In 2004, Mad Norwegian Press published a volume entitled Dead Romance as a "tie-in" to their Faction Paradox line. The book was mostly given over to a lightly-edited reprint of the Virgin New Adventures novel Dead Romance, but also included several shorter works by Lawrence Miles which had similarly been formative to the Faction Paradox mythos without being originally printed under the Faction Paradox brand.
Contemporary marketing from Mad Norwegian Press described the release as "a stand-alone fiction work" in a line called "Mad Norwegian Fiction" line, "not [as] part of the Faction Paradox range".[1] However, it was also called a "pre-cursor" to the Faction Paradox series and "fully compatible with the Faction universe".[2] Later marketing called it a "Faction Paradox tie-in".[3]
The copyright blurb noted that in addition to the licensing of Lawrence Miles's creator-owned concepts as used in the various stories, permission was sought from Andy Lane for the appearance of Chris Cwej, and from Paul Cornell and Big Finish Productions for the references to Bernice Summerfield.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
Considered Faction Paradox creator Lawrence Miles's greatest novel, Dead Romance now returns, after four years out of print, as a special re-release from Mad Norwegian Press. In addition to the text of Dead Romance, this volume includes Miles's short story Toy Story – presently only available in an out-of-print anthology – and his similarly rare short story Grass. Also included: A new introduction by Miles (titled “Disinterred Romance”) and an original essay by Miles on the mechanics of the Faction Paradox universe.
Contents[[edit] | [edit source]]
| Title | Medium | Author |
|---|---|---|
| Disinterred Romance | Foreword | Lawrence Miles |
| Dead Romance | Novel | |
| Toy Story | Short story | |
| The Cosmology of the Spiral Politic | Essay | |
| Grass | Short story |
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- As clarified in the Foreword, a few edits were made to the text of Dead Romance compared to its original standalone printing by Virgin Books. This included correcting edits made by Virgin without Miles's consent in an effort to make the English more "proper" (overlooking the intended artistic effect of Christine Summerfield's occasional vernacular turns of phrase), as well as reinforcing the connection of the story to the Faction Paradox line by using the phrase "Great Houses" to refer to Chris Cwej's employers on a few occasions.
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official Dead Romance page at Mad Norwegian Press