Doctor Who: Interference - Book One

Eighth Doctor Adventures #25

by Lawrence Miles

Five years ago, Sam Jones was just a schoolgirl from Shoreditch. Of course, that was before she met up with the Doctor and found out that her entire life had been stage-managed by a time-travelling voodoo cult. Funny how things turn out, isn’t it?
Now Sam's back in her own time, fighting the good fight in a world of political treachery, international subterfuge, and good old-fashioned depravity. But she’s about to learn the first great truth of the universe: that however corrupt and amoral your own race might be, there’s always someone in the galaxy who can make you look like a beginner.

Ms Jones has just become a minor player in a million-year-old power struggle... and as it happens, so has the Doctor.

Both of him, actually.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Novels, Ebooks, Time Travel, Fantasy

309 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 2, 1999

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been ages since I’d read the previous book in the Eighth Doctor Series Autumn Mist and with each new entry continuing the series arcs, I really should read these more regularly...

It’s actually quite hard to review this first part of Interference as not only does it owe so much to knowing the events from the previous books, but it’s very much setting up for the second volume.

I like it when previous companions of The Doctor have appeared in the EDA’s so Sarah and K9’s inclusion was most welcomed.
It’s also nice that Sam is very central in this story.

The series is nicely poised and I’m just about to start Part 2!

[Drew Perron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well why don't you tell us what you really think, Lawrence Miles!?

This is a book with a lot of really fascinating concepts. It's got multiple different intersecting non-linear storylines, metafiction, and, when it permits itself to empathize with the characters, some really good characterization. Unfortunately, the focus of the narrative - what focus it has, with all those different storylines and characters - isn't on any of that, but on social satire and political polemic. And hoo boy, does that part ever feel like it came out of the era of Fight Club, school shootings blamed on video games, and the idea that electing George W. Bush is basically the same as electing Al Gore, right?

Miles's most famous creation, Faction Paradox, are present in this book, but the biggest new concept is The Remote, a creation of FP gone rogue, whose lives revolve around the media transmissions they receive through antennae embedded in their bodies. They're in the present, selling weapons to governments; they're in the future, brutally taking places over; they're flailing around, with no goals but what the transmissions tell them.

Now, this is a satire of mass media that paints the consumers of that media as passive, as controlled, on the receiving end of a purely one-way relationship. And that's certainly how mass media has tried to make it, since the invention of the radio and arguably further back. But it's never been the full story - response and critique is part of how humans communicate, and even in a system that's trying to cut off the option, people fight back in little and big ways. And this book came out in 1999 - when we'd already had a full ten years of Mystery Science Theater 3000, when fanfiction and online reviews and the Internet were exploding, when metafiction was leaking into the popular consciousness. And more: if Lawrence Miles doesn't think that people care capable of taking mass media and responding to it, critiquing it meaningfully and creating their own what the hell does he think he's doing???

His larger political message is essentially similar, taking the fact of widespread political apathy at the time (again, very 1999) and marking it up to "having aesthetics instead of ethics" - in other words, only being bothered by what's thrown up in front of you by the media as ugly, instead of the real problems in the world. But in a world where people are increasingly becoming social justice warriors and taking up arms, one by one, to yell about oppression worldwide, it's clear that the real problem was never the media consumer, but the media itself, hyperfocusing on tragedies at home and ignoring tragedies worldwide.

And really - even if you disagree with my analysis and/or think Miles was focusing on the right stuff, the story addresses it in a thudding, blunt, unsubtle manner which sometimes tilts on the verge of full-out lecture. Neither the Doctor nor Sam nor Sarah Jane can think of a reason why they might not grieve strongly every time they hear about a far-off tragedy (not burnout, not apathy through not being able to meaningfully affect it, not distance through casual treatment by disinterested news anchors), and completely different characters levy the "aesthetics not ethics" criticism, apparently having all independently reached the same conclusion. The idea that governments can basically run rampant because everyone's apathetic gets hammered over and over during the "private security conference" part of the story, and the analogy between the Remote and modern-day news and entertainment media is not subtle.

It's sad, too, because like I said, so much of what isn't The Message is not just good, but great. Miles is known for his profusion of ideas, and here we've got the Remote themselves; the Cold, their mysterious weapon that's more than a weapon, sticking people outside time itself; rooms in the TARDIS that hold spare concepts and the flotsam of time travel; a culture for the perennial Who mooks known as the Ogrons; and worlds built around holes in the universe. It plays with the literary medium, going into movie scripts and scribbled-down notes and journal entries, and fiddles freely with Doctor Who canon, embedding Lovecraftian horror at the birth of the Time Lords and dropping universes into bottles. It has the TARDIS console dripping with blood, and Rassilon as played by Brian Blessed.

Plus, when the characters aren't being hijacked for Message-ing, they're really well-characterized. The Doctor's optimism shines through even when he's beaten down and half-dead. The present-day Sarah Jane Smith we see in this is a clear precursor to the one in The Sarah Jane Adventures, still adventurous and crusading, but with a bit more wisdom and a tendency towards caretaking. And Sam Jones gets all kinds of interesting internal flourishes, showing her as defiant, courageous, and flawed. (The parts of the book where Sarah and Sam team up are clearly the best - fun adventure, good banter.)

The interesting thing is, the positive and negative aspects of this book sort of synergize, creating an experience that's interesting-but-annoying enough to inspire by counterexample, pushing one to create one's own response. This, I think, is valuable; and the sheer density of ideas makes it a read that's worth it, if you can push past the annoying parts.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was convoluted, overwritten, and a huge missed opportunity.
The Doctor spends most of the novel in prison being tortured again (really, guys? can't come up with anything new?), Fitz is off on his own playing spy, and Sam is gathering information and getting into her own brand of trouble, and making friends along the way. All things that have been done in the EDAs plenty of times previously. Three and eight spend all of five minutes together in a fever dream, even though both of them are on the cover. Three doesn't even really show up properly until more than halfway through the novel. Sarah is only truly there for the sake of exposition. This could have been a wonderful opportunity for both dapper dressed Doctors to band together and save the world through Venutian Aikido and diplomacy. The three companions could have commiserated and supported the Doctors in their plans to defeat the Faction Paradox. Instead, we get a messy jumble of alien-type futuristic humans, side characters we don't care about, Fitz getting put in hibernation and then brainwashed, the history of some out of the way dust bowl planet, and the Doctor recounting and waxing about this adventure.
To put it frankly, it's just not interesting, and it really could have been. I only hope that part two starts to make more sense or picks up the pace- because as it stands, it's one of the most forgettable installments yet. Not bad- simply not good.

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first two-part Doctor Who novel gets off to an ambitious start, telling a story in multiple formats and suggesting seismic changes of pace and continuity to come. The characters have a miserable time and there’s no reprieve until Part Two. It’s not much fun as a story, but the generally wry tone and the presence of Sarah Jane Smith help to buoy a plot heavily concerned with big questions and arms deals. The Third Doctor is in it less than the front cover suggests; his story is one of many things heavily reliant on the second book. You’re definitely gonna need both.

3.5

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ambitious, perhaps a little overly so, kind of pretentious,misses the mark nearly as often as it hits it. Still, the book feels experimental and chaotic in a good way, despite its shortcomings, and the story so far is interesting, and unfolds in an enjoyably non-linear way, which is great for not only a book about time travel but specifically about screwing around with time travel. The style reflects the narrative in a fun way. Going to start on "Book II" immediately — need to find out what the hell is going on!

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

he would hate me saying this, but lawrence miles really is kind of the steven moffat of the EDAs isn’t he. and I mean that in both a positive, and a negative sense.

[Axel Kloen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heel sterk! beetje horror achtig. Ik kijk erg uit naar deel 2.

[Hidekisohma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it's been a hot minute since I read an 8th doctor novel, and now we're onto the first half of the last story of Sam. Thank god. I was super excited to get into this book knowing this and...well... okay it doesn't happen in this book (spoilers but not really)

So this book is really the setup to the next one. it's a 2 parter and it's setup that way. Every single thing that happens in this book has no pay off, but then again, i don't think many of us were really expecting that as it's more of a necessity to get into the huge big finale of the 2 parter. (aka the next book)

Faction paradox is up to its old wacky shenanigans again and doc, sam, and fitz are all separated doing their own thing. (most of which ends up with them being captured in some way because of course it does). The real big addition to this story is Sarah Jane. She's in this book QUITE a lot (in fact i'd say she's in it more than the 8th doctor) and while this book advertises the 3rd doctor as being a big part, he's really only in this one for about.. like..... 50 pages at the end. and he talks to the 8th doctor for like 3 of them. So he technically DOES meet 8 in this one, but for a very VERY brief time.

The basic premise is that there's some strange arms dealing going on with this alien race called "the Remote" that have this weapon called "The Cold" which is basically a teleporter that sends you to a weird dimension that people can come pick you up out of if they feel like it. Everyone gets captured separately except for Sarah who's off doing investigation things.

That's all you really need to know for this book as Faction Paradox is kind of just there in the background.

The third doc stuff at the end basically has his walking around this desert planet and hanging out with this lady and the remote are there being jerks.

The parts are interspersed with 8 talking to someone named I.M. Foreman after the events of this book and the parts are treated like he's telling the story to this woman on a planet while having a picnic.

It's hard to judge this book because in all honesty, it's not really a whole book. It's literally half of a book. the entire book is parts 1 and 2 together, but it was split into 2 books because well, then the book would be over 600 pages. and also they wanted double the money i'm sure.

As it is, this book is just a LOT of setup. like a LOT. That's literally all it is. I mean, i could have done without the doctor being in prison, because well......i'm tired of stories of him being in prison and being tortured. But honestly i could have used more 8th doctor in GENERAL. There wasn't a lot of him IN this one. like if you added up all the 8th doctor pages, out of 309 you'd probably have somewhere around.... 50 maybe? He's not very prominent in his own book in this one. There's a LOT more Sam, but ESPECIALLY Sarah. Fitz is barely in it too. He's maybe in... 15-25?

The one new thing about this book is that we meet compassion. (who is important for reasons i don't want to spoil) She's...interesting. She's kind of soldiery, but i can't seem to nail down exactly what she is. they talk about how they're human, but also how they look a bit different but aren't REALLY human...it's complicated. But from what I could gather, she's all right. She's no nonsense, but after dealing with Sam for so long, seeing her get slapped was always fun.

I want to see more of Compassion and see where the story's going with her.

It's hard to rate this book because there's not a lot TO it. It's like taking a deep inhale before screaming when you go down a roller coaster. It's very hard to rate the track leading up to the big drop because the real fun stuff hasn't happened yet.

All in all, is the book good? Not really? But i'm excited to see where it leads because there's a LOT of threads that need to be tied up and storylines to be resolved.

Still, i didn't HATE it, i just wish more things happened rather than just the setup, but that's a tricky thing because in actuality, that's all this book is. (still though. i didn't need an ENTIRE book of 8 in prison again).

When all's said and done, i'll give it an even 3 out of 5. If the sequel book is garbage, i might go back and change this, but for now, giving it the benefit of the doubt to see if the payoff is worth the 300 pages of setup.

Also, i sincerely hope 3 and 8 hang out more in the next book rather than a 3 page "how do you do?"

even 3 out of 5.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good example of why I think Doctor Who novels from the interregnum are superior to more (if not all) other franchise tie-in fiction, Lawrence Miles's Interference Book One is a postmodern marvel, even if it's only (only?) set-up for a second part. There are a few postmodern writers working on Doctor Who at this time, a liberty that's almost unheard of in licensed universe fiction. It keeps changing modes of writing - documents, script formats, different 3rd and 1st person devices... It's got unreliable narrators, and you'll either entirely revise who was speaking by the end of a section, or be left with a partial understanding of what's going on because the starring character also has that partial understanding. It even begins a different novel just when the going gets good, as a distraction! And it's about media. Doctor Who is a television show, so Miles invents a race of people who depend on television signals for their culture, who exist as if in a TV show, perceive the world in this way and let themselves be guided by such signals. The point being that, so do we (although the Internet has since replace TV per se). "Interference" is a strong theme in the novel, and surely why it allows itself to start a second (related) story in the third act. It's about the "signals", yes, but also how the Doctor and his foes interfere with history, how he interferes with (changes) his Companions, and vice-versa, and ultimately, how the author interferes with the reader's ability to follow a narrative. Lots of cool ideas, lots of Faction Paradox stuff, lots of wit (especially for Doctor Who die hards who will get the meta jokes), but not lots of Eighth Doctor. He and Fitz take a real back seat (to the point where Miles is almost defying his editor by sidelining them... another type of "interference"? Sam instead shares the adventure with one of the Doctor's past companions (it's someone we like, don't worry!), and another version of the Doctor puts in an appearance (ditto). Such an intriguing read, I'm not even going to say my enjoyment depends on the resolution.

[Danny Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been forever since I've read anything from Lawrence Miles. I read Alien Bodies years ago and loved it, such an imaginative and well-written novel that set a standard for the Eighth Doctor Adventures and introduced 'Faction Paradox'. Interference is Lawrence Miles's two-novel epic that concludes Sam's arc and introduces Compassion. I've been excited to read this story for years and it's only now I'm finally getting to read it.

Sam Jones is back on Earth her travels with The Doctor are over but she has one last mission before she says goodbye. At a nearby conference in London, unknown aliens are making an arms deal with the human race, and it's up to Sam to find out what's going on. Sarah Jane Smith is also on the case and with K9 by her side what can go wrong? Unfortunately, members of Faction Paradox are attempting to interfere with history, and The Doctor and Fitz are in danger. How do events connect to The Third Doctor and Sarah's adventure on Dust and who's set these complicated events into motion? Only time will tell; if it doesn't get re-written first that is.

Lawrence Miles's first installment to the Interference storyline is complicated, timey-wimey, filled to the brim with insane and unique concepts, interesting character pairings, and plenty of drama. It's a political novel with a dash of horror, espionage, action, betrayal, and most important of all Ogrons. It is a novel full of creativity and imagination, yet surprisingly it doesn't have a very deep or intricate plot, but it still manages to have a sense of scale to it that quite frankly makes it feel epic.

I loved the ideas at play here and how the characters are pushed into unique or horrifying situations that put them to the test. It's a tense novel that demands you to pay attention to what it's trying to do and to take it at your own pace.

Overall: It's a brilliant first installment that has me hyped to see how it wraps up in the next installment. 10/10

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

これまで読んだDWの小説の中で一番ややこしい構成。しかも下巻へ続くなので、自分の記憶力がどこまでキープできるのか心もとない。

1996年の地球にたどり着いたターディス。ドクターとサムとフィズはイギリスで開催されているセキュリティシステムの展示会に潜入し、異星人のテクノロジーが紛れ込んでいないかどうかを調査して欲しいとUNITから依頼される。

しかし、リモートが持ち込んだ”Cold”という不気味な物体にドクターもサムもフィズも呑まれてしまい、サムは尋問を受け続け、フィズは長らく拷問されたあと、６００年後の未来へ、ドクターも牢にとらわれ厳しい拷問にさらされ続けている。

一方で、ドクターはi.M.フォアマンという世界のはいったボトルを持つ女性の元で、この1996年代の地球に赴いた時の話をしている。ドクターはファンクション・パラドックスが自分のタイムラインに干渉した結果、様々なことが狂いはじめていることに気がつき、どうにかしたいと思いながらも万策がつきかけていた。
ターディスはこの異変にいち早く気がついていて、何度もドクターに警告を試みていたが、そのターディス自身にもファンクション・パラドックスの干渉の影響がおよびつつあった。

メモ
ファンクション・パラドックスは遠い昔、ギャリフレイに存在したカルト集団で歴史にもっと積極的に干渉すべきだという考え方を持ち、追放されたギャリフレイァンの子孫にあたる。

“リモート”はタイムロードに滅ぼされた種族の生き残り。

ギャリフレイの最高議会は未来に起こるであろうギャリフレイを崩壊させるかもしれない戦争を回避するための方法を模索している。


設定も話も込み入っている上に時間軸もあちらこちらに飛びまくる。別々に語られていたストーリーラインに不意に別のストーリーラインで語られていたイベントが染み出してくる。コールドの中で拷問されて力尽きようとしているドクターの未来の姿が時折見え隠れしているような、いないような。

ドクターと語り合っているフォアマンの存在も謎。リジェネレーションするのでギャリフレイ人だろとは思うのだけど。人類が宇宙に進出し、たどり着いた一番果ての世界でショーを行った目隠しをした男は、その言動からドクターのような気がしたけれど、フォアマンだった。3thドクターがおなじ地でであったマグナルダもフォアマン。
ここであっているから、冒頭で8thドクターはフォアマンを知っていて、訪ねてきたということなのか。

もう一度読み返してからpart2に進むべきか、とりあえず突き進むべきか悩んだが、とりあえず突き進もう。
結論を知ってからの方が整理しやすそうだ。

[said · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just too much, the way this first part of Interference plays with your sense of perception about the nature of a justified and good action of interference (which has essentially been what the Doctor’s character is all about) opposed to the unexplainable devastation his meddling causes; absolutely everything is done so perfectly. Signals that echo throughout space-time, picked up by one lone traveler occasionally accompanied by some humans, finally meet his breaking point, and the vulgarity of the Faction Paradox in the picture just completes the circle of inevitability.

Incredibly excited for the second part!


𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟏𝟎/𝟏𝟎

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I do agree with other reviews that say this is definitely a teensy weensy bit preachy at times, overall this is an EXCELLENT return to form for the EDAs after a little slump from books 20-24. (Autumn Mist was slightly awful.) Sam returns to character, although Fitz has very little to do, and Sarah Jane was a lovely surprise! I know I'm biased, but the Faction Paradox is just such an excellent antagonist and Eight is wonderful when he's put in situations. Excited to read book two.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had this book for years, probably about ten years. The description is somewhat misleading. You expect the two incarnations to actually interact rather than some brief telepathic mathematical thing that somehow means that the Doctor can sort of leave his body almost like astral projection and travel through time. It seems all over the place

[Christopher Hatch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I enjoyed this book I suspect I'll have to wait until I finished book 2 to be absolutely sure that I did!

One day I hope to buy the paperback but the current price of over £50 on eBay is a bit over the top.

[Cara M · Rating 5 out of 5]

half a book! but so far so good.

[Joe Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Provocative, dense, full of ideas and almost deliberately slow - Miles’ manifesto.

[James Lotshaw III · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a huge disappointment!

[Nenya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introduction of Compassion, plus Sarah Jane Smith working with Sam Jones in the present day, some nailbiting trauma for Eight, and an old adventure with Three and Sarah Jane. That last one didn't really hold up for me--I kind of got what they were doing with I.M. Foreman, but in a novel starring my two favourite Doctors I was disappointed not to have more interaction between Three and Eight. Still, Eight's hyper-math in jail--drawn in his own blood, yikes!--and his ability to send messages across spacetime was great.

Love, love, loved Sarah Jane in this--bold clever investigative journalist, loyal friend, and exactly the person for Sam to end up with when she leaves the TARDIS. As much as I hate to see Sam go, if she's going to end up in Sarah Jane's care, I feel like she's in good hands. And I can imagine all kinds of adventures for them as Sam settles back into life on Earth.

The Father Kreiner plot really disturbed me, but the "remembrance" of people in the Remote was really fascinating (if also worrying). If anyone can put Fitz back together, it's the TARDIS, but at the same time, this was an adventure that will definitely leave its mark.

[Jemiah Jefferson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been beaten. I haven't really finished reading Interference part 1. I just... conceded defeat. It's very good fun but oh my brain is in a pretzel after 20 or so pages... which is probably why I've been reading it for like 7 years now. Despite what I was advised, I think if I am going to read the Eighth Doctor Adventures series, I really do have to read them all from the start, beginning with the novelization of the TV movie despite the fact that it's full of canonical details and also not that great otherwise. But there are layers upon worlds of complexity that are casually discussed here that I just don't understand AT ALL. I mean, it's worse than asking a casual fan the difference between the Silurians and the Sontarans, and why one of them would be nicer to a girl in a miniskirt than the other (because I actually KNOW THAT answer and it took me 35 years of fandom to get there). This is an entirely new, barely related shard of Doctor Who "canon", and it's its own thing, and I can't just start with Lawrence Miles alluding to drug trips and actual sex and not keep stopping to scream "WHAAAAAT?"

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1114003.html[return][return]A typically rambling Lawrence Miles story, rambling in this case over two volumes, linking together his Faction Paradox concept with the truth about I.M. Foreman, and bringing in also Sarah Jane Smith as an investigative journalist to supplement EDA regulars Sam and Fitz. There are some passages of vivid writing (the Saudi prison cell, Sam's experiments with LSD) and a fairly spectacular plot resolution, with an intricate narrative structure which I suspect actually does make sense (though I remained a little confused about the various versions of Fitz' story). I think really one for completists only (as with almost the whole Eighth Doctor range), but engaging enough to keep my interest over both volumes.

[Travis · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you haven't read a lot of the Eighth Doctor books, you'll be lost as a bunch of story threads show up in this and most of it feels like the author is trying too hard to be clever, while taking a serious look at the Doctor and his world.

Most of the book is Sam, Sarah Jane and K-9. Fitz and the Doctor make guest appearances.

The parts with Sarah are fun, but the rest is such a jumble and nothing really gets explained, so by the time the past Doctor shows up I had lost all interest and could care less if it all gets explained in book 2.

THe Seventh and Eighth Doctor series had a lot of writers trying new things and it was very hit or miss.
This was a miss.

[Justin Rees · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow...Sheer bloody brilliance, and madness, all rolled into one wonderful book (not to mention part two, but more on that later). This is absolutely amazing, and one of my favourite stories in the Doctor Who universe. A must for any fan of the classics and also for the eighth Doctor fans out there. Though it helps to have a back knowledge of the classics and eight Doctor stories, this book is just enjoyable on so many levels. Luckily I have a brilliant mentor who guided me through the history before I read this two part epic ;).

[Numa Parrott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was put off by the intro, but the book was brilliant. I really enjoyed the variety of story telling methods, such as the movie scripts. The companion bits with Fitz and Sam (and Sarah!!) pretty much carried the whole story, but the occasional Doctor scenes always had me on the edge of my seat.
What this story lacks in endearing characters, it makes up for in imagination and fantastic plot twists.
I love Faction Paradox. These guys need a moment in the TV series. They deserve it.
If you love the Doctor, this one will cause you pain, but YOU MUST READ IT.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Doctor answers a call for help from UNIT to help with an alien negotiation. Things get dangerous when Faction Paradox become involved. This is a different kind of story that can be seen as slightly complicated. Sarah Jane guest stars, and is involved in the plot because of something that happened when she was with the 3rd Doctor. So in a way this could be seen as a multi doctor book. A very good read.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first reaction: NICE! Alternate-universe 3rd Doctor/Sarah Jane Smith action, mashed up with 8th Doctor/Sam/Fitz/post-K9 & Company storytelling.

My second reaction: By god...what WAS that?!?

[Rae Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refer to my review of Doctor Who: Interference - Book Two

[Simon Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

IM Forman, Dust, The Third Doctor. Eh, this is meant to be an Eighth Doctor novel!

[Richard Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to say I found the Interference duology to be a real bore, which is such a shame as Miles 'Alien Bodies' was such a strong entry into the 8th Doctor series.

[Peter Camenzind · Rating 5 out of 5]

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