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Big Disclaimer: We're providing this list with the greatest of trepidation. Faction Paradox has a pre-history in literature, but you don't need to read these books to understand the comic series or ongoing novel line.
Essentially, The Book of the War (Sept. 2002) kicked off the Faction Paradox franchise as we know it. It remains your No. 1 starting point for Faction Paradox, although it's not required. Even so, if your lives simply won't be complete without knowing about Faction Paradox's appearances in a bundle of BBC science-fiction novels, the following list should help you out.
Be further warned: So far as we know, ALL of the following books (barring The Book of the War, and soon the Dead Romance re-release) are out of print. Also, be warned that they intermingle with another science-fiction property we'd rather not talk about, so reading them purely for their Faction Paradox elements is problematic at best.
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- THE BOOK OF THE WAR (edited by Lawrence Miles, Mad Norwegian Press, Sept. 2002) -- The first stand-alone Faction Paradox book, a fictional guidebook to the first 50 years of "The War in Heaven." Among other things, The Book of the War discusses Faction Paradox, Compassion, the City of the Saved and more in rich detail.
- ALIEN BODIES (by Lawrence Miles, BBC Books, Nov. 1997) - Faction Paradox gets embroiled in a futuristic auction for a corpse of great importance. Cousin Justine, a Faction member who appears in the BBV audios, fails at a mission and endures some shame because of it. Details provided about Faction Paradox and its rivals.
- INTERFERENCE Pts. 1 and 2 (by Lawrence Miles, BBC Books, Aug. 1999) -- Faction Paradox taints a Great House operative with a virus, attempting to make him a Faction thrall.
- THE TAKING OF PLANET FIVE (by Simon Bucher-Jones and Mark Clapham, BBC Books, Sept. 1999) -- Destruction of the Celestis, a major rival to Faction Paradox.
- THE SHADOWS OF AVALON (by Paul Cornell, BBC Books, Feb. 2000) -- Laura Tobin (nicknamed "Compassion") undergoes transformation into an indestructable timeship, capable of traveling throughout time and space.
- THE ANCESTOR CELL (by Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole, July 2000) -- The book that exorcises all Faction Paradox elements from the BBC Books' science fiction novels. The Faction Paradox novels/comics as published by Mad Norwegian Press formally ignore that The Ancestor Cell ever happened.
- CHRISTMAS ON A RATIONAL PLANET (Virgin Publishing, July 1996) -- A trio of time travelers go head-to-head against a living embodiment of chaos, named the Carnival Queen.
- DOWN (Virgin Publishing, Sept. 1997) -- Archaeologist Bernice Summerfield is found on a planet named Tyler's Folly, sufficiently gibbering about her experiences in its interior.
- DEAD ROMANCE (Virgin Publishing, April 1999) -- Christine Summerfield (no relation) learns that her "Earth" is actually contained in a Universe-in-a-Bottle--and ripe for incursion by a myriad of inter-dimensional forces.
- DEAD ROMANCE (Mad Norwegian Press, Summer 2004) -- Pardon this shameless plus, but Mad Norwegian Press is reprinting Dead Romance sometime in Summer 2004. The re-release will also include Lawrence's short story "Toy Story," plus other goodies.
- THE ADVENTURESS OF HENRIETTA STREET (BBC Books, Nov. 2001) -- A historical narrative, detailing the impending marriage of a time traveler to Scarlett, an 18th century prostitute. Sabbath, an 18th century intelligence agent, meets said time traveler and is greatly influenced by him.
