Post-Gauda Prime

The final episode of Blake's 7 takes place on a planet called Gauda Prime, and ends in shocking fashion. The fan fiction stories which attempt to fix, project beyond, or rework the ending of the series are collectively referred to as Post-Gauda Prime stories, or PGP. PGP is arguably the most popular genre of stories within the fandom. The Bang and Blame archive (2000–2002) was devoted to PGP stories and essays.
PGP is the opposite of pre-Way Back or PWB, which refers to works set before the beginning of the series.
Fans refer to the 21st December (the date on which 'Blake' was originally aired) as Gauda Prime Day. Despite its gloomy content matter (and the fact that writer Chris Boucher was known as the man who killed Christmas for a while as a result of this episode), GP day is generally seen as a cause for celebration, with fans wishing each other 'Happy Gauda Prime Day'. The fifth edition of Tales from Space City is composed entirely of PGP fics. Editor Helen Patrick writes: "And so it came to pass that on the 21st of December 2001 we held a wake for the 20th anniversary of the massacre on Gauda Prime. Much fiction was posted, both on the day itself and in the month leading up to it. I'm very pleased to present some of it in this zine."Tales from Space City 5
==Popular Tropes==
In the 1992 article Let Me Count The Ways The World Ends, Kathryn Andersen surveyed 126 gen PGP stories from numerous different zines and arrived at the following conclusions regarding which characters were shown to be alive and which dead:
In 1994 Lysator members produced the following list of popular PGP tropes:
Afterlife fic (i.e. everyone or most people are dead) is a relatively popular genre, particularly in B/A fic published in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Some examples:
* What if Earth be but the Shadow of Heaven? by Judith Proctor
* The Other Side of Heaven by Willa Shakespeare
* In My Hands by Hafren
* "The Devil With a Computer", by Linda Terrell
* Other People by Executrix
* Anabasis by x_los (2015)
* On the Far Shore by Clocketpatch (2014, Gan-focused gen)
Blake/Avon fic has other popular PGP tropes specific to that pairing.
==More example Fanfiction==
===Gen===
====Novellas and Series====
* The Mind of a Man is a Double-Edged Sword, a novella by Susan R. Matthews. A traumatized, tormented Avon suffers mightily post-GP. More hurt than comfort. 1983.
*"From the Log of the Hellhound" series by Katrina Snyder and Susanne McGinn. With even crazier Avon! 1986 to 1998.
*The Last Best Hope, a novella by Melody C.. 1988, rev. ed. 1997. A&B. Has a slash sequel, The Long Way Back (see below under "Pairings").
*Checkers, a novella by Pat Patera. Blake & Avon, includes "Jealous Jenna"! There is at least one slash story serving as an "insert" for this zine. 1992.
*Beloved Adversary, Part One, Part Two, Part Three, a novella by Sondra Sweigman. AU. Blake is noble, Avon is loyal. Avon gets to suffer. This novella has a prequel, Other People's Hearts 1994.
*Derelicts, a novella by Bryn Lantry. With a complex plot and inscrutable characters. Strain your brain! 1996.
*Morgan by Judith Proctor. Same-actor crossover Avon & Blake!lookalike. 1998.
====Other fiction====
*"This Ill-wresting World" by Judith Seaman in Down and Unsafe 5. "Blake" AU. Early, well-written Avon exculpation, Blake bashing. 1986.
*"Love and Necessary Discipline" by Susan Matthews in Southern Seven 1. A&T. Controversial, at time of publication. Nov. 1986.
*Gemini Rising by Suzan Lovett. 1989.
*Delayed Reaction by RileyC . Blake AU. Avon & Blake. Long plotty fic, cool and more realistic than some. 1992.
*"Dante's Madness" by Linda Knights in Questions of the Past. 1992.
*Shane by Judith Proctor. Avon, Blake clone, OC viewpoint. 1994.
*"All That Remains Are Regrets" by Susan Barrett in Star Three. Tarrant P-O-V. 1996.
*Dupe by Marian Mendez. Blake P-O-V. All is not as it seems. 1999.
*The One Shot by Morrigan. A&B. Angsty. 2001.
*Sentence by Hafren. Avon & Blake. 2002.
*Solstice by Sally Mn. A&B, Vila P-O-V. 2002.
*Closing the File by Manna. Epistolary Avon. 2002.
*In My Hands by Hafren. Avon & Vila afterlife vignette. 2004/2005?
*Bargaining Stage by AstroGirl. Avon & Blake with an unusual supernatural theme. 2005.
*The Zombie Master by AstroGirl. Zombies. Comedic yet disturbing! 2005.
*With Him by Sally Mn. Vila runs... 2011.
*Flies in Amber by mithen. Ghosts
*Heaven Doesn't Want Us by AstroGirl. Afterlife. 2004 or earlier?
*Con by Clocketpatch. 2013
===Pairings===
*The Bondstone, a novella by Paula, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Avon/Vila. Something strange has happened to Vila! 1984.
*Last Stand at the Edge of the World, a novella by Ann Wortham and Leah Rosenthal. Vila/Kerrill, Avon/Kerrill. 1987. Slash stories extending this novella exist in Southern Lights fanzines 3.75, 4.5 and 4.75.
*The Long Way Back, a novella by Melody C.. 1989, rev. ed. 1997. A follow-up to a gen or pre-slash novella, The Last Best Hope (see above). 
*Careless Whispers, a novella by S. Lewis. Blake/Avon. Romance, purple prose. A fandom "classic", of a sort! 1992.
*The Ghosts of Gauda Prime by Natasha Solten. Blake/Avon. 1995.
*In This Lonely Place by RileyC. Blake/Soolin. 1996.
*All In The Mind by Gemini. Avon/Servalan, Avon/Blake. 1997.
*A Price to Pay by Julia Stamford. Avon/Servalan. 2000.
*Heartlands Trilogy (Ithaka, Tortuga, Newfoundland) by Hafren. Avon/Vila. 2002.
*Unfinished Business by Nova. Blake/Carnell, Avon/Blake. 2002.
*A New Life by Susannah Shepherd. Vila/OFC. Het. 2003.
*Anything But Black by Hafren. Blake/Avon. 2003.
*Nothing Beside Remains by kindkit. Blake/Avon. February 2008.
*Pray/Love by Sally Manton. Blake/Avon. July 2008.
*Famous Blue Raincoat by Ika. AU. Deva/Blake, Blake/Avon, Tarrant/Zeoona. December 2010.
*Other People by Executrix. Blake/Avon.
===Semi-Pro/Official PGP Fic===
There are several 'official' attempts to write what happened after Gauda Prime, the most notable of which are Afterlife by Tony Attwood (Avon and Vila survive) and Paul Darrow's Lucifer series (only Avon survives), but these have generally not been treated as canonical by fans and are rarely incorporated into other fanfiction. Attwood writes of his own novel: 
==Meta==
* Thoughts on Post-Gauda Prime Stories: a collection of informal essays at Bang and Blame
* A PGP Survey by Kathryn Andersen
 
* by Nicola Mody (includes an email by Terry Nation) 
* Post Gauda Prime Syndrome Theorem by Ruth Clough
* Gauda Prime set up theory by Whitestar, Jul 3, 2007.
==References==
Category:Fiction Writing
Category:Blake's 7 Fandom Glossary
Category:Blake's 7 Tropes & Genres
Category:Glossary