Second paragraph of third chapter:

Vila knew with a distressing certainty that Servalan had started the questioning with him because he was the one most likely to blurt out the truth. She had not threatened him. She had shown no anger, nor had she even suggested she was in a hurry. But then the questioning had only been going on for ten minutes, and after the first fifteen seconds Vila had told most of the truth. At the same time it had not escaped his thoughts that although Orac had given the advice to surrender it had singularly failed to inform Avon how to arrange the escape in two days’ time. The galaxy was, he decided, making less sense every day.

I had read this book years ago – maybe not quite as soon as it came out in 1984, the week after my 17th birthday, but certainly before I had left Cambridge in 1990. Like the other Blake’s 7 books, I picked it up at Gallifrey One, appropriately enough, my previous copy being long lost. Tony Attwood also wrote Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma, the first in a forgotten series of three 1980s Doctor Who spinoff novels.

The premise here is that Vila and Avon both survived the massacre on Gauda Prime, Vila by ducking in time and Avon because he was captured and then abandoned. They reunite under the guidance of the glamorous Korell, who may or may not be a double agent for Servalan, and make their way back to both Terminal and Earth to attack the Federation where it hurts. It’s not particularly epic – one other member of the Seven reappears and then gets killed rather abruptly – but it satisfies the itch to know what might have come next if any of them had survived. If you really want more Blake’s 7, I refer you to the Big Finish audios.

Una McCormack asks if I am going to read Paul Darrow’s novel about Avon’s early life next. The answer is yes.

You can get Blake’s 7: Afterlife here (for a considerable higher price than I paid for it).