I have to come at this from an unexpected angle.
I was talking about Blake’s 7, the BBC TV science fiction series from the late 1970s, with a group of authors the other day. We all love the writing in that series, love the characters, and hate the miniscule-to-non-existant budget the show was made with.
One of my favourite episodes in the series is called “Sand” (S04 E09), written by Tanith Lee.
I have only known Tanith Lee via that episode, but discovered during the conversation that she wrote some fantastic dark fantasy novels and series.
And…!
One of her dark fantasy novels, Kill the Dead, is a thinly disguised fan fic homage to Blake’s 7. 🙂
The hero of Kill the Dead is Parl Dro. Learning this raised my brows because the actor who played the fan favourite character, Avon, in Blake’s 7, was Paul Darrow.
I’ve since learned that Tanith Lee publicly acknowledged that Avon and another character from the TV series, Villa, were inspiration for the characters in the book, but the book itself bears little relationship to the space opera TV series.
If you like your fantasy dark and weird, give the book a try. Or if you loved Blake’s 7, also check it out.
Taylen.