STEALING EDEN Introduction |
|
STEALING EDEN Introduction |
|
What IS this thing, anyway? This story has its genesis in a story Matthew Newton wrote and posted on his web site detailing a meeting between the Doctor (of the famous British science fiction series Doctor Who, which ran from 1963-1989) and Lynda Day, the lead character in the British series Press Gang, which ran from 1989-1993). I read his story and thought that if I were ever to write a story starting from the same point, I would follow a much different path than Matthew did. And so, putting fingers to keyboard, I set off to see what this would look like. Since that day many weeks ago, the very small project that would ultimately become Stealing Eden has taken on a life of its own in a fashion I never dreamed it would.
The Doctor features only in the very beginning of the story, but some of the ideas and concepts that have developed throughout the history of the series and the subsequent "New Adventures" novelizations find their way into this story. If you aren't familiar with the "New Adventures"--having read enough of them, I can tell you that is not necessarily a bad thing!--some of the ideas about the biology of Time Lords and regeneration that appear here were never part of the original television series. For the Press Gang fans reading this, I am not Steven Moffat, and therefore Spike and Lynda and the other characters will not have the same "voice" as their creator would give them. Any writer brings their own biases and preferences into the mix, and ultimately only Steven Moffat knows how he would take his own characters from the point he leaves them at the end of the last episode. I take the characters in some very different directions. If you don't like this alternative universe, there are an infinite number of others you can choose.
I owe a deep debt of gratitude to my editors, Murray and Natacha, who will see a lot of their suggestions and advice in the pages to follow. Each of them brought different ideas to the table, and together we make a pretty good team. Murray is also graciously providing a home for this work on his web page, since he knows cyberspace better than I do. I just deliver the mail for a living. I enjoy writing, and have been entertaining teachers and classmates with it throughout my time in school. Having been away from the educational system for a few years, I haven't written much of anything until now, and never have written anything this big.
And now it is time to turn the stage over to Lynda Day, who is trying to escape the fire during the events of the final Press Gang episode, There Are Crocodiles, as this story begins.
