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{{Infobox Story SMW
{{Infobox Story
|image          = Where Angels Fear.jpg
|name= Where Angels Fear  
|series         = [[Virgin New Adventures]]
|image= Where_Angels_Fear.jpg  
|range          = Virgin New Adventures
|series= [[Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures|Virgin <br /> Bernice Summerfield New Adventures]]
|number in range = 78
|number= 17
|number          = 78
|main character= [[Bernice Summerfield]]
|main character = [[Bernice Summerfield]]
|featuring= [[Irving Braxiatel]], [[Shemda]]
|featuring       = Irving Braxiatel
|enemy= [[All-High God]]s
|featuring2      = Emile Mars-Smith
|setting= [[Dellah]], [[2595]]  
|featuring3      = Clarence
|writer= [[Rebecca Levene]] and [[Simon Winstone]]
|featuring4      = God (The Also People)
|publisher= Virgin Books  
|featuring5      = John (Another Girl, Another Planet)
|release date= [[2 December (releases)|2 December]], [[1998 (releases)|1998]]
|featuring6      = B-Aaron
|format= Paperback Book, 241 Pages  
|featuring7      = Sultan of the Tashwari{{!}}the Sultan
|isbn= ISBN 0-426-20530-8  
|featuring8      = Wolsey
|prev= Beige Planet Mars (novel)  
|enemy           = [[Maa'lon]]
|next= The Mary-Sue Extrusion (novel)}}
|setting         = [[Dellah]], [[2595]]
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' is the seventeenth [[Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures]] novel. It featured a return of [[Clarence]] (who is depicted on the cover) and the start of the "Dellah Gods" arc.
|writer         = Rebecca Levene, Simon Winstone
|cover          = [[John Sullivan]]
|publisher       = Virgin Books
|release date   = 2 December 1998
|format         = Paperback Book, 241 Pages
|isbn           = ISBN 0-426-20530-8  
|prev           = Beige Planet Mars (novel)  
|next           = The Mary-Sue Extrusion (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 ==
== Publisher's summary ==
''"Do you believe?"''
''"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.
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.
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.
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 ==
== Plot ==
''to be added''
After [[God (The Also People)|God]] withdraws [[the People]] from the [[Milky Way]] for undisclosed reasons, [[Clarence]] asks [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]] to return with him to the [[Worldsphere]] for her safety, but she declines. She meets with [[Irving Braxiatel|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 Lord]]s have retreated and he refused to join them.
 
Braxiatel is stalked by [[John (Another Girl, Another Planet)|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 scanner]]s in John's building which are soon disabled and later has Renée join the New Moral Army against her will in order to gather information. She soon starts recruiting people to the [[Church of the Grey]].
 
Benny agrees to join the Grel and Harker in visiting the [[Hut'eri]] and tasks Emile with investigating the [[murder]] of [[Adam Wantman|the captain]] and thirteen passengers of the ''[[Joanna (ship)|Joanna]]'' as well as a customs officer. He finds that the [[blood]]y messages written at the scene are in several different [[language]]s and refer to several different [[religion]]s, 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 and successfully conjures an imp.
 
Benny, Harker and the Grel meet Maa'lon and witness his [[miracle]]s, which include saving [[Bre'tha|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 demarcated by impaled corpses. There is a [[battle]] during which Harker attempts to kill the nameless god of the N'a'm'thuli, but Maa'lon reveals that the nameless god is actually an aspect of himself and that the battle was a test of faith. Maa'lon kills [[Grenke|one of the Grel]] for not believing in him and Benny and [[Shemda]], another Grel, flee.
 
Emile sneaks into Adnan's house to steal ''[[The Grimoire of Atheron the Mage]]'', which Adnan agrees to let him take due to him having risked his life for knowledge. Adnan also tells him that Emile was only asked to join the cult because [[augury (Where Angels Fear)|the augury]] predicted so. Using the grimoire, Emile summons the imp once again and makes it an offer that it cannot refuse in return for the location of the murderer, which the imp tells him is the spaceport.
 
After [[Solomon Merrick]] is burnt to death for working on a Saturday despite being [[Judaism|Jewish]], Braxiatel barges into John's home and demands answers. John tells him that something has been released and is angry upon learning that Benny has left, saying that she is much too important and storming out. Braxiatel attempts to get Renée out of the New Moral Army, but she is content there and refuses to join him and several other academics in leaving Dellah. At the spaceport, he trips over Emile and agrees to help him cast a [[spell]] to make everybody evacuate the building. The spell is successful, but Emile remains inside to find and defuse the [[bomb]] and is caught in the explosion.
 
On the Worldsphere, Clarence is approached by [[B-Aaron]] and joins him in investigating why God has summoned all of the People. After speaking with [[Sara!qava]], they go to [[Whynot]] and enter the [[Mind of God]] where they learn that forces were imprisoned within Dellah because of the [[Dellahan]]s' worship of inanimate objects, but that the forces proved able to influence the population into believing in gods. God finds Clarence and B-Aaron inside its mind and teleports them out before they can find out what said forces were.
 
Benny and Shemda find themselves caught between Maa'lon's followers and the worshippers of the triple-god [[Anoouki]]. John arrives and saves them from being killed as he does not believe that the gods have any power over him, knowing what they are and how they came to be here. This proves not to be the case, however, as he is indeed scared of the gods' power; Maa'lon [[blindness|blinds]] him and strips away his flesh, revealing that he has multiple [[heart]]s. Demka then has his spacecraft orbiting Dellah destroy Benny and Shemda's [[skimmer]]. Benny sends Braxiatel coordinates from John which belong to the site of a fleet of ships and is saved from another god by B-Aaron and Clarence, who was manipulated by God into coming to save Benny. They return Shemda to his ship.
 
Whilst leading the refugees to the ships, Braxiatel is captured by Renée and the New Moral Army and due to be executed. However, when the [[Grey God]] arrives, Renée says that the Church of the Grey believe that their god will never be found and kills him, admitting to Braxiatel that she had to deceive him for her plan to work. Braxiatel, Renée and the refugees get to the ships and, pursued by the Sultan's troops, are forced to take off without waiting for Benny.
 
Clarence flies Benny above Dellah and explains what he has learnt to her; the gods were the deities of the People before they created God, after which they were imprisoned beneath Dellah as part of a secret treaty, the planet having been chosen due to the Dellahans not believing in any gods. It transpired, however, that the gods were able to influence religion and begin to take the form of the Dellahans' deities to gather followers and truly free themselves. God was unaware of this due to the treaty with the Time Lords keeping him from having a presence on Dellah, hence why he was interested in Benny, and he gave Clarence his [[angel]]ic form to temporarily break the spell of the gods' followers.
 
Shemda cancels the request for help that Demka sent to [[Grellor]] in order to gain Maa'lon more believers and sends out a buoy to join the [[human]] ones already released to inform potential visitors that Dellah is in lockdown. On one of the refugee ships, [[Elspeth (Where Angels Fear)|Elspeth]] is upset by how she sacrificed her [[atheism|atheist]] beliefs out of fear. She sees Emile, whom she was told was dead, and is delighted to see him. She hugs him and he asks her if she still believes.


== Characters ==
== Characters ==
* [[Bernice Summerfield]]
* [[Bernice Summerfield]]
* [[Irving Braxiatel]]
* [[Irving Braxiatel]]
* [[Shemda]]
* [[Renée Thalia]]
* [[James Harker]]
* [[John (Where Angels Fear)|John]]
* [[Emile Mars-Smith]]
* [[Elspeth]]
* [[Clarence]]
* [[Clarence]]
* [[God (The Also People)|God]]
* [[God (The Also People)|God]]
* [[B-Aaron]]
* [[B-Aaron]]
* [[Adnan]]
* [[Be'tha]]
* [[Bree'tha]]
* [[Curtis (Where Angels Fear)|Curtis]]
* [[Demka]]
* [[Elspeth (Where Angels Fear)|Elspeth]]
* [[Fec (Where Angels Fear)|Fec]]
* [[Grenke]]
* [[Ham'tha]]
* [[James Harker]]
* [[Colin Hay]]
* [[Jalal (Where Angels Fear)|Jalal]]
* [[Joe (Where Angels Fear)|Joe]]
* [[John (Another Girl, Another Planet)|John]]
* [[Kalten]]
* [[Kor'no]]
* [[Maa'lon]]
* [[Emile Mars-Smith]]
* [[Salmon (Where Angels Fear)|Salmon]]
* [[SaRa!qava]]
* [[SaRa!qava]]
* [[Maa'lon]]
* [[Shemda]]
* [[Lorna Stewart]]
* [[Sultan of the Tashwari]]
* [[Kerish Taan]]
* [[Tan'a]]
* [[Renée Thalia]]
* [[Travis (Where Angels Fear)|Travis]]
* [[Uraz]]
* [[Adam Wantman]]
* [[Watt (Where Angels Fear)|Watt]]
* [[Wolsey]]


== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
=== Groups ===
=== 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]].
* [[B-Aaron]] is a member of the [[Apocalyptic Religions Interest Group]].


=== Individuals ===
=== Individuals ===
* The Maa'lons' 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 in this novel, 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.
* Harker was given a copy of the [[Maa'lon]] Code by [[James Harker's aunt|an aunt]].
* [[Mordechai|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.
* 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]].
* Benny befriends [[Shemda]], a member of the [[Grel]].
* Following a brush with a firing squad, [[Renée Thalia]]'s breasts against his naked chest (he was tied to a post in the open air) make Irving Braxiatel feel [[human]] for a few moments.
* 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.
* James Harker goes on a murderous rampage late in the novel. He also thinks about killing Bernice.
* [[John (Another Girl, Another Planet)|John]] is Benny's chain [[cigarette]] smoking informant. He gets squeezed to death (his eyes pop out).
* [[John (Beige Planet Mars)|John]] is Benny's chain [[cigarette]] smoking informant. He gets squeezed to death (his eyes pop out) and everything.
* [[Emile Mars-Smith]] dies, but, before his death, makes a demonic pact with an [[imp]].
* [[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.
* [[Clarence]] sweeps in and saves Bernice at the last moment.
* [[God (The Also People)|God]] used Benny's presence on Dellah to keep an eye on the god situation.
* [[God (The Also People)|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]].
* [[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.
* [[SaRa!qava]] is still in male form and still has feelings for Bernice.
* [[Solomon Merrick]] is killed.


=== Locations ===
=== Locations ===
* [[Matelon‟s Spear]] is the highest point on Dellah at 3,524 [[metre]]s above [[sea]] level.
* [[SaRa!qava]] still lives in [[iSanti Jeni]].
* [[SaRa!qava]] still lives in [[iSanti Jeni]].
=== 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 Lord]]s to [[Gallifrey]] (Gallifrey and the Time Lords go unnamed but are vigorously implied).
* [[John (BNA)|John]] has [[Binary vascular system|two hearts]] but is ''not'' a Time Lord.


=== Planets ===
=== Planets ===
Line 75: Line 143:


=== Religion ===
=== Religion ===
* [[James Harker]] is a priest in the [[Church of Maa'lon]].
* [[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).
* 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 Lord]]s to [[Gallifrey]].
* [[Fec (Where Angels Fear)|Fec]] is a [[Cham'di]].
* [[John (Another Girl, Another Planet)|John]] has [[Binary vascular system|two hearts]] but is ''not'' a Time Lord.


=== Vehicles ===
=== Vehicles ===
* [[Irving Braxiatel]] has his "[[TARDIS|craft]]" recalled by "[[Time Lord|his people]]".
* [[Irving Braxiatel]] has his "[[Irving Braxiatel's TARDIS|craft]]" recalled by "[[Time Lord|his people]]".
 
== Cover Gallery ==
 
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
Where_Angels_Fear.jpg|Cover
Where angels fear textless.jpeg|Textless cover
Where angels fear sketch.jpeg|Sketch
</gallery>


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
* An eBook version of this book, published by Virgin Digital, was released on [[10 June (releases)|10 June]] 2010, available from Amazon.com<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/Where-Angels-Fear-Adventures-ebook/dp/B003SNJEQC|title=Where Angels Fear (New Adventures) {Kindle Edition}|date of source=|website name=Amazon.com|accessdate=8th January 2012}}</ref> and .co.uk<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Angels-Fear-Adventures-ebook/dp/B003SNJEQC/|title=Where Angels Fear (New Adventures) {Kindle Edition}|date of source=|website name=Amazon.co.uk Kindle Store|accessdate=8th January 2012}}</ref> in their Kindle format, other sellers/publishers such as The Random House Group (United Kingdom) released it in EPUB<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/where-angels-fear/9780753526880 |title=Where Angels Fear|date of source=2011|website name=The Random House Group|accessdate=8th January 2012}}</ref>. Of note, at least for the preview of the book on The Random House Group's site, the eBook does not contain the cover, instead it has a simple generic cover.
* An eBook version of this book, published by Virgin Digital, was released on [[10 June (releases)|10 June]] [[2010 (releases)|2010]], available from Amazon.com<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/Where-Angels-Fear-Adventures-ebook/dp/B003SNJEQC|title=Where Angels Fear (New Adventures) {Kindle Edition}|date of source=|website name=Amazon.com|accessdate=8th January 2012}}</ref> and .co.uk<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Angels-Fear-Adventures-ebook/dp/B003SNJEQC/|title=Where Angels Fear (New Adventures) {Kindle Edition}|date of source=|website name=Amazon.co.uk Kindle Store|accessdate=8th January 2012}}</ref> in their Kindle format, other sellers/publishers such as The Random House Group (United Kingdom) released it in EPUB<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/where-angels-fear/9780753526880 |title=Where Angels Fear|date of source=2011|website name=The Random House Group|accessdate=8th January 2012}}</ref>. Of note, at least for the preview of the book on The Random House Group's site, the eBook does not contain the cover, instead it has a simple generic cover.


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


== External links ==
== External links ==
* {{Dwrefguide|who_na78.htm|Where Angels Fear}}
{{dwrefguide|who_na78.htm|Where Angels Fear}}
* {{Whoniverse|bs17.php|Where Angels Fear}}
* {{whoniverse|na78|Where Angels Fear}}


== Footnotes ==
== Footnotes ==
Line 97: Line 180:
{{BNA}}
{{BNA}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:Bernice Summerfield stories]]
 
[[Category:Bernice Summerfield sources]]
[[Category:1998 novels]]
[[Category:1998 novels]]
[[Category:BNA novels]]
[[Category:BNA novels]]
[[Category:Irving Braxiatel novels]]
[[Category:Irving Braxiatel novels]]
[[Category:Stories set in Mutter's Spiral]]
[[Category:Stories set in 2595]]
[[Category:Stories set in 2595]]
[[Category:Novels set on Dellah]]

Latest revision as of 21:10, 25 January 2024

RealWorld.png

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[[edit] | [edit source]]

"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[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 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[[edit] | [edit source]]

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 against her will in order to gather information. She soon starts recruiting people to the Church of the Grey.

Benny agrees to join the Grel and Harker in visiting the Hut'eri and tasks Emile with investigating the murder of the 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 and successfully conjures an imp.

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 demarcated by impaled corpses. There is a battle during which Harker attempts to kill the nameless god of the N'a'm'thuli, but Maa'lon reveals that the nameless god is actually an aspect of himself and that the battle was a test of faith. Maa'lon kills one of the Grel for not believing in him and Benny and Shemda, another Grel, flee.

Emile sneaks into Adnan's house to steal The Grimoire of Atheron the Mage, which Adnan agrees to let him take due to him having risked his life for knowledge. Adnan also tells him that Emile was only asked to join the cult because the augury predicted so. Using the grimoire, Emile summons the imp once again and makes it an offer that it cannot refuse in return for the location of the murderer, which the imp tells him is the spaceport.

After Solomon Merrick is burnt to death for working on a Saturday despite being Jewish, Braxiatel barges into John's home and demands answers. John tells him that something has been released and is angry upon learning that Benny has left, saying that she is much too important and storming out. Braxiatel attempts to get Renée out of the New Moral Army, but she is content there and refuses to join him and several other academics in leaving Dellah. At the spaceport, he trips over Emile and agrees to help him cast a spell to make everybody evacuate the building. The spell is successful, but Emile remains inside to find and defuse the bomb and is caught in the explosion.

On the Worldsphere, Clarence is approached by B-Aaron and joins him in investigating why God has summoned all of the People. After speaking with Sara!qava, they go to Whynot and enter the Mind of God where they learn that forces were imprisoned within Dellah because of the Dellahans' worship of inanimate objects, but that the forces proved able to influence the population into believing in gods. God finds Clarence and B-Aaron inside its mind and teleports them out before they can find out what said forces were.

Benny and Shemda find themselves caught between Maa'lon's followers and the worshippers of the triple-god Anoouki. John arrives and saves them from being killed as he does not believe that the gods have any power over him, knowing what they are and how they came to be here. This proves not to be the case, however, as he is indeed scared of the gods' power; Maa'lon blinds him and strips away his flesh, revealing that he has multiple hearts. Demka then has his spacecraft orbiting Dellah destroy Benny and Shemda's skimmer. Benny sends Braxiatel coordinates from John which belong to the site of a fleet of ships and is saved from another god by B-Aaron and Clarence, who was manipulated by God into coming to save Benny. They return Shemda to his ship.

Whilst leading the refugees to the ships, Braxiatel is captured by Renée and the New Moral Army and due to be executed. However, when the Grey God arrives, Renée says that the Church of the Grey believe that their god will never be found and kills him, admitting to Braxiatel that she had to deceive him for her plan to work. Braxiatel, Renée and the refugees get to the ships and, pursued by the Sultan's troops, are forced to take off without waiting for Benny.

Clarence flies Benny above Dellah and explains what he has learnt to her; the gods were the deities of the People before they created God, after which they were imprisoned beneath Dellah as part of a secret treaty, the planet having been chosen due to the Dellahans not believing in any gods. It transpired, however, that the gods were able to influence religion and begin to take the form of the Dellahans' deities to gather followers and truly free themselves. God was unaware of this due to the treaty with the Time Lords keeping him from having a presence on Dellah, hence why he was interested in Benny, and he gave Clarence his angelic form to temporarily break the spell of the gods' followers.

Shemda cancels the request for help that Demka sent to Grellor in order to gain Maa'lon more believers and sends out a buoy to join the human ones already released to inform potential visitors that Dellah is in lockdown. On one of the refugee ships, Elspeth is upset by how she sacrificed her atheist beliefs out of fear. She sees Emile, whom she was told was dead, and is delighted to see him. She hugs him and he asks her if she still believes.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Groups[[edit] | [edit source]]

Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 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.
  • Solomon Merrick is killed.

Locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Planets[[edit] | [edit source]]

Religion[[edit] | [edit source]]

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

Vehicles[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cover Gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Cover

    Cover

  • Textless cover

    Textless cover

  • Sketch

    Sketch

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • An eBook version of this book, published by Virgin Digital, was released on 10 June 2010, available from Amazon.com[1] and .co.uk[2] in their Kindle format, other sellers/publishers such as The Random House Group (United Kingdom) released it in EPUB[3]. Of note, at least for the preview of the book on The Random House Group's site, the eBook does not contain the cover, instead it has a simple generic cover.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Where Angels Fear (New Adventures) {Kindle Edition}. Amazon.com. Retrieved on 8th January 2012.
  2. ↑ Where Angels Fear (New Adventures) {Kindle Edition}. Amazon.co.uk Kindle Store. Retrieved on 8th January 2012.
  3. ↑ Where Angels Fear. The Random House Group (2011). Retrieved on 8th January 2012.
v • e
Virgin Books New Adventures
Seventh
Doctor
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
Bernice
Summerfield
1997
1998
1999
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