Lawrence Miles: Difference between revisions

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'''Lawrence Miles''' is the author of several ''[[Doctor Who]]'' novels. He created the [[Faction Paradox]] and the [[The War|Future War]] that the [[Time Lord]]s were ''going'' to have
'''Lawrence Miles''' wrote several ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and [[Bernice Summerfield New Adventures]] novels.
:"thought it'd be nice to have this big time-war going on just over the horizon, I thought you could do a lot of interesting stories around it. Only two or three other people ever bothered, of course, but it gave '''me''' something to go on. It was never supposed to be a big murder-mystery type of thing, with this huge question hovering over it. At the time, I was planning on revealing who the Enemy was in the next book I did, but Stephen Cole stopped me doing it. And I'm kind of glad he did, because now I can keep the whole Big Time Lord War thing in reserve for the future." ' <ref name="Miles Interview"> [http://web.archive.org/web/20050301095733/http:/planeteleven.co.uk/features/lmia/lastever.php Lawrence Miles : The Last Ever Interview 28th May 2000] </ref>


He is known among some fan circles as 'Mad Larry' for his often controversial ideas and comments. He frequently posts such views (often in essay form) of the most recent episodes of the new series on [http://beasthouse-lm2.blogspot.com/ The Beasthouse] (Lawrence Miles' blog).
He created the [[Faction Paradox]] and the [[The War|Future War]] that the [[Time Lord]]s were ''going'' to have. He said when he started the war in ''[[Alien Bodies (novel)|Alien Bodies]]'', it was "never supposed to be a big murder-mystery type of thing, with this huge question hovering over it", and was going to reveal the identity of [[the Enemy]] in his next book after ''Bodies'', which [[Stephen Cole]] stopped him from doing. <ref name="Miles Interview"> [http://web.archive.org/web/20050301095733/http:/planeteleven.co.uk/features/lmia/lastever.php Lawrence Miles : The Last Ever Interview 28th May 2000] </ref>


Miles is also known for attempting to set the [[BBC Books]] ''Doctor Who'' novels apart from the [[Virgin Publishing|Virgin]] novels.
He is known among some fan circles {{which}} as 'Mad Larry' for his often controversial ideas and comments. He frequently posts such views (often in essay form) of the most recent episodes of the new series on [http://beasthouse-lm2.blogspot.com/ The Beasthouse] (Lawrence Miles' blog).


<blockquote>"The BBC Books have always been really weak when they're pretending to be the Virgin books. That was the trouble with [[Vampire Science|VAMPIRE SCIENCE]] from the start, you can tell the authors are just gagging to get the Seventh Doctor back." <ref name="Miles Interview"/></blockquote>
Miles is also known for attempting to set the [[BBC Books]] ''Doctor Who'' novels apart from the [[Virgin Publishing|Virgin]] novels, claiming the BBC Books novels were "weak when they're pretending to be the Virgin books", specifically pointing out ''[[Vampire Science (novel)|Vampire Science]]'' as suffering from this. <ref name="Miles Interview"/>
Miles has particular views and understandings of ''Doctor Who'' (as shown in his About Time series). He is very passionate about certain elements of ''Doctor Who''.


<blockquote>"I'd say that the existence of [[Anji Kapoor|Anji]] as a companion is probably the worst sign in Doctor Who so far. Back in the days of the New Adventures… back when we were more optimistic and we knew that the corporate lifestyle was repulsive...she'd be treated as a piece of self-obsessed parasitic vermin, and not without good reason, but suddenly we're supposed to be empathising with her. ...It's not the fact that she's got this job in the City that I object to, it's that she's actually proud of it. ...the idea of a companion who's defined by something that mean-spirited and trivial is just… vile." <ref name="Outpost Miles Interview"> [http://web.archive.org/web/20080509161052/http://www.gallifreyone.com/interview.php?id=miles Archive of Outpost Gallifrey - Lawrence Miles Interview] </ref></blockquote>
Miles has particular views and understandings {{what?}} of ''Doctor Who'', as shown in his ''[[About Time]]'' series. {{which}}
According to a 2000 interview he doesn't like [[Lance Parkin]]'s work, ''but'' he is one of the writers ''still'' talking to him. <ref name="Miles Interview"/>
One writer whom Miles certainly doesn't agree with is [[Gary Russell]]. As he states:


<blockquote>"The man's work is crap. He can't write, his '''[this next bit's been removed because it's probably actionable]''' for him, and ironically it turned out to be his best book. Nobody likes what he does. [[Divided Loyalties|DIVIDED LOYALTIES]] is, if I'm not mistaken, currently the lowest-rated Doctor Who book of all time on the rankings chart. But he insists on taking over as much as fandom as possible, and making things utterly miserable for anyone who wants to do anything interesting. Because the fact is this. The Doctor Who books aren't just read by ageing long-term fans. ...The point is, a new fanbase... a fanbase that actually wants to go somewhere... is gradually building up, and the Gary Mafia at DWM seems to be doing everything it can to make sure it all gets fucked up." <ref name="Miles Interview"/></blockquote>
He is very passionate about certain elements of ''Doctor Who'', calling Anji Kapoor someone who would have been treated "as a piece of self-obsessed parasitic vermin" because of her job in the City of London in the [[Virgin New Adventures]], explaining it wasn't the job itself but that she was proud of it; something he considered so "mean-spirited and trivial". <ref name="Outpost Miles Interview"> [http://web.archive.org/web/20080509161052/http://www.gallifreyone.com/interview.php?id=miles Archive of Outpost Gallifrey - Lawrence Miles Interview] </ref>
Miles has also said in talking about writers:


<blockquote>"writers always take the laziest possible route if you don't put them under the whip. The problem is that I can't normally risk saying things like this, because there's so much ego among the writers - there are so many people who insist on being treated like some kind of "fandom elite", or who insist on being treated like "professionals", or who want to believe in this ludicrous code of conduct which makes it illegal for anyone to say anything bad about them even if they act like complete tits - that whenever I say something like "ooh, Compassion was used really badly, it was crap" people immediately assume that I'm making it personal. Which I'm not, usually. I know that [[Paul Cornell|(Paul) Cornell]], for one, was very critical of the way I slagged off the other books which had used Faction Paradox and said that you had to give up the idea of autonomy if you're working in a shared universe. And that's true, absolutely true." <ref name="Outpost Miles Interview"/></blockquote>
In a 2000 interview he said he did't like [[Lance Parkin]]'s work, ''but'' he is one of the writers ''still'' talking to him. <ref name="Miles Interview"/>
However in discussing companions he did like:


<blockquote>"That's probably why I liked [[Roz Forrester]] as a companion, because apart from her overall grumpiness she had nothing in common with the people who wrote her or the people who read about her. She was spiky and awkward and vaguely racist, she had a background that wasn't remotely comparable to the background of any of the readers. The writers had to try bloody hard to get to grips with her, and that made her worth doing, it made her a genuine character in a way that Bernice and Anji aren't and I suppose never could be." <ref name="Outpost Miles Interview"/></blockquote>
He called [[Gary Russell]]'s work "crap" and wrote the lowest-rated ''Doctor Who'' book "on the rankings chart" at the time of the interview, ''[[Divided Loyalties (novel)|Divided Loyalties]]''. He also disagreed with Russell "taking over as much as fandom as possible", a fandom which according to Miles was gaining younger fans that "actually wants to go somewhere" at the time, but also one which "the Gary Mafia at [[Doctor Who Magazine|DWM]] seem[ed] to be doing everything it [could] to make sure it all [got] fucked up". <ref name="Miles Interview"/>


Miles is noted for creating [[Sabbath]] (another recurring concept/villain) in the Eighth Doctor Adventures.
Miles, by his own admission, had "slagged off" BBC Books novels he hadn't written which had used Faction Paradox. <ref name="Outpost Miles Interview"/>


<blockquote>"After I wrote the synopsis [[Justin Richards|Justin]] said that he’d quite like to use Sabbath as a recurring character, which was quite surprising because the synopsis didn’t really describe him and by that stage I had no idea what he was going to be like. I didn’t even know how he was going to look, at the time. Maybe Justin just picked up on the character because he’s got a very good name for a quasi-villain. Sabbath, I mean, not Justin. I’m not sure I remember any of Sabbath's development coming from anybody else. I think I just wrote him the way I eventually saw him, then sent in the book once it was finished. But I was drunk a lot of the time, so I could be wrong." <ref name="Outpost Miles Interview"/></blockquote>
Miles considered [[Roz Forrester]] a "genuine character in a way that Bernice and Anji aren't" because "apart from her overall grumpiness she had nothing in common with the people who wrote her or the people who read about her". He also mentioned that her background was so apart from that of the readers that her writers had to try "bloody hard" to make her understandable." <ref name="Outpost Miles Interview"/>


While Miles did state that "As far as I know… and I’m always the last to know these things, so I could be talking rubbish… Sabbath isn’t going to be turning up as a lead villain much."<ref name="Outpost Miles Interview"/> this did not totally fail to occur, several authors using Sabbath as a background villain or opposite to the Doctor.
Miles is noted for creating [[Sabbath]] (another recurring concept/villain) in the Eighth Doctor Adventures. Miles said that Justin Richards wanted Sabbath as a recurring character from the synopsis alone, at which point Miles didn't even know he was going to be like. <ref name="Outpost Miles Interview"/>


''{{fp|The Book of the War}}'' was a project Miles begun as he explored various mediums (following his work with BBV). "I've always seen the Time Lords as being elementals rather than aliens anyway, so I suppose the point is that The Book of the War uses the mythological elements from ''Doctor Who'' but nothing else." <ref name="Outpost Miles Interview"/>
== Bibliography ==
== Bibliography ==
=== Doctor Who Novels ===
=== ''Doctor Who'' ===
==== Virgin New Adventures ====
* ''[[Christmas on a Rational Planet]]''
* ''[[Christmas on a Rational Planet]]''
==== BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures ====
* ''[[Alien Bodies]]''
* ''[[Alien Bodies]]''
* ''[[Interference - Book One|Interference - Book One: Shock Tactic]]''
* ''[[Interference - Book One|Interference - Book One: Shock Tactic]]''
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* ''[[The Adolescence of Time]]''
* ''[[The Adolescence of Time]]''


=== Reference Books ===
=== Reference books ===
* ''[[About Time 1]]''
* ''[[About Time 1]]''
* ''[[About Time 2]]''
* ''[[About Time 2]]''
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[[fr:Lawrence Miles]]
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[[Category:Audio writers|Miles, Lawrence]]
[[Category:Audio writers|Miles, Lawrence]]
[[Category:Prose writers|Miles, Lawrence]]
[[Category:Prose writers|Miles, Lawrence]]
[[Category:Reference writers|Miles, Lawrence]]
[[Category:Reference writers|Miles, Lawrence]]

Revision as of 14:14, 23 September 2013

RealWorld.png

Lawrence Miles wrote several Doctor Who and Bernice Summerfield New Adventures novels.

He created the Faction Paradox and the Future War that the Time Lords were going to have. He said when he started the war in Alien Bodies, it was "never supposed to be a big murder-mystery type of thing, with this huge question hovering over it", and was going to reveal the identity of the Enemy in his next book after Bodies, which Stephen Cole stopped him from doing. [1]

He is known among some fan circles [which?] as 'Mad Larry' for his often controversial ideas and comments. He frequently posts such views (often in essay form) of the most recent episodes of the new series on The Beasthouse (Lawrence Miles' blog).

Miles is also known for attempting to set the BBC Books Doctor Who novels apart from the Virgin novels, claiming the BBC Books novels were "weak when they're pretending to be the Virgin books", specifically pointing out Vampire Science as suffering from this. [1]

Miles has particular views and understandings [statement unclear] of Doctor Who, as shown in his About Time series. [which?]

He is very passionate about certain elements of Doctor Who, calling Anji Kapoor someone who would have been treated "as a piece of self-obsessed parasitic vermin" because of her job in the City of London in the Virgin New Adventures, explaining it wasn't the job itself but that she was proud of it; something he considered so "mean-spirited and trivial". [2]

In a 2000 interview he said he did't like Lance Parkin's work, but he is one of the writers still talking to him. [1]

He called Gary Russell's work "crap" and wrote the lowest-rated Doctor Who book "on the rankings chart" at the time of the interview, Divided Loyalties. He also disagreed with Russell "taking over as much as fandom as possible", a fandom which according to Miles was gaining younger fans that "actually wants to go somewhere" at the time, but also one which "the Gary Mafia at DWM seem[ed] to be doing everything it [could] to make sure it all [got] fucked up". [1]

Miles, by his own admission, had "slagged off" BBC Books novels he hadn't written which had used Faction Paradox. [2]

Miles considered Roz Forrester a "genuine character in a way that Bernice and Anji aren't" because "apart from her overall grumpiness she had nothing in common with the people who wrote her or the people who read about her". He also mentioned that her background was so apart from that of the readers that her writers had to try "bloody hard" to make her understandable." [2]

Miles is noted for creating Sabbath (another recurring concept/villain) in the Eighth Doctor Adventures. Miles said that Justin Richards wanted Sabbath as a recurring character from the synopsis alone, at which point Miles didn't even know he was going to be like. [2]

Bibliography

Doctor Who

Virgin New Adventures

BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures

Bernice Summerfield

Prose

Audio

Reference books

Footnotes

External links