Faction Paradox (series)

The Faction Paradox series is a standalone collection of audio, prose and comic stories based on the War in Heaven, introduced in Lawrence Miles' 1997 Eighth Doctor novel Alien Bodies.

History
The War in Heaven and its major players, from the humanoid Type 103 TARDISes to the Celestis to the Faction Paradox itself, were first introduced in Lawrence Miles' 1997 Eighth Doctor novel Alien Bodies. At the time, Miles never intended for the War to become a large arc, but after he learned that Kate Orman and Jon Blum were planning to include the Faction in their novel Unnatural History, he felt justified to explore them further in his 1999 two-part novel Interference, which introduced the Eleven-Day Empire and the Remote. However, after Interference received an unfavorable review in DWM 281, Miles felt he had "lost [his] mandate" and resigned from writing Doctor Who to instead work on a Faction Paradox series.

By the year 2000, BBV Productions had agreed to develop The Faction Paradox Protocols audio series. The first installment, The Eleven Day Empire, was released in October 2001. These audios introduced several concepts that would later become staples of the Faction Paradox range, such as the Faction's shadow-weapons and alternate names like "Great Houses" for the Time Lords or "timeships" for TARDISes. Miles described this as the continuation of the reinvention that he began in Alien Bodies: as he explored more of the mechanics of the War, the War-era Time Lords evolved further and further away from the Time Lords of the past.

This process would not be fully fulfilled until the writing of The Book of the War, a book intended to be a standalone companion to the BBV audios. As Miles collected, edited, and synthesized stories from nine other authors into a "guidebook to a series that doesn't exist yet", he developed the War as a setting with the scale and appearance of science fiction, but without any of the props.

"The Faction's universe is on the surface an SF universe, but it works on the same principles as traditional folklore. It's all very feudal. There are, or were, 'people' who ran history - 'history' being a way for us to deal with the world around us - and these 'people' are generally nameless and faceless, but with the attitude of an aristocratic upper class. Ruling Houses, in effect.

At some point these Houses engaged in a war with an equally inscrutable enemy, and the war intersected - still intersects - human history like a biblical, impacting on humanity but without direct human involvement. Usually. So that makes Faction Paradox a Prometheus among the Titans, it's a splinter-group halfway between the elite and humanity, which believes in (a) introducing its principles to the "collaterals" caught in the crossfire... that's us, essentially... and (b) interfering in the plans of the Houses whenever possible."

- Lawrence Miles

The Book of the War was published in September 2002 by Mad Norwegian Press, and it was such a success that, in December of that year, Mad Norwegian announced that it was beginning a Miles-edited series of standalone Faction Paradox novels. Despite the series' name, these novels did not specifically focus on Faction Paradox, instead exploring "a myriad of times/settings" throughout the universe. Though the novels were originally planned to be released quarterly, Mad Norwegian settled into a semiannual release schedule. Along with original novels like This Town Will Never Let Us Go and Of the City of the Saved..., they also republished Lawrence Miles' 1999 novel Dead Romance, originally released as part of Virgin Books' New Adventures line.

At the same time, Mad Norwegian began producing a Faction Paradox comic, published by Image Comics and distributed by Diamond Distribution. It was written by Lawrence Miles and tied into his 2001 Eighth Doctor novel The Adventuress of Henrietta Street, albeit in a way that required no prior knowledge of that novel or any other Faction Paradox story. The comic was listed as one of Diamond's "Gems of the Month" and received favorable reviews on several comic websites, but due to various reasons, Mad Norwegian decided to end the comic series after issue 2, leaving the story unfinished.

In September of 2003, BBV Productions announced that they were ending their Audio Adventures in Time & Space range to focus exclusively on The Faction Paradox Protocols. However, after only two more releases, BBV decided to end its audio branch in 2004. Miles, impressed by the quality of actors in Magic Bullet's Kaldor City series, reached out to Alan Stevens to continue the Faction Paradox audios. Though the resultant True History of Faction Paradox series was designed to be standalone from the earlier Protocols audios, it continued with the characters Justine, Eliza, and Lolita, albeit played by different actors. The first True History audio was released in July 2005, and the series continued until the sixth and final story was released on 23 November 2009.

The Mad Norwegian Press novel series continued until, in September 2006, Lars Pearson announced that the return of Doctor Who to television had focused fans' attentions elsewhere, so the Faction Paradox novels would end with Erasing Sherlock that December. However, the following July, the New Zealand-based publisher Random Static announced they would be continuing the Faction Paradox novel line with Newtons Sleep, eventually published 12 January 2008, to slight press attention. In January of the next year, concerned that the Faction Paradox branding was scaring off new fans and distracting reviewers, Random Static also released the novel online as a free ebook. Despite their allusions to plans for a Faction Paradox novel to be released in 2010, this would be the only Faction Paradox novel released by Random Static.

On 7 June 2010, Obverse Books announced that it had obtained the license to publish a series of Faction Paradox short story anthologies, beginning with one to be released in early 2011, edited by Lawrence Miles "with a little help" from Obverse CEO Stuart Douglas. After the success of this first anthology, A Romance in Twelve Parts, Obverse made arrangements with Philip Purser-Hallard to begin releasing a series of short story anthologies called The City of the Saved and set in the eponymous city, first introduced in The Book of the War. The first of these, Tales of the City, was announced in December 2011.

Not long thereafter, Obverse also announced that it was taking over the Faction Paradox prose license in its entirety, and that in 2012 it would be publishing two Faction Paradox novels originally developed at Random Static, as well as another anthology of Faction Paradox short stories. Though Lawrence Miles' last contribution to the series remains his involvement in editing A Romance in Twelve Parts in 2011, Obverse has maintained a steady release schedule of Faction Paradox novels and anthologies. In 2015, they notably published the anthology Liberating Earth, edited by acclaimed Doctor Who novelist Kate Orman, which featured only women writers.

Anthologies
The City of the Saved anthology series is about the eponymous City, a setting introduced in the Faction Paradox books The Book of the War and Of the City of the Saved....

The Faction Paradox Protocols
BBV Productions released three two-part audios in their series The Faction Paradox Protocols between 2001 and 2004.

The True History of Faction Paradox
In 2004, Magic Bullet Productions obtained the Faction Paradox audio license and began their The True History of Faction Paradox series, which ended in 2009.

Comic
"December, 1774. America stands on the brink of armed revolt. With Boston placed under martial law and the colonies straining at the British Empire's bit, England's King George III is about to receive a rare gift from the Empress of Russia--the last living woolly mammoth in the Western hemisphere.

Among the dignitaries gathered at the mammoth's reception are two representatives from Faction Paradox. Though the details remain vague, the 1700s have apparently become a crossroads, an intersection between known history and the cosmic "War in Heaven." The Faction seems determined to involve itself in local politics ... for whomever controls this intersection in time will ultimately control history."

- Mad Norwegian summary

Two issues of a bimonthly Faction Paradox comic were produced by Mad Norwegian and published by Image Comics in the latter half of 2003. Each issue had a central, 16-page comic along with shorter, illustrated text stories. The main comic story was an ongoing one, so the early cancellation of the title meant that the story was never finished. It was set after the end of the War and acted as a prequel to The Adventuress of Henrietta Street; the Faction Paradox Protocols audio stories Sabbath Dei and In the Year of the Cat were intended to be prequels to the comic.

The comic was written by Lawrence Miles, edited by Lars Pearson, penciled by Jim Calafiore, inked by Peter Palmiotti, lettered by Christa Dickson, and coloured by Paul Monts. The covers were made by Steve Johnson.
 * Political Animals
 * Bêtes Noires & Dark Horses
 * Creatures of Habit (unreleased)

External link

 * Obverse Books' 2012 release schedule