Of the City of the Saved, of its diverse citizenry and of its sundry divinities, with a disquisition on the protocols of history (or just Of the City of the Saved...) is a novel written by Philip Purser-Hallard. Released in 2004, it is the third book in Mad Norwegian Press' Faction Paradox series and introduces the City of the Saved, which later became a series in its own right.
Characters[]
- Godfather Avatar
- Mesh Cos
- Laura Tobin
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
For Humanity, the War is over...
We all remember Resurrection Day. Even now, three centuries later, we cannot forget that awakening: our bewilderment, our terror and our joy. Each of us had experienced death, imagining ourselves bound for oblivion, Heaven or Nirvana, according to taste. Instead, we found, each member of the many human species — from tool-wielding australopithecines to posthuman philosopher-gods — had been harvested, gathered here by the Founders’ unfathomable technologies.
Reborn in our countless immortal bodies, we were given the freedom of the City of the Saved. A single conurbation as broad as a spiral galaxy, she has been our sanctuary from the ravages of the War. That monstrous conflict between inhuman cultures cannot touch us here: we live our afterlives beyond the end of time, in perfect safety.
We may be certain, therefore, that these rumours of a murder (the brutal stabbing of a City Councillor, no less!) are nothing more than lurid fabrications. The supposition that the murder weapon is missing, or that it could have been — as hysterical conjecture has claimed — a "potent weapon", capable of injuring a Citizen within the haven of the City, is equally absurd. The idea that a guerrilla war has already begun in one of our less harmonious enclaves need not be dignified with refutation.
Please go about your business, Citizens, as normal. We are perfectly safe, here in the City. Humanity has never been safer.
Of the City of the Saved... is not a novel of violence and political intrigue, set against the backdrop of humanity’s last resting-place. There is no evidence that it is the second in the series of original Faction Paradox novels.
In-universe continuity[]
- The titular City of the Saved first appeared in The Book of the War.
- Compassion/Laura Tobin first appeared in Lawrence Miles' Doctor Who novel duology Interference and became a companion of the Eighth Doctor (ultimately becoming a sentient TARDIS). Laura's sister Alison first appeared in Dave Stone's Bernice Summerfield novel Ship of Fools.
- Machines resurrected in the City of the Saved include the Peking Homunculus (from The Talons of Weng-Chiang and which later appears in Lawrence Miles' The Faction Paradox Protocols series) and the Mechonoids (from The Chase), both unnamed.
- The in-universe book "Faction Paradox: a Negotiable History" appears in Blair Bidmead's novel Weapons Grade Snake Oil.
- Events and concepts from Of the City of the Saved... appear in future The City of the Saved books, including The Great Detective Agency (the collection Tales of the Great Detectives) and the Civil War (the collection Tales of the Civil War, along with the short stories A Hundred Words from a Civil War [in the Faction Paradox collection A Romance in Twelve Parts], Apocalypse Day [from Tales of the City], and God Encompasses [from Further Tales of the City].)
Sources[]
- TARDIS Wiki