#opus majus

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

In Libro Veritas :: @InlibroV

"There are four chief obstacles in grasping truth ... namely, submission to faulty and unworthy authority, influence of custom, popular prejudice, and the concealment of our own ignorance accompanied by an ostentatious display of our knowledge."

Roger Bacon :: Opus Majus

[doctornolonger]

What was Opus Majus meant to be? All I recall is that it was an unfinished, unreleased Faction novel/story collection.

Jim Mortimore's unfinished Faction Paradox novella, announced by Obverse Books for release in 2012. Here's the original description:

Opus Majus – Jim Mortimore “In 1267 the Fransiscan monk Roger Bacon made such a fuss about the inaccuracies of the calendar that Pope Clement IV ordered he be sent on a quest to find the missing time. This ridiculous but hardly refusable mission is something of a problem for Bacon – but an even greater problem for Faction Paradox.”

[yourpinkpill]

I felt creative so I made a movie poster based on @gcfjikook​ ‘s fic Opus Majus. 💖

[last-of-the-jaded]

“Jimin matches their neon city, like someone took all of the lights and allure of Seoul and trapped it inside Jimin, alongside its harsh edges and dark corners.” Excerpt From Opus Majus by Charmander on AO3.

[doctornolonger]

I have all the notes sitting beside my desk, in the same dusty box as they've been in for the last 10 years or whatever. It is on my list. If I don't die of old age first. I had thought about doing it as a Patreon thing in monthly installments and offering it to Stuart when it's done - but I don't really have enough patrons to keep the cost down, unfortunately. It's a bit awkward in regard to copyright too - unlike Who, I don't want to step on Stuart's toes here. He's a decent bloke and a cool editor. I suppose I could write it as an orginal novel - but my experience is that fans of FP and WHO don't really buy original SF - from me anyhoo!

Jim Mortimore regarding Opus Majus, his Faction Paradox novella announced in 2012

[doctornolonger]

Every time I’ve been blue-balled by Faction Paradox

Lawrence Miles planned at least fifty volumes of the Faction Paradox Protocols audios, with lots more of Compassion Mary Culver and even a meeting between Godfather Sabbath and Service Sabbath. Instead we got six audios and a cliffhanger!

Lawrence Miles planned at least twenty issues of the Faction Paradox comic, including something about North American cannibalism. Instead, the series was cancelled while issue three was in production!

Lars Pearson said it was “virtually certain” that the comic story cliffhanger would be wrapped up somehow, and he thought about a script book, but nothing ever panned out.

Speaking of comics, Paul “Brax” Castle was going to print one of Miles’ rejected DWM ideas (about the Cybermen no less!) in a fanzine around the time of Adventuress, but ???

There was lots of material written for The Book of the War, including more from Lance Parkin and Daniel O’Mahony, that was cut from the final copy.

There were also plans for an expanded edition CD-ROM of The Book of the War with hyperlinks and new material from the original authors. Instead it went out of print. Now copies sell for hundreds of dollars and there’s no plans for an official ebook, completely stranding new fans who are interested in the series.

In 2003 there were talks with a Warner Brothers subsidiary about a Faction Paradox film, but they stopped replying after Lawrence Miles described the project as “Amadeus with monsters”.

Also something about Miles and Matt Jones talking about a TV series?

“From the creators of Faction Paradox ... Partizan Empire”

In 2005 Miles and Philip Purser-Hallard co-wrote a pilot script for a radio sitcom set in the City of the Saved, and it was actually recorded with real actors, but it has yet to appear anywhere.

Also in 2005 Miles and Lars Pearson were planning an “epic / world-shattering” book to redefine the Faction Paradox series after Erasing Sherlock. Instead, Lars cancelled the series! Aaahahahaha!

In 2009 Miles started building a 3D reconstruction of the Eleven-Day Empire in Metaplace and invited everyone to join him when it was finished. Then he retracted the invite dammit

(This is only tangentially related, but Miles also planned the rest of the Book of the World series but never got around to writing it)

There was a significantly-better Lawrence Miles edit of the already-great Newtons Sleep, but the Random Static CEO vetoed it and went with her own cut.

Jim Mortimore pitched a beautiful novel called Heart Full of Sky to Random Static in 2008, but he bowed out “when editorial re-versioning and continuity changes to the proposal alone ran to nearly 10,000 words.”

Jim Mortimore’s novella Opus Majus was announced in 2012 and never surfaced. In 2017 he said he was still doing research for it?!?

Kelly Hale’s novella The Moontree Women was also announced in 2012 and never surfaced. In 2015 she said she was thinking about working on it again, but there’s been no news since.

Also in 2015 Kelly Hale said she was considering working on a sequel to Erasing Sherlock or an expansion of her FP short story Project Thunderbird. But the ES sequel can’t be part of the FP series due to a conflict of interest with Obverse, so it might never be published.

Also also in 2015 Wallowing in Pessimism’s Mire was released, then literally unpublished and is now completely impossible to find anywhere!

CMON

[doctornolonger]

Timelash seemingly just added Jim Mortimore’s in-progress-for-years Faction Paradox novella Opus Majus to their site as set to be released next month? ?!? ?!?!?

Edit: DEBUNKED

[doctornolonger]

Between Weapons Grade Snake Oil this January, Tales of the Civil War February, Spinning Jenny being “imminent”, Book of the Enemy later this year, and rumors about Opus Majus for March, Obverse just might have an INCREDIBLE Faction Paradox 20th anniversary year in the works.