''Dead Romance'' is an original novel by

Lawrence Miles Lawrence Miles (born 15 March 1972 in Middlesex) is a science fiction author known for his work on original ''Doctor Who'' novels (for both the Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books series) and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox. He is also ...

, originally published as part of the

Virgin New Adventures The ''Virgin New Adventures'' (NA series, or NAs) are a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. They continued the story of the Doctor from the point at which the televisio ...

series. The New Adventures were a spin-off from the long-running British

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. Though part of the sequence of stories that featured the fictional archaeologist

Bernice Summerfield Bernice Surprise Summerfield (later Professor Bernice Summerfield or just Benny) is a fictional character created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishing's range of original full-length ''Doctor Who ...

, this was released as something of a standalone, and she is not in it. The main character and narrator Christine Summerfield are not connected to her in any way. A former New Adventures

Seventh Doctor The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', and the final incarnation of the original Doctor Who series. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. W ...

companion,

Chris Cwej Christopher Rodonanté Cwej, usually just known as Chris Cwej, is a fictional character from the Virgin New Adventures range of spin-offs based on the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. His surname is properly pronounced "Shva ...

, does appear. The Seventh Doctor briefly appears as "the Evil Renegade" in Chris's tampered memories. Almost the entirety of the book is set within a bottle universe. This concept is most fully explored in Miles's two-book cycle ''

Interference Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to: Communications * Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message * Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extr ...

'', and it is implied that this bottle universe is the one which appears in ''Interference''. Christine Summerfield reappears as Cousin Eliza in the

Faction Paradox ''Faction Paradox'' is a series of novels, audio stories, short story anthologies, and comics set in and around a "War in Heaven", a history-spanning conflict between godlike "Great Houses" and their mysterious enemy. The series is named after a ...

audio plays (also by Miles), voiced by Emma Kilbey. A second edition of ''Dead Romance'' was published by

Mad Norwegian Press Mad Norwegian Press is an American publisher of science-fiction guides and novels. The company has worked with authors such as Harlan Ellison, Peter David, Diana Gabaldon, Tanya Huff, Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, Mary Robinette Kowal, Seanan McGu ...

in 2004. This contained some minor alterations which made the book more consistent with Miles's later

mythos. The novel is partly an exploration of Miles's "bottle universe" concept that places

Virgin Publishing Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm ...

's Virgin New Adventures series within a bottle universe inside the

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...

Eighth Doctor Adventures The ''Eighth Doctor Adventures'' (sometimes abbreviated as EDA or referred to as the EDAs) are a series of Doctor Who spin-offs, spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and published unde ...

universe (and by extension these bottles are within a larger one containing all televised serials). This concept is most fully explored in Miles's two-book cycle ''

''. This idea was never followed up on in any future novels and was abandoned. The idea of the book series' being in bottle universes inside each other was retconned in the Mad Norwegian Press reprint edition, with Miles himself stating in a foreword that this was a bad idea and was rightfully ignored.

References

External links

The Cloister Library - ''Dead Romance''
1999 British novels 1999 science fiction novels Virgin New Adventures Novels by Lawrence Miles Faction Paradox Fiction with unreliable narrators Fictional diaries Novels set in London Apocalyptic novels Alien invasions in novels Self-reflexive novels {{1990s-epistolary-novel-stub

See also

References

External links