The Book of the War (novel): Difference between revisions
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[[The Enemy]]: Not so much an army as a hostile new kind of history. So ambitious it can re-write worlds, so complex that even calling it by its name seems to underestimate it. | [[The Enemy]]: Not so much an army as a hostile new kind of history. So ambitious it can re-write worlds, so complex that even calling it by its name seems to underestimate it. | ||
[[Faction Paradox]]: Renegades, ritualists, saboteurs and subterfugers, the criminal-cult to end all criminal-cults, happy to be caught in the crossfire and ready to take whatever's needed from the | [[Faction Paradox]]: Renegades, ritualists, saboteurs and subterfugers, the criminal-cult to end all criminal-cults, happy to be caught in the crossfire and ready to take whatever's needed from the wreckage… assuming the other powers leave behind a universe that's habitable. | ||
[[War in Heaven|The War]]: A fifty-year-old dispute over the two most valuable territories in existence: "cause" and "effect." | [[War in Heaven|The War]]: A fifty-year-old dispute over the two most valuable territories in existence: "cause" and "effect." | ||
Marking the first five decades of the conflict, [[The Book of the War|THE BOOK OF THE WAR]] is an A to Z of a self-contained continuum and a complete guide to the [[Spiral Politic]], from the beginning of recordable [[time]] to the fall of [[human]]ity. Part story, part history and part puzzle-box, this is a chronicle of protocol and paranoia in a War where the historians win as many battles as the soldiers and the greatest victory of all is to hold on to your own | Marking the first five decades of the conflict, [[The Book of the War|THE BOOK OF THE WAR]] is an A to Z of a self-contained continuum and a complete guide to the [[Spiral Politic]], from the beginning of recordable [[time]] to the fall of [[human]]ity. Part story, part history and part puzzle-box, this is a chronicle of protocol and paranoia in a War where the historians win as many battles as the soldiers and the greatest victory of all is to hold on to your own past… | ||
== Entries == | == Entries == | ||
Line 47: | Line 47: | ||
=== History of Faction Paradox === | === History of Faction Paradox === | ||
* The [[Anchoring of the thread|Anchoring of the Thread]] | * The [[Anchoring of the thread|Anchoring of the Thread]] | ||
* [[Faction Paradox armour|Armour | * [[Faction Paradox armour|Armour (Faction Paradox)]] | ||
* [[Audience of the Ruling Houses]] | * [[Audience of the Ruling Houses]] | ||
* The [[Caldera]] | * The [[Caldera]] | ||
Line 345: | Line 345: | ||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
* While editing the | * While editing ''The Book of the War'', [[Lawrence Miles]] described it as "a continuity in a book, it's an encyclopaedia to the War Era universe. It's got a structure rather than a plot, the way history's got a structure or a Bible's got a structure. Some parts of the universe are cross-referenced with other parts, and it all comes together to make up this great big … vision."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080509161052/http://www.gallifreyone.com/interview.php?id=miles Outpost Gallifrey Interview]</ref> | ||
* "Design Specs for Advanced Users", | * In the book, some words in each entry are emphasised in bold to point to other entries under that name. This enables the reader to jump around the book and read related entries. "Design Specs for Advanced Users", published on a hidden page on the ''Faction Paradox'' website, purported to reveal the "secret pathway running through the whole volume": one route that covers the entire book by jumping along these links.<ref name="DesignSpecs">[http://www.curufea.com/doku.php?id=faction:factionbook1reading Design Specs for Advanced Users]</ref> This list forms the basis for the organisation of the entries on this page. | ||
* Miles carefully structured the book so it could also be understood if the entries were read in alphabetical order: at one point, he specifically requested that [[Jonathan Dennis]] rename a character to move the respective entry in the book.<ref>[https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Jade_Pagoda/conversations/messages/56227 Re: JP The Book of War]</ref> The entries in several sections of the Design Specs listing are notably given in alphabetical order. | |||
* The Design Specs specified that their listing contained "almost certainly at least one mistake", as well as "a single entry which isn't connected to anything else".<ref name="DesignSpecs" /> The mistake was the listing of the nonexistent "[[Robert Scarratt|Scarratt]]'s Group" entry under "The A-Z of the War", and the single unconnected entry was "[[Parablox]]" (here placed under "The End"). As it stands, "The A-Z of the War" needs both the nonexistent "Scarratt's Group" entry and the "[[Jungle child|Jungle Children]]" entry (grouped under the subsequent "Houses and Orders" section) in order to truly have one entry for every letter of the alphabet. | |||
* Lawrence Miles briefly considered releasing an expanded version of ''The Book of the War'' on CD-ROM.<ref name="SBJunused">[https://simonbjones.blogspot.com/2006/12/book-of-war-unused-material.html Book Of The War unused material]</ref> Though [[Mad Norwegian Press]]' other ''Faction Paradox'' books would be later be released as ebooks, CEO [[Lars Pearson]] said that the number of permissions that would be needed from the contributors made it untenable.<ref name="ebook discussion">[http://gallifreybase.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5668976&postcount=26 Re: Faction Paradox (Non-BBC) - Your Favourites]</ref> | * Lawrence Miles briefly considered releasing an expanded version of ''The Book of the War'' on CD-ROM.<ref name="SBJunused">[https://simonbjones.blogspot.com/2006/12/book-of-war-unused-material.html Book Of The War unused material]</ref> Though [[Mad Norwegian Press]]' other ''Faction Paradox'' books would be later be released as ebooks, CEO [[Lars Pearson]] said that the number of permissions that would be needed from the contributors made it untenable.<ref name="ebook discussion">[http://gallifreybase.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5668976&postcount=26 Re: Faction Paradox (Non-BBC) - Your Favourites]</ref> | ||
* The entry for the [[City of the Saved]] quotes a traveller's lyrical description of the City as "an urban sprawl the size of a spiral | * The entry for the [[City of the Saved]] quotes a traveller's lyrical description of the City as "an urban sprawl the size of a spiral [[galaxy]]… a fabulous shimmering lightscape nonillions of miles across". This traveller was intended to be [[Iris Wildthyme]].<ref name="iriscity">[http://www.infinitarian.com/iriscity.html Iris Wildthyme in the City of the Saved]</ref> | ||
* Miles considered using the [[Sontaran]]s with permission from the [[Robert Holmes]] estate, but decided it wasn't necessary.<ref name="ebook discussion" /> | * Miles considered using the [[Sontaran]]s with permission from the [[Robert Holmes]] estate, but decided it wasn't necessary.<ref name="ebook discussion" /> | ||
=== Who wrote what? === | === Who wrote what? === | ||
Contributors to the book mostly worked on their stories independently, only discovering the added intersections with other stories once the book was released. It was deliberately kept unclear as to which authors contributed which articles, but later releases provided some clues. | Contributors to the book mostly worked on their stories independently, only discovering the added intersections with other stories once the book was released. It was deliberately kept unclear as to which authors contributed which articles, but later releases provided some clues. | ||
* As editor, [[Lawrence Miles]] | * As editor, [[Lawrence Miles]] was responsible not only for writing many entries but also for rewriting and interweaving the other writers' contributions. The "Faction Paradox Family" section was credited to him in the book's notes, and it had been previously released on the ''Faction Paradox'' website.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20011115105551/http://www.factionparadox.co.uk:80/family.htm The Faction Paradox Family]</ref> | ||
* [[Simon Bucher-Jones]] | * [[Simon Bucher-Jones]] contributed slightly more than any other writer besides Lawrence Miles. The final edition of ''The Book of the War'' included at least one entry by him for every letter of the alphabet, including "Lords Celestial", which was interrupted by [[Shift (Alien Bodies)|the Shift]];<ref>[https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/factionparadox/ask-the-author-sbj-t716.html#p4629 Ask the Author SBJ]</ref> the "Design Specs for Advanced Users" included a potentially-related "A-Z of the War" section that featured entries for many concepts also explored in his books ''[[The Taking of Planet 5 (novel)|The Taking of Planet 5]]'' and ''[[The Brakespeare Voyage (novel)|The Brakespeare Voyage]]'', such as [[Robert Scarratt]]<ref>Credited to Bucher-Jones in the acknowledgments of ''[[Weapons Grade Snake Oil (novel)|Weapons Grade Snake Oil]]''</ref> and the [[Leviathan (The Book of the War)|Leviathans]].<ref>[http://simonbjones.blogspot.com/2014/01/shard-apocrypha-brakespeare.html Brakespeare Initialisation]</ref> | ||
* [[Daniel O'Mahony]] | * [[Daniel O'Mahony]] came narrowly in third place for words contributed to the book. He wrote far more for ''The Book of the War'' than ended up in the final draft, and Bucher-Jones only overtook him in the final edit.<ref>[https://removalvan.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/pantechnicon_issue_eight.pdf Pantechnicon Issue Eight]</ref> He drew heavily from his rejected [[BBC Books]] novel proposals, saying "the entire plot of one outline is embedded in there somewhere, while a lot of the background for another became a major part of the Faction universe."<ref>[https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/factionparadox/author-author-dom-t914-s10.html#p5756 Author! Author! DOM]</ref> The planet [[Lethe (The Parliament of Rats)|Lethe]], mentioned in the entry for the [[Lethean Campaign]], previously appeared in his Doctor Who short story ''[[The Parliament of Rats (short story)|The Parliament of Rats]]'', itself a scene from a BBC novel proposal.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20061213205116/http://www.gallifreyone.com:80/interview.php?id=omahony O'Mahony Gallifrey One Interview]</ref> He would later use [[babel]]s, [[Thessalia]], and the [[Order of the Weal]] in his novel ''[[Newtons Sleep (novel)|Newtons Sleep]]''. He stated that he'd had no involvement in [[Michael Brookhaven]]'s filmography.<ref>[https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/factionparadox/brookhaven-a-filmography-t534.html Brookhaven: A Filmography]</ref> | ||
* [[Ian McIntire]] introduced [[Carmen Yeh]] in his unlicensed short story ''Schrödinger's Botanist'' for the 1998 [[charity publications|charity anthology]] ''Perfect Timing''. The related entries were co-written with [[Mad Norwegian Press]] CEO [[Lars Pearson]].<ref name="BotW Question" /> He also contributed to the entry for [[the War King]], including the detail of the unfolded [[hypercube]] on his desk, which was intended as a link to one of his other | * [[Ian McIntire]] introduced [[Carmen Yeh]] in his unlicensed short story ''Schrödinger's Botanist'' for the 1998 [[charity publications|charity anthology]] ''Perfect Timing''. The related entries were co-written with [[Mad Norwegian Press]] CEO [[Lars Pearson]].<ref name="BotW Question" /> He also contributed to the entry for [[the War King]], including the detail of the unfolded [[hypercube]] on his desk, which was intended as a link to one of his other, ultimately-rejected entries.<ref>[http://big-finish-sketches.tumblr.com/post/177895970788/id-a-facebook-post-by-ian-mcintire-which-says-i A Facebook post by Ian McIntire]</ref> | ||
* [[Mags L. Halliday]] wrote about [[Anastasia Romanov|Anastasia]] and the [[Thirteen-Day Republic]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040814202707/http://www.bbc.co.uk:80/cult/doctorwho/books/telepress/halliday/page8.shtml BBC Online Interview]</ref | * [[Mags L. Halliday]] wrote about [[Anastasia Romanov|Anastasia]] and the [[Thirteen-Day Republic]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040814202707/http://www.bbc.co.uk:80/cult/doctorwho/books/telepress/halliday/page8.shtml BBC Online Interview]</ref> She later used Cousin [[Octavia Sutherland|Octavia]] in ''[[Warring States (novel)|Warring States]]''. | ||
* [[Philip Purser-Hallard]] wrote the articles concerning the [[City of the Saved]],<ref name="SWWW">[http://www.infinitarian.com/botwswww.html "So, Who Wrote What?"]</ref> which he had developed for his ultimately-unproduced ''[[Iris Wildthyme (series)|Iris Wildthyme]]'' novel ''[[Iris Wildthyme in the City of the Saved (novel)|Iris Wildthyme in the City of the Saved]]''.<ref name="iriscity" /> He would later revisit the City in his novel ''[[Of the City of the Saved... (novel)|Of the City of the | * [[Philip Purser-Hallard]] wrote the articles concerning the [[City of the Saved]],<ref name="SWWW">[http://www.infinitarian.com/botwswww.html "So, Who Wrote What?"]</ref> which he had originally developed for his ultimately-unproduced ''[[Iris Wildthyme (series)|Iris Wildthyme]]'' novel ''[[Iris Wildthyme in the City of the Saved (novel)|Iris Wildthyme in the City of the Saved]]''.<ref name="iriscity" /> He would later revisit the City in his novel ''[[Of the City of the Saved... (novel)|Of the City of the Saved…]]'' and in [[Obverse Books]]' [[The City of the Saved (series)|''City of the Saved'' anthology series]]. He also wrote the entry for [[House Mirraflex]],<ref>[https://twitter.com/purserhallard/status/926070499729428480 purserhallard on Twitter]</ref> though Miles thoroughly overhauled it in editing. Purser-Hallard commented that he had not written the articles on [[Wallachia]], [[Michael Brookhaven]], [[Grigori Rasputin]], or the [[Spiral Politic]].<ref name="SWWW" /> | ||
* [[Kelly Hale]], who herself is part [[Native American]], wrote the entries concerning Cousin [[Belial (The Book of the War)|Belial]] and the Faction's [[Remote]] experiments on the [[Native American]] warrior tribes. She would later revisit Native America and [[Wounded Knee]] in ''[[Project Thunderbird (short story)|Project Thunderbird]]''. | * [[Kelly Hale]], who herself is part [[Native American]], wrote the entries concerning Cousin [[Belial (The Book of the War)|Belial]] and the Faction's [[Remote]] experiments on the [[Native American]] warrior tribes. She would later revisit Native America and [[Wounded Knee]] in ''[[Project Thunderbird (short story)|Project Thunderbird]]''. | ||
* [[Jonathan Dennis]], who previously | * [[Jonathan Dennis]], who had previously written the story ''The Hollywood Life'' for the [[1999 (releases)|1999]] [[Charity publications|charity anthology]] ''Perfect Timing 2'', created [[Faction Hollywood]] for ''The Book of the War''. However, those entries also included major contributions from at least three other writers,<ref name="BotW Question" /> including Lawrence Miles<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20031218032809/http://www.factionparadox.co.uk:80/interview1.htm Lawrence Miles on Language, Literature and Lying to the Audience]</ref> and Simon Bucher-Jones.<ref>[https://the-voice-of-light-city.tumblr.com/post/171601681800/rassilon-imprimatur-i-think-the-funniest-thing#notes Re:"Through The Eye of Eternity" modest cough]</ref> Dennis would later revisit Faction Hollywood in his story ''[[Remake/Remodel (short story)|Remake/Remodel]]'' and co-write ''[[The Brakespeare Voyage (novel)|The Brakespeare Voyage]]'' with Bucher-Jones. | ||
* [[Mark Clapham]] and Bucher-Jones had earlier explored the [[Celestis]] in their cowritten [[Eighth Doctor]] novel ''[[The Taking of Planet 5 (novel)|The Taking of Planet 5]]''. | * [[Mark Clapham]] and Bucher-Jones had earlier explored the [[Celestis]] in their cowritten [[Eighth Doctor]] novel ''[[The Taking of Planet 5 (novel)|The Taking of Planet 5]]''. | ||
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{{CotS series}} | {{CotS series}} | ||
{{TitleSort}} | {{TitleSort}} | ||
[[Category:2002 novels]] | [[Category:2002 novels]] | ||
[[Category:FP novels]] | [[Category:FP novels]] | ||
[[Category:Stories set in the War]] | [[Category:Stories set in the War]] |
Revision as of 19:34, 26 March 2019
The Book of the War was the first novel in the Faction Paradox series.
Publisher's summary
The Great Houses: Immovable. Implacable. Unchanging. Old enough to pass themselves off as immortal, arrogant enough to claim ultimate authority over the Spiral Politic.
The Enemy: Not so much an army as a hostile new kind of history. So ambitious it can re-write worlds, so complex that even calling it by its name seems to underestimate it.
Faction Paradox: Renegades, ritualists, saboteurs and subterfugers, the criminal-cult to end all criminal-cults, happy to be caught in the crossfire and ready to take whatever's needed from the wreckage… assuming the other powers leave behind a universe that's habitable.
The War: A fifty-year-old dispute over the two most valuable territories in existence: "cause" and "effect."
Marking the first five decades of the conflict, THE BOOK OF THE WAR is an A to Z of a self-contained continuum and a complete guide to the Spiral Politic, from the beginning of recordable time to the fall of humanity. Part story, part history and part puzzle-box, this is a chronicle of protocol and paranoia in a War where the historians win as many battles as the soldiers and the greatest victory of all is to hold on to your own past…
Entries
The Core Entries
- The Spiral Politic
- The Great Houses
- The House Military
- The Celestis
- Faction Paradox
- Inset: The Faction Paradox "Family"
- The Remote
- Lesser Species
- Yssgaroth
History of Faction Paradox
- The Anchoring of the Thread
- Armour (Faction Paradox)
- Audience of the Ruling Houses
- The Caldera
- The Eleven-Day Empire
- Fashion Paradox, London
- The Gregorian Compact
- History
- The Imperator Presidency
- Intervention
- Protocols of Linearity
- Loa
- London (Eighteenth Century)
- Godfather Morlock
- House Paradox
- Recruitment (Faction Paradox)
- Ritual (Faction Paradox)
- The Act of Severance
- Sombras que Corta
- The Stacks
- Father Stendec
- Tower Hill
- The Unkindnesses
- New Palace of Westminster
The History of Earth
- The Analytical Engine
- The Book of Enoch
- Captain Sir Burton
- George Gordon, Sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale
- Ada Byron
- Canon per Tonos
- The Clockwork Ouroboros
- The Eleven-Day Empire: The 1834 Attack
- Ghost Clusters
- The Grand Families
- Grindlay's Warehouse
- Grotesques
- Karachi
- Liber Sanguisugarum
- Mal'akh
- The Maltese Incident
- The Mountains of the Moon
- The Musical Offering
- Napoleonic Era
- The "Princess of Parallelograms" Letters
- The Shelley Cabal
- The Society of St. George
- John Hanning Speke
- The Star Chamber
- The Walking Dead
- House Xianthellipse
- Robert Scarratt
The A-Z of the War
- House Strategist Entarodora
- The "Monsters" Coda
- Xenoprediction
- "You" Diversions
- The "Probability" Doctrine
- Confusion
- Utterlost
- Zero Time
- Gravity Spiders
- Time-thickening
- Apportation
- Women (Dressing Up As)
- Nechronomancers
- HEM (Highest Entropy Matter)
- Ordifica
- Intercreationals
- Leviathans
- Quintessence
- Redemption Cult
- Forced Regen Missions
- D-Mat
- Burlesque Devices
- "Killerbots" (Autonomic)
- Vaccinations (Temporal)
Houses and Orders
- Jungle Children
- Hauserkinder
- "Justine's Story"
- House Arpexia
- Babels
- Casts
- House Catherion
- House Ixion
- Lethean Campaign
- Order of the Weal
- Chatelaine Thessalia
- War Predictions: Chatelaine Thessalia
- Zo la Domini
The History of the Homeworld
- Closed Session (of the Ruling Houses)
- Dronid
- House Dvora
- The enemy
- The Faraway Declaration
- The First Message from the Enemy
- The Head of the Presidency
- The Homeworld
- House Lineacrux
- The Nine Homeworlds
- Noosphere
- The Presidency
- Protocols of the Great Houses
- Regen-Inf
- The Ruling Houses
- Sex
- Space (Five Famous Battles)
- Timeships
- Laura Tobin
- Academician Umbaste
- The War King
- Inset: The War King's Inaugural Address
- Carmen Yeh
- Appendix III: Carmen Yeh's "Fantastical Travels in an Infinite Universe"
- Compassion
The History of Posthumanity
- Earth: History
- Posthumanity
- Praxis
- Siloportem
- Time-Travel: Posthuman
- War Predictions: The Rivera Manuscript
- Appendix IV: Notes on the Rivera Manuscript
The Academician's Story
- Academicians for Game Logic
- Academician Devonire
- Grandfather Paradox (Representations)
- The Grandfather's Arm
- Kaiwar
- Paradox Anxiety
- The Thousand-Year Battles
- Waves of the House Military
- Appendix I: The Beginning of the War (A Chronology)
The Non-History of the Celestis
- Anarchitects
- Chaotic Limiter
- Conceptual Entities
- Fluxes
- Gargoyles
- Meme
- Mictlan
- Order of the Dragon
- The Ottoman Purges
- Sacrifice
- Shifts
The Shift's Story
- Beshielach
- Dating War Era Events (Difficulties)
- The Greater Autrobulan Franchise
- The Lords Celestial
- Memeovore
- Planetesimals
- Personality Reboots
- Worldofme
The City of the Saved
- City of the Saved
- The Timebeast Assault
- Former Citizen Verrifant
- House Mirraflex
- Lady Armourer Mantissa
- Het Linc
- Secret Architects (of the City of the Saved)
- Uptime Gate
- Amanda Legend Lefcourt
- Gargil Krymtorpor
- Ghetto of the Damned
- Lord Foaming Sky
- Order of the Iron Soul
- Cousin Pinocchio
- The Rump Parliament
- Father Timon
- House Halfling
- The Piltdown Mob
- Sons of Tepes
The Impaler's Story
- Tirgoviste
- Ulterior Worlds
- Vlad III of Wallachia
- Wallachia
- Djinn
- The Edimmu
- Gragov
- Lord Halved Birth
- Investigators
- Investigator Thirty-One
- Mark of Indenture
- The Poenari Relic
- Grigori Efimovitch Rasputin
The Thirteen-Day Republic
- Cousin-Thrice-Removed Anastasia
- The Cult of Celebrity Death
- Father-Twice-Removed Dyavol
- The House of Lords
- The Malachite Room
- Cousin-Once-Removed Nadim
- Cousin Octavia
- The Red Burial
- Removal of Members
- The Thirteen-Day Republic
- Battle of Valentine's Day
- The Winter Palace
- Witch-blood
Labyrinths
- Biodata
- The Diaspora
- Eremites
- Faction Precursors
- Mrs. Foyle
- The House of the Rising Sun
- Labyrinths
- The Remonstration Bureau
- Voodoo Charter
- The Venue Accords
- Weaponstores (Remote)
The Ghost Dance
- A'daltem Ano'nde
- Cousin Belial
- Catch-the-Bear's war bonnet
- Ghost Shirts
- North American Warrior Tribes
- Nunaha'wu
- Open Doors
- Pai'ngya
- Peyote Dream Runners
- Sand and Snow Ammunition
- Tenskwatawa
- Appendix II: From the North American Journals of Cousin Belial
The History of the Remote
- Anchormen
- The Broken Remote
- Fallahal
- The Jallama Reed Transmissions
- The New Young Gods
- Remembrance Tanks
- Shadow-Masks
- Simia-KK98
- The Viewers and Listeners Protocols
- Wovoka
Faction Hollywood
- Michael Brookhaven
- Brookhaven's Follies
- Christopher Rodonanté Cwej
- Cwejen
- Faction Hollywood
- The Fat
- The Gauntlet
- GCI Processor
- Hollow Spectaculars
- Inset: Brookhaven's Ghost Kingdom: The Six Central Characters
- The Hollywood Bowl Shooting
- The House of the Seven Gables
- The Mount Usu Duel
- "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"
- The North Los Angeles Cabal
- Order of the White Peacock
- Production Hell
- "Through the Eye of Eternity"
- Chad Vandemeer
The End
- "Briefings"
- Humanity
- Nanotechnology
- Parablox
- Ronald Bela Nevitz
- Time-Travel: Biodata Principle
- The Younger World Story
Coda
References
- Het Linc is a polymath.
- The Malachite Room is part of the Winter Palace.
- Faction Paradox uses Sabakash bones for armour.
- 104-forms are timeships.
- The Hall of Faces is in House Catherion's chapterhouse.
- Sand and snow ammunition was used by some Native American tribes.
- The Yowie is a cryptid. The Mokele-mbembe was thought to be one.
Notes
- While editing The Book of the War, Lawrence Miles described it as "a continuity in a book, it's an encyclopaedia to the War Era universe. It's got a structure rather than a plot, the way history's got a structure or a Bible's got a structure. Some parts of the universe are cross-referenced with other parts, and it all comes together to make up this great big … vision."[2]
- In the book, some words in each entry are emphasised in bold to point to other entries under that name. This enables the reader to jump around the book and read related entries. "Design Specs for Advanced Users", published on a hidden page on the Faction Paradox website, purported to reveal the "secret pathway running through the whole volume": one route that covers the entire book by jumping along these links.[3] This list forms the basis for the organisation of the entries on this page.
- Miles carefully structured the book so it could also be understood if the entries were read in alphabetical order: at one point, he specifically requested that Jonathan Dennis rename a character to move the respective entry in the book.[4] The entries in several sections of the Design Specs listing are notably given in alphabetical order.
- The Design Specs specified that their listing contained "almost certainly at least one mistake", as well as "a single entry which isn't connected to anything else".[3] The mistake was the listing of the nonexistent "Scarratt's Group" entry under "The A-Z of the War", and the single unconnected entry was "Parablox" (here placed under "The End"). As it stands, "The A-Z of the War" needs both the nonexistent "Scarratt's Group" entry and the "Jungle Children" entry (grouped under the subsequent "Houses and Orders" section) in order to truly have one entry for every letter of the alphabet.
- Lawrence Miles briefly considered releasing an expanded version of The Book of the War on CD-ROM.[5] Though Mad Norwegian Press' other Faction Paradox books would be later be released as ebooks, CEO Lars Pearson said that the number of permissions that would be needed from the contributors made it untenable.[6]
- The entry for the City of the Saved quotes a traveller's lyrical description of the City as "an urban sprawl the size of a spiral galaxy… a fabulous shimmering lightscape nonillions of miles across". This traveller was intended to be Iris Wildthyme.[7]
- Miles considered using the Sontarans with permission from the Robert Holmes estate, but decided it wasn't necessary.[6]
Who wrote what?
Contributors to the book mostly worked on their stories independently, only discovering the added intersections with other stories once the book was released. It was deliberately kept unclear as to which authors contributed which articles, but later releases provided some clues.
- As editor, Lawrence Miles was responsible not only for writing many entries but also for rewriting and interweaving the other writers' contributions. The "Faction Paradox Family" section was credited to him in the book's notes, and it had been previously released on the Faction Paradox website.[8]
- Simon Bucher-Jones contributed slightly more than any other writer besides Lawrence Miles. The final edition of The Book of the War included at least one entry by him for every letter of the alphabet, including "Lords Celestial", which was interrupted by the Shift;[9] the "Design Specs for Advanced Users" included a potentially-related "A-Z of the War" section that featured entries for many concepts also explored in his books The Taking of Planet 5 and The Brakespeare Voyage, such as Robert Scarratt[10] and the Leviathans.[11]
- Daniel O'Mahony came narrowly in third place for words contributed to the book. He wrote far more for The Book of the War than ended up in the final draft, and Bucher-Jones only overtook him in the final edit.[12] He drew heavily from his rejected BBC Books novel proposals, saying "the entire plot of one outline is embedded in there somewhere, while a lot of the background for another became a major part of the Faction universe."[13] The planet Lethe, mentioned in the entry for the Lethean Campaign, previously appeared in his Doctor Who short story The Parliament of Rats, itself a scene from a BBC novel proposal.[14] He would later use babels, Thessalia, and the Order of the Weal in his novel Newtons Sleep. He stated that he'd had no involvement in Michael Brookhaven's filmography.[15]
- Ian McIntire introduced Carmen Yeh in his unlicensed short story Schrödinger's Botanist for the 1998 charity anthology Perfect Timing. The related entries were co-written with Mad Norwegian Press CEO Lars Pearson.[1] He also contributed to the entry for the War King, including the detail of the unfolded hypercube on his desk, which was intended as a link to one of his other, ultimately-rejected entries.[16]
- Mags L. Halliday wrote about Anastasia and the Thirteen-Day Republic.[17] She later used Cousin Octavia in Warring States.
- Philip Purser-Hallard wrote the articles concerning the City of the Saved,[18] which he had originally developed for his ultimately-unproduced Iris Wildthyme novel Iris Wildthyme in the City of the Saved.[7] He would later revisit the City in his novel Of the City of the Saved… and in Obverse Books' City of the Saved anthology series. He also wrote the entry for House Mirraflex,[19] though Miles thoroughly overhauled it in editing. Purser-Hallard commented that he had not written the articles on Wallachia, Michael Brookhaven, Grigori Rasputin, or the Spiral Politic.[18]
- Kelly Hale, who herself is part Native American, wrote the entries concerning Cousin Belial and the Faction's Remote experiments on the Native American warrior tribes. She would later revisit Native America and Wounded Knee in Project Thunderbird.
- Jonathan Dennis, who had previously written the story The Hollywood Life for the 1999 charity anthology Perfect Timing 2, created Faction Hollywood for The Book of the War. However, those entries also included major contributions from at least three other writers,[1] including Lawrence Miles[20] and Simon Bucher-Jones.[21] Dennis would later revisit Faction Hollywood in his story Remake/Remodel and co-write The Brakespeare Voyage with Bucher-Jones.
- Mark Clapham and Bucher-Jones had earlier explored the Celestis in their cowritten Eighth Doctor novel The Taking of Planet 5.
Unincluded entries
The book lists Lance Parkin, David A. McIntee, and Eddie Robson as writers who "wanted to play but whose material didn't quite fit anywhere".
- Parkin's contribution was an entry about Mr Saldaamir. It was later published in the fanzine Myth Makers 13.[22]
- McIntee spoke with Lars Pearson about contributing but never actually submitted any material.[23]
- Robson's five submitted entries were published online by Niki Haringsma in 2017; they told a story about Faction Paradox's Father Katzmary, his "Minimediras Project", and his daughter Tanya Glassman. They also further explored the concept of the Nine Gallifreys and the character of Mother Festen.[24] Robson would later reuse some elements of these ideas in the Bernice Summerfield audios Beyond the Sea and Resurrecting the Past, both of which involved the planet Maximediras.
- Simon Bucher-Jones wrote two extra entries, "Protective Neotony" and "Instant Animals", for the planned CD-ROM expansion of the book; after that project was cancelled, he published the entries on his blog.[5]
Continuity
- The Shift was a liquid life-form before it was transformed into a shift; it then received the Mark of Indenture and was enslaved to the Celestis. (PROSE: Alien Bodies)
- An interventionist member of the Great Houses was believed to have died as the fighting began on Dronid. (PROSE: Alien Bodies)
- Homeworld weapons like babels and casts were used on the planet Lethe. (PROSE: The Parliament of Rats)
- Dronid was the chosen homeworld of the renegade Presidency. (TV: Shada, PROSE: Alien Bodies)
- The Homeworld was plunged into crisis by the rise to power of a great Imperator, Morbius. (TV: The Brain of Morbius)
- Chris Cwej was recruited as an agent of the Great Houses. (PROSE: Dead Romance)
- A Homeworld colony was located on Simia KK98. (PROSE: Alien Bodies, Dead Romance)
- Several groups of Gallifreyans left Gallifrey during or following Rassilon's rise to power. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, Interference)
- The Faction Paradox created the Remote on Ordifica. They reproduce through Remembrance Tanks. (PROSE: Interference)
- Grandfather Paradox was imprisoned in the Great Houses' prison. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet, Interference)
- House Mirraflex was an illustrious Great House. (AUDIO: The Conscript)
- Investigator One was the Celestis' head field agent. (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5)
- The Homeworld was ruled by six ruling Houses. (TV: The Deadly Assassin, PROSE: The Ancestor Cell)
- Compassion was the first and only 102-form timeship. (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon)
- The Homeworld is ruled by Great Houses. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)
- House Lolita is an up-and-coming force in the War. (PROSE: Toy Story)
- The Babewyn are connected to humanity's noosphere. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
- The frontier in time exists beyond the edge of the Great Houses' noosphere in the posthuman era. (PROSE: Frontios)
- An Arcadian faction of self-named "guardians" was mainly composed of survivors from Earth who established a new home on the nearest Earth-like world. (TV: The Ark)
- Multiple Homeworlds were constructed during the War. (PROSE: Alien Bodies, The Taking of Planet 5, The Shadows of Avalon)
- The leader of the Homeworld during the War used the title War King. (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon)
- The Star Chamber ran secret operations in Great Britain and around the world. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
- The House of Dvora was one of Gallifrey's Great Houses. (AUDIO: Panacea)
- The Yssgaroth fought a war with the Great Houses at the beginning of history. (PROSE: The Pit, TV: State of Decay)
- Stendec wanted to put a menagerie in the Eleven-Day Empire's version of the building on the Strand which housed a zoo in the 18th century and famously had an elephant winched to one of its higher stories. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
External links
- Official The Book of the War page at Mad Norwegian Press
- The Book of the War at the Faction Paradox wiki
- The Book of the War at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Book of the War Constructing Themes Question
- ↑ Outpost Gallifrey Interview
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Design Specs for Advanced Users
- ↑ Re: JP The Book of War
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Book Of The War unused material
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Re: Faction Paradox (Non-BBC) - Your Favourites
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Iris Wildthyme in the City of the Saved
- ↑ The Faction Paradox Family
- ↑ Ask the Author SBJ
- ↑ Credited to Bucher-Jones in the acknowledgments of Weapons Grade Snake Oil
- ↑ Brakespeare Initialisation
- ↑ Pantechnicon Issue Eight
- ↑ Author! Author! DOM
- ↑ O'Mahony Gallifrey One Interview
- ↑ Brookhaven: A Filmography
- ↑ A Facebook post by Ian McIntire
- ↑ BBC Online Interview
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 "So, Who Wrote What?"
- ↑ purserhallard on Twitter
- ↑ Lawrence Miles on Language, Literature and Lying to the Audience
- ↑ Re:"Through The Eye of Eternity" modest cough
- ↑ Myth Makers Past Issues
- ↑ Rejected Book of the War entries
- ↑ Eddie Robson's previously unpublished entries
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