Peculiar Lives

Peculiar Lives is written as if by Erik Clevedon, who is based on the real-life author Olaf Stapledon. The story draws particularly from Stapledon's novels Last and First Men (1930), Last Men in London (1932), Odd John (1935) and Sirius (1944). The book also features the characters of Gideon Beech, a fictionalised George Bernard Shaw, and (briefly) John Cleavis, a fictionalised C. S. Lewis character originally created by Paul Magrs. Purser-Hallard studied Stapledon's, Shaw's and Lewis' work in his doctoral thesis, and draws on them for the key themes of Peculiar Lives. These concern eugenics and the evolution of mankind within an eschatological context.

Honoré Lechasseur and Emily Blandish become embroiled in the endgame of a plot which began a generation ago, with the birth of the superhuman children known as "the Peculiar". While Emily encounters their chronicler, the elderly science-fiction novelist Erik Clevedon, Honoré is pitched against his will into an unimaginably distant future.

John Cleavis first appeared in Paul Magrs' Doctor Who novel Mad Dogs and Englishmen (2002) and then in the standalone To the Devil — a Diva! (2004). He is included in Peculiar Lives with Magrs' permission. Peculiar Lives also name-checks J. D. Beresford's The Hampdenshire Wonder (1911).

Peculiar Lives was released as an audiobook in November 2011, read by John Leeson and published by Fantom Films.

• Telos Publishing - Peculiar Lives
• Author's pages about the book (including essays on the literary contexts of the novella and some additional material)
• Fantom Films - Peculiar Lives audiobook