chest (he was tied to a post in the open air) make him feel human for a few moments.
 * John is Benny's chain cigarette smoking informant. He gets squeezed to death (his eyes pop out).
 * Emile Mars-Smith dies, but, before his death, makes a demonic pact with an imp.
 * Clarence sweeps in and saves Bernice at the last moment.
 * God used Benny's presence on Dellah to keep an eye on the god situation.
 * B-Aaron is a Very Aggressive Ship, and was a friend of !Ci!ci-tel and WiRgo!xu.
 * SaRa!qava is still in male form and still has feelings for Bernice.

Locations

 * Matelon‟s Spear is the highest point on Dellah at 3,524 metres above sea level.
 * SaRa!qava still lives in iSanti Jeni.

Planets

 * A murdering policeman comes from Tyler's Folly.

Religion

 * James Harker is a priest in the Church of Maa'lon. The faith began in Tal'een.
 * James Harker meets Maa'lon (or something doing a very good impression).

Species

 * The Grel consider Benny a "fact catalyst" and seek her out to discover what exactly is happening on Dellah.
 * The People recall all their agents to the Worldsphere, as do the Time Lords to Gallifrey.
 * Fec is a Cham'di.
 * John has two hearts but is not a Time Lord.

Vehicles

 * Irving Braxiatel has his "craft" recalled by "his people".

Continuity

 * The concept of the People imprisoning their foes inside planets was introduced in PROSE: Down.
 * Emile Mars-Smith last appeared in PROSE: Deadfall.
 * John (Benny's chain smoking informant) appeared previously in PROSE: Another Girl, Another Planet.
 * A student at St Oscar's is Oolian. (PROSE: Original Sin)