{{Infobox Book

| name = A Romance in Twelve Parts

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image =

| image_caption =

| author = eds [[Lawrence Miles]] and [[Stuart Douglas (writer)|Stuart Douglas]]

| illustrator =

| cover_artists =

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| series = [[Faction Paradox]]

| genre = [[Fantasy]], [[Science Fiction]], [[Short story|Short Stories]]

| publisher = [[Obverse Books]]

| release_date = 31 May 2011

| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]])

| pages =

| isbn = 978-0-9565605-4-4

| preceded_by = [[The Book of the War]]

| followed_by = [[Burning with Optimism's Flames]]

}}

'''A Romance in Twelve Parts''' is a short story anthology edited by [[Lawrence Miles]] and [[Stuart Douglas (writer)|Stuart Douglas]], published by [[Obverse Books]] in May 2011, featuring the voodoo-style time-travelling cult [[Faction Paradox]].<ref>[http://obversebooks.co.uk/blog/?p=346 Obverse Books Blog]</ref><ref>[http://obversebooks.co.uk/catalogue/faction.html Obverse Books webpage for ''A Romance in Twelve Parts'']</ref>

This is the first collection of ''Faction Paradox'' short stories as such to be published, although ''[[The Book of the War]]'' ([[Mad Norwegian Press]], 2002) was a collaborative work of fiction in encyclopedia format. A number of ''Faction Paradox'' novels have also been published by Mad Norwegian Press and [[Random Static]].

Obverse Books have previously published collections featuring the character of [[Iris Wildthyme]]. Iris makes a guest appearance in this volume, in co-editor Stuart Douglas's short story ''Library Pictures''.

Three contributors, [[Philip Purser-Hallard]], [[Daniel O'Mahony]] and [[Jonathan Dennis]], previously contributed to ''The Book of the War''. Purser-Hallard and O'Mahony later wrote the ''Faction Paradox'' novels ''[[Of the City of the Saved...]]'' (Mad Norwegian Press, 2004) and ''[[Newtons Sleep]]'' (Random Static, 2008) respectively. Purser-Hallard's short story ''A Hundred Words from a Civil War'' is a sequel to his novel, taking the form of a "drabbleplex" (a word coined by Purser-Hallard for fiction composed of 100 [[drabble]]s).<ref>[http://infinitarian.blogspot.com/2010/08/faction-drabbleplex.html Philip Purser-Hallard's blog]</ref>

==Stories==

{| class="wikitable"

| '''Title''' || '''Author'''

|-

| ''Storyteller || [[Matt Kimpton]]

|-

| ''Gramps || [[Jonathan Dennis]]

|-

| ''Mightier than the Sword || [[Jay Eales]]

|-

| ''Now or Thereabouts || [[Blair Bidmead]]

|-

| ''Nothing Lasts Forever || [[David N Smith]] and [[Violet Harrison]]

|-

| ''Library Pictures || [[Stuart Douglas (writer)|Stuart Douglas]]

|-

| ''Holding Pattern || [[Scott Harrison (writer)|Scott Harrison]]

|-

| ''The Story of the Peace || [[Ian Potter (writer)|Ian Potter]]

|-

| ''Print the Legend || [[Daniel O'Mahony]]

|-

| ''Tonton Macoute || [[Dave Hoskin]]

|-

| ''Alchemy || [[James Milton]]

|-

| ''A Hundred Words from a Civil War || [[Philip Purser-Hallard]]

|-

|}

==Critical reception==

The book was almost universally praised. The [[DWIN (Doctor Who)|DWIN]] magazine, Enlightenment, described it as “simple in vision, incredibly broad in scope...quite simply the most accomplished Who-related books I have read in years".<ref>[http://www.dwin.org/home/enlightenment/article/issue_166 Enlightenment 166]</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

*[http://www.obversebooks.co.uk/ Obverse Books website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romance In Twelve Parts}}

[[Category:2011 short story collections]]

[[Category:Science fiction anthologies]]

[[Category:Faction Paradox]]