Amidst the anticipation and build up leading to The Time of the Doctor this week, San Diego-based comic book publisher IDW quietly bid farewell to the Eleventh Doctor in its 2013 Special, released Christmas Eve.

The Doctor Who 2013 Special, titled The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who, features the Eleventh Doctor slipping into a universe not unlike our own -- a universe where the Doctor exists as a television show and is played by an actor named Matt Smith -- and where a threat from the Doctor's own universe threatens the existence of this one.

The 2013 Special is written by long time Doctor Who television, novel, and comics scribe Paul Cornell with art by Jimmy Broxton. It features several nods to recent changes in the production status of the television series, and a theme that longtime Cornell readers will find familiar.

The issue features 40 color pages of original story/art and an additional eight color pages featuring every cover of the IDW Doctor Who comic series -- from its starting miniseries "Agent Provocateur" in 2008 up to and including the last issue of IDW's 50th anniversary series, "Prisoners of Time."

The 2013 Special is the final Doctor Who issue by IDW under its license with the BBC. Of this closing chapter of the Doctor in IDW's comics, Chris Ryall, IDW's Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief, writes, The Doctor Who 2013 Special retails for $7.99 and is available at comic stores now.

The composer and dramatist Murray Gold has received the prestigious accolade of being included in the 2014 edition of Who's Who.

The publication, which has been brought out annually since 1849, is a directory and source of information about living noteworthy and influential people who are considered to have an impact on British life. It now has more than 33,000 biographies, with about 1,000 new entries added every year. Each entry is written by the subject themselves, and an invitation to appear in Who's Who is seen as the recognition of lasting distinction and influence.

Some entrants, eg, MPs and senior judges, are invited to be included as a matter of course, since their appointments are considered to be of general public interest. Others, for example in the arts field, are chosen by a selection board.

The website of Who's Who states: The Wall Street Journal once wrote: Once a person has been included in Who's Who, they remain in it for life, with their entry updated over the years. It is then transferred to Who Was Who when they die.

Among his film and TV work, Gold rearranged the theme for Doctor Who when it returned in 2005 and has composed its incidental music ever since. He also created, arranged, and orchestrated the special live concert Doctor Who: A Celebration at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff in 2006, while the Doctor Who Proms of 2008, 2010, and 2013 - at the Royal Albert Hall in London - featured his music for the series. In addition, he composed the theme for spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures plus the theme and incidental music for Torchwood.

In January this year at the BBC Audio Drama Awards, his BBC Radio 3 drama script Kafka the Musical, starring David Tennant, won the Tinniswood Radio Drama Award 2012 for best original radio drama.

His radio play Electricity won the 2001 Imison Award for best original radio drama script by a writer new to radio after its broadcast on Radio 3 in December 2000. It then transferred to the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2004, with Christopher Eccleston in the lead role.

Gold also provided the music for Russell T Davies' TV series Queer As Folk, The Second Coming (starring Eccleston), and Casanova (with Tennant as the lead).

His work for Queer As Folk, Casanova, Doctor Who, and the 1998 BBC adaptation of Vanity Fair - with cast members including David Bradley - has been BAFTA-nominated, and in 1999 Gold was nominated in the Royal Television Society Awards for Best Music - Original Score for both Vanity Fair and Queer As Folk, winning it for the latter.

In addition, he provided the music for the 2000s revival of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), co-starring Tom Baker.

Gold's entry reads as follows:

With the broadcast of An Adventure in Space and Time tonight, Fantom Publishing have announced the release of Who's There? The Life and Career of William Hartnell, Jessica Carney's biography of her grandfather, both on audio narrated by Hartnell companion Anneke Wills and the republication of the book in hardback.

Competition

We have three signed copies of the book up for grabs for readers in the United Kingdom, courtesy of Fantom Publishing. To be in with a chance, simply answer the following question:
Send your answer to comp-whosthere@doctorwhonews.net with the subject "Today, I've Come Back", along with your name, address, and where you read about the competition. In addition, if you wish for a personalised message in the book please include that in your entry.

The competition is only open to residents within the United Kingdom, and the closing date is Friday 29th November 2013.

Obverse Books have announced a new book for 2014 which will explore the alternative worlds of the Doctor as depicted in what would become the staple Christmas present for Doctor Who fans for some two decades - the original Doctor Who Annual, as released by World Distribution between 1965 and 1986.

The Annual Years has been written by Paul Magrs, and features illustrations from Adam Bullock; it is due to be published in 2014.

Back in 1980, four books were published from K9 co-creator David Martin which continued the adventures of the Doctor's second best-friend, who was now undertaking missions on behalf of the Time Lords. All four books have now been released as an audio recording by Explore Multimedia, read by the original voice of K9 himself, John Leeson.

1. K9 AND THE MISSING PLANET
   An entire planet vanishes — a planet that was owned by Tellac Inc., a galactic company that turns whole worlds into mines and factories for their own profit. K9 is sent to find the missing planet. He finds instead a new universe and a very strange new breed of men...
2. K9 AND THE BEASTS OF VEGA
   Outside, the space ship was surrounded by hordes of evil beasts -- a mass of fangs, jaws and lashing tails. The shadowy monsters loom over the ship, attacking from all sides. Sounds of panic and screaming ring out everywhere. Only K9 keeps his usual calm.
3. K9 AND THE TIME TRAP
   The entire Seventh Fleet has disappeared. The Commander says it is impossible. K-9 says that is only because the human mind cannot understand it. At just under the speed of light, he takes off across the deep starless gulf between the galaxies on another dangerous mission. He uses a battlecruiser as his bait — but first he must find the trap...
4. K9 AND THE ZETA RESCUE
   There have been great explosions in the galaxy. There is danger that the whole galaxy will be blown apart. The situation is too dangerous for even the Time Lords to handle. And so they call K9 to their aid. It is he who must save their world.

The collection is available to buy both on CD and for download.

Puffin Books have announced the author of the final of their e-books celebrating fifty years of Doctor Who as the author Neil Gaiman.


A long-term fan, Gaiman is of course best known in Doctor Who circles for his two scripts broadcast on television, the award-winning The Doctor's Wife and Nightmare in Silver. However, his extensive writing career has encompassed novels for adults and children including Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Coraline and The Graveyard Book, and the highly successful Sandman series of graphic novels. Literary honours include the Locus and Hugo Awards and the Newbery and Carnegie Medals.

On his latest contribution to Doctor Who, Gaiman said:

The e-book is due to be released on 21st November 2013, with BBC Worldwide to upload a brief interview with the writer the the Doctor Who YouTube channel later this month.

Competition

We have a copy of both the above anthology and The Essential Guide to 50 Years of Doctor Who available as a prize for readers to win, courtesy of Puffin Books. To be in with a chance to win please answer the following question:
Send your answer to comp-anthology@doctorwhonews.net with the subject line "That Essential Moment", including your name, address, and where you read about the competition.

This competition is only open to UK residents, and the closing date is Sunday 24th November 2013.

BBC Books have released details on their forthcoming Doctor Who short story eBook series entitled Time Trips. Jake Arnott, Cecelia Ahern and Joanne Harris will join previously announced authors Nick Harkaway, A.L. Kennedy, Jenny Colgan and Trudi Canavan to write for the series. The series will launch on 5 December with The Death Pit, a fourth Doctor story by A.L. Kennedy.
Cecelia Ahern said: Joanne Harris added:

Faber and Faber have announced a book by Neil Perryman, the author of the popular Wife In Space blog, based around his experiences growing up and living as a Doctor Who fan:


I.B.Tauris have also announced four new Doctor Who related books being released over Autumn:


As well as Doctor Who a new book is being released looking into the four series of Torchwood:


Finally, Pageturner Publishing are releasing a collection of reviews of each episode day-by-day by Will Brooks:

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Obverse Books have published an e-collection of short stories in memory of Doctor Who, Iris Wildthyme and Faction Paradox author Matt Kimpton, who died last year of Cystic Fibrosis. Writers include Stuart Douglas, Nick Campbell, Sarah Hadley, Cavan Scott, Simon Bucher-Jones and Jacqueline Rayner, with all proceeds to go to Cystic Fibrosis charities.

More details on the genesis of the book (which isn't itself Doctor Who-related), and the slightly unusual idea behind it, can be found via Cavan Scott's website, and the book itself can be bought from Obverse (initially as an ebook, with a Lulu paperback to follow).

Writer Gareth Roberts has confirmed on Twitter that he is currently writing a novelisation of the 1979 serial City of Death:

KippyWoo: Will you be doing any more novelisations after Shada e.g. City of Death?
Gareth Roberts: Oh, I feel like blabbing ... I'm writing City Of Death right now, should be out next year.

Most Doctor Who serials from the series' original run (1963–1989) were novelised between 1964 and 1993, except for two Dalek serials by Eric Saward and three serials written or cowritten by Douglas Adams. In 2012, BBC Books published a novelisation of the uncompleted serial Shada by Roberts. The televised version of City of Death was credited to the pseudonymous "David Agnew", because Adams (who was then serving as Doctor Who's script editor) heavily rewrote the original script by David Fisher. Adams later used elements of both City of Death and Shada in his 1987 novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

As indicated above, Roberts' novelisation of City of Death is expected to be published in 2014.

The award-winning Derek Landy has been named today as the author of the tenth and penultimate short story in Puffin Books' e-range celebrating Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

The Mystery Of The Haunted Cottage, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha, will be published globally on Wednesday 23rd October.
An extract can be read via The Guardian's website.

Landy, who has penned the Skulduggery Pleasant series of children's books, commented: Landy's first book, Skulduggery Pleasant, won the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book of the Decade Award as well as the Red House Children's Book Award, while his second, Playing With Fire, won an Irish Book Award for Children's Book of the Year.

The author and title of the series' final instalment, to feature the Eleventh Doctor, will be announced on Tuesday 5th November. It will be published on Thursday 21st November alongside a paperback anthology of all 11 stories - to be called Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories and which can be pre-ordered here - plus an audio collection.