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Beyond the Book

Lucifer Rising

By Paul Scoones

Lucifer Rising by Andy Lane and Jim Mortimore

Andy Lane and Jim Mortimore are prolific writers of Doctor Who fan fiction. The novel's plot originated in a Doctor Who fan audio play script, written by Jim Mortimore, in which the Cybermen were the villains but the script was abandoned in favour of a New Adventures novel with the Cybermen. After much revision, Lane and Mortimore finally decided to take out the Cybermen.

The book was very much inspired by the SF work of Arthur C Clarke, and indeed the title Lucifer Rising comes from the title of the last section of Clarke's novel 2010: Odyssey Two.

The authors wrote the book on IBM compatible systems and swapped disks through the post. Mortimore wrote all the odd-numbered chapters, and Lane did the evens; they then revised each others' work, and then rewrote the revisions. Lane wanted to put in more humour, and Mortimore wanted more 'gut-wrenching' emotion. Each chapter has about one and a half chapters' worth of work in them, with the exception of chapters 5, 10, 12 and 18 which have about two and a half worth.

The book took about ten months to write. Most of it was written in Bristol and London (the authors' home cities), but parts of it were written in America and the Falkland Islands. The manuscript was delivered two weeks late and 5,000 words over the upper limit - at 352 pages it is the longest New Adventure to date.

Mortimore persuaded Virgin to let him paint the cover, and the authors also managed to get approval for internal illustrations to be used. These were drawn by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, a friend of the authors.

The cover layout was altered slightly between the advance publicity version and the final printing, including a reduction to the size of the title box, and changes to some of the back cover text.

Sources: Celestial Toyroom issue 194; TV Zone issue 42

Lucifer Rising continuity references

Lucifer Rising is a Doctor Who reference-spotter's delight. The following guide to some of the TV story continuity references is not intended to be the definitive list - eagle-eyed readers will no doubt discover many I've missed...

The Adjudicators and IMC are from Colony in Space. The titles Krau (Ms) and Trau (Mr) originate in The Caves of Androzani. The Knights of the Grand Order of Oberon (pg.51) were mentioned in Revelation of the Daleks. The Ice Warrior invasion of 2090 (pg.l71) is a reference to the events of The Seeds of Death, whilst the Dalek invasion of 2158 (pg.337) is of course The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Other, more obscure reference origins are as follows: Rutan (pg.33): Horror of Fang Rock; Hydrax (pg.59) and the vampire swarms (pg.332): State of Decay; Drashig (pg.65): Carnival of Monsters; Zyton 7 (pg.71): Vengeance on Varos; Hymetusite (pg.71): The Horns of Nimon; Parranium (pg.71): Death to the Daleks; Panorama Chemicals (pg.84): The Green Death; Venusian lullaby (pg.95 & 165): The Daemons and The Curse of Peladon; Arcturans and Alpha Centaurians (pg.320): The Curse of Peladon; Delphons (pg.101): Spearhead from Space; Rills (pg.l02): Galaxy 4; Trisilicate (pg.117): The Monster of Peladon; Azure (pg.132) and Vraxoin raids (pg.189): Nightmare of Eden; Kroagnon (pg.189): Paradise Towers; Macra (pg.189): The Macra Terror; Ange (pg.262): Survival; Draconians (pg.334): Frontier in Space.

This item appeared in TSV 35 (September 1993).

Index nodes: Lucifer Rising, Beyond the Book