Janine Rivers
Janine Mary Rivers is a writer, editor, composer, cover artist, and 16th Century astronomer, best known for her time as the head-writer of The Eighth Doctor Adventures and for creating the character of Autumn Rivers, whose surname she pseudonymously acquired for reasons too illegal to list.
Rivers was also responsible for the beginning of the Monthly Series, hence its colloquial name of ‘JMA’ (Janine Monthly Adventures, or in some interpretations, Janine's Massive Addiction), though she never acted as producer or administrator of the series, instead opting for a career in the Polish airforce.
One of the original creators of the site, Rivers was the main site editor until the end of 2016. Her time as editor saw the publications of several ranges, but it was not until her successor, Ed Goundrey-Smith, that the site grew to encompass the variety of ranges it exhibits today. Rivers' claimed to have published her final story in 2017, but it later transpired that she was both a liar and a narcissist.
Janine Rivers was definitely not Paula Moore. This rumour has no foundations whatsoever.
Some of the references to Janine Rivers in this article may be written in the past tense. This is because she faked her death at the end of 2016 before making a surprise return over a year later, to the disappointment of most people, generally.
Fan-Fic Publications
The Twelfth Doctor Adventures
Influences and style
Rivers cites her three main influences on her fan-fiction style as Steven Moffat, Sally Wainwright, and Paul Cornell, attracted to Moffat’s interaction with the meta elements of Doctor Who, Sally Wainright’s approach to character development, and Cornell’s descriptive and mythology-driven prose style. Her favourite Doctor is Peter Capaldi, and it was Heaven Sent which began her obsession with one-hander storytelling. This obsession later led to her being blacklisted by at least six amateur dramatics societies.
Rivers is known for elaborate multi-series story arcs, focus on interiority of character, and deliberate contradiction or re-writing of established canon, which attracted both praise and criticism, though Rivers feels that criticising fan-fiction for poor continuity is a "dumb thing to do" which "masks deep-seated feelings of inadequacy and signals the dangers of commodity fetishism". She has also been criticised for her controversial personification of God in The Eighth Doctor Adventures, and the poor mortality rates of her LGBT+ characters (which were addressed in her final contribution to The Eighth Doctor Adventures), though was praised for each of her own characters, particularly Autumn Rivers. In her time as head-writer, Rivers practised the one-hander approach to storytelling, resulting in An Endless Sky of Honey; the highest rated publication on the site under her editorship, though this was thought to be because she employed tactics of violence and coercion on her readers.
Views
Rivers has described herself a number times as a proud Marxist and a firm atheist, which is clear from much of her work, but may just be a desperate ploy for attention. She acknowledges that these views were probably a retaliation against the obsessively religious, and heavily right-wing educational environment she grew up in. She now runs her own authoritarian organisation, hoping to compete with her oppressors in the brainwashing industry.
Personal Life
Rivers grew up in the London area, and she now lives in Kennington. She resigned from her position on the site to begin work on her first novel in 2016, but then decided that she disliked writing novels, and started work part-time as a private tutor, but then decided that she disliked children. She remains to this day a course instructor and occasional performer to support herself in the short-term, though some have provided substantial evidence to suggest that she is also a carpenter, a personal bodyguard, and Steve Thompson. She primarily teaches English, though her main area of expertise is within philosophy, history and archaeology.
Rivers famously had an affair with the writer Steven Moffat following a passionate exchange in a bar. He later described it as: "The beginning of the end for me... the end of my career, my family, my whole life". Rivers described it as "diverting". Their communication consisted of subtle references in published media, such as naming a Cyberman body-horror story after a love letter, which no one appeared to notice.
Having travelled as a child, Rivers has a passion for new cultures and experiences, and spends most of her earnings on holidays and short trips (to other countries, not the range of Big Finish audios). Her other hobbies include playing the piano and guitar, singing, spending time with animals and taking long walks around the city. Rivers is a huge lover of music and theatre, and admits to living her life with a permanent soundtrack; though she attributes eighties pop to the music of her childhood, her favourite musician today is Florence Welch.
Unrelated works
Rivers currently has very few available works outside of the fan-fic site, but does run a blog, entitled The Diary of Janine Rivers on which she writes about Doctor Who among other subjects, or used to before she stopped for what is thought to be motivational reasons.
Rivers was also responsible for the beginning of the Monthly Series, hence its colloquial name of ‘JMA’ (Janine Monthly Adventures, or in some interpretations, Janine's Massive Addiction), though she never acted as producer or administrator of the series, instead opting for a career in the Polish airforce.
One of the original creators of the site, Rivers was the main site editor until the end of 2016. Her time as editor saw the publications of several ranges, but it was not until her successor, Ed Goundrey-Smith, that the site grew to encompass the variety of ranges it exhibits today. Rivers' claimed to have published her final story in 2017, but it later transpired that she was both a liar and a narcissist.
Janine Rivers was definitely not Paula Moore. This rumour has no foundations whatsoever.
Some of the references to Janine Rivers in this article may be written in the past tense. This is because she faked her death at the end of 2016 before making a surprise return over a year later, to the disappointment of most people, generally.
Fan-Fic Publications
The Twelfth Doctor Adventures
- The Lost Sailor (2018)
- Stardance (co-write, 2018)
- Erasure (co-write, 2018)
- Ghosts in the Machine (2018)
- Hikari's Dream (co-write, 2018)
- La Lune (2018)
- Among Angels (2018)
- Miracle on Oxford Street (2004)
- Time at the Museum (2015)
- Peacepoint (2015)
- Earthstop (2015)
- Sunset Forever (2015)
- The Planet Makers (2015)
- The Anger Games (2015)
- The Quest Through Time (2015)
- Bigger on the Inside (2015)
- Extermination of the Daleks (2015)
- Shattered Time (2015, co-written)
- Run (2015)
- On Air (2016)
- The Magic Box (2016)
- Dinner With Nobody (2016)
- Passing in the Night (2016)
- A Shop For Limbs (2016)
- Material Values (2016)
- The Cloud Beneath The Sea (2016)
- Wish You Were Here (2016)
- Under Ice (2016)
- Waking The Witch (2016)
- The Morning Fog (2016)
- The Night Staircase (2016)
- The Sleepwalker (2016)
- Practical Calculations (2016)
- The Last Great Fire of London (2016)
- The Final Wish of Robin Moon (2016)
- Home Truths (2016)
- Bad Blood (2016)
- Breath of Life (2016)
- Pillars of Fire (2016)
- Hello Earth (2016)
- The Next Life (2016)
- Paradise Found (2016)
- Departures (2016)
- The Night We Died (2016)
- The Day We Lived (2016)
- Till Death Us Do Part – Pt. I (2016)
- Till Death Us Do Part – Pt. II (2016)
- An Endless Sky of Honey (2016)
- Ever After (2016)
- Well Done For Reading This List of Episodes, Have a Biscuit (2018)
- If You Want Something Done (2016)
- Cat Among Pigeons (2016)
- Apple of Discord (2016)
- Blank Cheque (2016)
- In Dulci Jubilo (2014)
- Silence Night (2015)
- Step into Christmas (2015)
- 1963 (2016)
- 101 Reasons To Live (2017)
- 101 Reasons To Carry On Writing Even Though You Just Wrote Your Best Story (2018)
- Memory Sells (2018)
- Apophis (2019)
- The Only Mystery Worth Solving (2015)
- The Eighth Doctor Adventures (Series Two) but no one listened to those
- The Eighth Doctor Adventures (Series Four) but no one listened to those
- The Sarah Jane Adventures (NEU) but no one listened to those and she only did about three tracks
- Trenzalore (Series Two) but no one even read that series
- The Twelfth Doctor Adventures (2018)
Influences and style
Rivers cites her three main influences on her fan-fiction style as Steven Moffat, Sally Wainwright, and Paul Cornell, attracted to Moffat’s interaction with the meta elements of Doctor Who, Sally Wainright’s approach to character development, and Cornell’s descriptive and mythology-driven prose style. Her favourite Doctor is Peter Capaldi, and it was Heaven Sent which began her obsession with one-hander storytelling. This obsession later led to her being blacklisted by at least six amateur dramatics societies.
Rivers is known for elaborate multi-series story arcs, focus on interiority of character, and deliberate contradiction or re-writing of established canon, which attracted both praise and criticism, though Rivers feels that criticising fan-fiction for poor continuity is a "dumb thing to do" which "masks deep-seated feelings of inadequacy and signals the dangers of commodity fetishism". She has also been criticised for her controversial personification of God in The Eighth Doctor Adventures, and the poor mortality rates of her LGBT+ characters (which were addressed in her final contribution to The Eighth Doctor Adventures), though was praised for each of her own characters, particularly Autumn Rivers. In her time as head-writer, Rivers practised the one-hander approach to storytelling, resulting in An Endless Sky of Honey; the highest rated publication on the site under her editorship, though this was thought to be because she employed tactics of violence and coercion on her readers.
Views
Rivers has described herself a number times as a proud Marxist and a firm atheist, which is clear from much of her work, but may just be a desperate ploy for attention. She acknowledges that these views were probably a retaliation against the obsessively religious, and heavily right-wing educational environment she grew up in. She now runs her own authoritarian organisation, hoping to compete with her oppressors in the brainwashing industry.
Personal Life
Rivers grew up in the London area, and she now lives in Kennington. She resigned from her position on the site to begin work on her first novel in 2016, but then decided that she disliked writing novels, and started work part-time as a private tutor, but then decided that she disliked children. She remains to this day a course instructor and occasional performer to support herself in the short-term, though some have provided substantial evidence to suggest that she is also a carpenter, a personal bodyguard, and Steve Thompson. She primarily teaches English, though her main area of expertise is within philosophy, history and archaeology.
Rivers famously had an affair with the writer Steven Moffat following a passionate exchange in a bar. He later described it as: "The beginning of the end for me... the end of my career, my family, my whole life". Rivers described it as "diverting". Their communication consisted of subtle references in published media, such as naming a Cyberman body-horror story after a love letter, which no one appeared to notice.
Having travelled as a child, Rivers has a passion for new cultures and experiences, and spends most of her earnings on holidays and short trips (to other countries, not the range of Big Finish audios). Her other hobbies include playing the piano and guitar, singing, spending time with animals and taking long walks around the city. Rivers is a huge lover of music and theatre, and admits to living her life with a permanent soundtrack; though she attributes eighties pop to the music of her childhood, her favourite musician today is Florence Welch.
Unrelated works
Rivers currently has very few available works outside of the fan-fic site, but does run a blog, entitled The Diary of Janine Rivers on which she writes about Doctor Who among other subjects, or used to before she stopped for what is thought to be motivational reasons.