The Also People (novel)

This novel features uniquely named characters, with upper and lower cases and punctuation within the names and a pronunciation guide printed at the start of the novel explaining how to pronounce those letters and punctuation marks.

Publisher's summary

"Just how technologically advanced are they?" The Doctor frowned. "Let me put it this way: they have a non-aggression pact with the Time Lords."

The Doctor has taken his companions to paradise, or at least the closest thing he can find. A sun enclosed by an artificial sphere where there is no want, poverty or violence.

While Chris learns to surf, meets a girl and falls in love with a biplane, Roz suspects an alien plot and Bernice considers that a Dyson Sphere needs an archaeologist like a fish needs a five-speed gear box.

Then the peace is shattered by murder. As the suspects proliferate, Bernice realises that even an artificial world has its buried secrets and Roz discovers what she's always suspected — that every paradise has its snake.

Chapter Titles

Prologue
1: Delete Where Applicable
2: Life's A Beach
Hyper-lude
3: Party Games
4: Policeman on the Corner
Hyper-lude
5: All the Answers
6: Faces in the Water
Hyper-lude
7: Screaming for Ice Cream
Hyper-lude
8: Gardens of Stone
Hyper-lude
9: Cult Status
10: Unsmiling in the Darkness
Hyper-lude
11: Tears of Rust
12: Travelling Man Blues
Epilogue

Plot

to be added

Characters

References

Anatomy and physiology

Roz decided in her youth that messy sex didn't offer anything a three-pack of Martian ale and a long shower couldn't.
Dep has sex with Chris and impregnates herself with his sperm.

Astronomical objects

Bernice Summerfield has visited a Dyson Sphere before, albeit one that was already fragmented.

Conflicts

The Doctor mentions World War IV.
feLixi was a secret agent in the Proxy Wars.

Crime

feLixi was the accomplice in the murder of vi!Cari.
!C-Mel was the murderer of vi!Cari, who is avenged by the Doctor in this story.
R-Vene murdered two hundred thousand beings by destroying Omicron 378 in a moment of combat panic.

The Doctor

The Doctor once broke the galactic record for continuous spoon-playing... sixty-seven hours' worth.
The Doctor most likely would have killed Kadiatu had Benny not saved her.
The Doctor gets rescued by a parachute that designs apple trees in its spare time.
The Doctor can think faster then he can talk (obviously) and is capable of keeping up with (and confusing) a ship that thinks picoseconds is a long time.

Individuals

God lives in Whynot, where the continents constantly change on God's whim. This includes drowning a city (slowly and with due forewarning to the locals) because he heard about Atlantis.
The Doctor trusts God as much as God trusts him.
God insists he/it is not a computer.
Despite everything, Benny still trusts the Doctor.
Roz's middle name is revealed here to be Inyathi meaning "buffalo". She has a sister named Leabie.
Chris's grandfather was colour blind.
saRa!qava has a daughter, Dep. saRa!qava also fancies Benny.
aM!xitsa is a long time friend of the Doctor who has also been looking after/watching over Kadiatu for the Doctor.
feLixi has a relationship with Roz.
vi!Cari is a gossip and is rather disliked even by other ships.
Kadiatu loses an arm wrestling contest with the Doctor, much to everyone's surprise.
R-Vene is a ship. It got combat psychosis some years ago.
Roz and Bernice argue over the meaning of the word "safari".

Fashion and clothing

The Doctor goes to a fancy dress party as himself.

Foods and beverages

Flashback is a drink that makes you relive the past (the more you drink, the clearer it is).
saRa!qava spends her time baking bread.
God brings a weird yellow dip to parties that no one ever eats.

Games

Kadiatu plays chess with the Doctor, and as a sign of her improved mental prowess begins to play it in her head against him in his. She wins some of the games.

Literature

The Lament of the Non-Operational is a one- hundred twenty-eight stanza long piece of Dalek poetry. Roz's father collected it and made her memorise all the stanzas.

Locations

iSanti Jeni was the town closest to where the Doctor and his companions were staying.

Organisations

feLixi volunteered in the Xeno Relations (Normalisation) Interest Group (XR(N)IG) as a secret agent.
The Doctor mercilessly mocks a member of the Time Lord Interest Group over the inconsistencies in his Time Lord costume.
God is a member of the Anti-Machine Interest Group.

Politics

The Time Lords and the People have a non-aggression treaty, part of which stops the People from developing time travel and interferring in the affairs of the Mutter's Spiral.
Bernice realises that there isn't enough alcohol in the universe to allow her to cope with the idea that the People are on par with the Time Lords and have a non-aggression treaty with them.

Power sources

The Windmills in the Worldsphere are real and do generate power.

Species

The People built and live in the Worldsphere.

Spacecraft

The ships are scared of the Doctor.

Theories and concepts

Benny has a pretty surreal dream involving drinking and discussing evil with a Dalek, a Cyberman, and a Sontaran (named Grinx). Davros also gets a mention.

Weapons

The Doctor whistles "anything you can do, I can do better" with a small bomb in his mouth.

Notes

In the introduction Ben Aaronovitch details how to pronounce the names of the People.
The image on the cover of this novel actually happens in the novel.

Continuity

saRa!qava attends Benny's wedding reception in PROSE: Happy Endings. Kadiatu is also present.
The People / elements of the People's (or God itself) culture appear in PROSE: Oh No It Isn't!, Down, Ghost Devices, Walking to Babylon and Where Angels Fear (in which the final fate of !C-Mel is revealed) and The Quantum Archangel, where the People and God are involved in the Millennial Wars that the Doctor learns about.

External links