Big Finish has released the cover illustration and details for January's The Creed of the Kromon, the second in the new "season" of Paul McGann Eighth Doctor adventures; the blurb is below (click on the thumbnail for a larger version of the cover). Meanwhile, Big Finish revealed to DWM that its third series of Dalek Empire audios, six parts in total, will debut in May; also debuting at the same time will be a large-format script book for all eight plays of the first two seasons. "As well as the scripts themselves, there will be lots of extra bits and bobs, including cut scenes and alternative storylines," says writer Nicholas Briggs. 'I'm also going to do an ongoing commentary for each episode, although it'll be done in a Q&A interview format. Hopefully that'll get to the nub of what people actually want to know, and cut down on the waffle!" Concerning the stories themselves: "I've had the basic storyline mapped out for a while now, but in writing it I found it's taken on a life of its own. Some of the old characters will be returning, but there'll also be plenty of new ones. ... [The Daleks] are even nastier. They've become even more desperate - and even more cunning..." Finally, a newtrailer has been issued for the February audio release, The Natural History of Fear.

In another development, Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield series (featuring the further adventures of the former Doctor Who book companion) continues in both books and audios throughout 2004 and 2005, with four CDs and four hardback books due in 2004: April sees the release of a novel, followed in July by a collection of three novellas in one volume; another anthology edited by Paul Cornell follows in September, and a book similar in format to Big Finish's recent "Inside Story" written by Ian Farrington due in November, which will begin with Benny's first appearance in Love and War, and cover all her other appearances in books and audios. Meanwhile, Gary Russell told Outpost Gallifrey that the appearance of two new items on Amazon is incorrect: "I have emailed Amazon to point out that no such titles exist and have asked them to remove them . I'm not sure what would happen if you tried ordering them from Amazon. Who knows what one might get!! No one at Big Finish has supplied Amazon with these titles and whilst it's always nice to see our stuff offered by Amazon, in this case, I'm afraid neither The Swan Princess nor The Giant Robots are actually Big Finish/Bernice Summerfield titles." Finally, Big Finish posted the cover and blurb for The Axis of Evil, the latest CD offering, due out in January. (Thanks to Simon Catlow, Gary Russell, Big Finish)

The newest issue of DWM features the complete 2004 schedule of releases from BBC Books, which includes the following releases. Details on several of the books ("Sometime Never," "Scream of the Shalka," "Empire of Death" and "Eleventh Tiger") have already been released, including blurbs and some covers; visit our release guide for those details. The new information on the books is as follows (with several updates to the original story noted in red):

• Sometime Never by Justin Richards (January)
• The Scream of the Shalka by Paul Cornell (February)
• Empire of Death by David Bishop (March) - Fifth Doctor and Nyssa tale set in Victorian England; the Doctor becomes Queen Victoria's advisor and investigates mysteries from beyond the grave
• Halflife by Mark Michalowski (April) - A standalone Eighth Doctor adventure with no ongoing arc threads. It's set on an Earth colony in the future, where th Doctor takes up smoking and drinking and generally behaves very oddly (The novel is called "Halflife" not "Half Life" according to author Michalowski)
• The Eleventh Tiger by David McIntee (May) - First Doctor pseudo-historical set in nineteenth century China with Ian, Barbara and Vicki
• The Tomorrow Windows by Jonathan Morris (June) - A Hitch-Hiker-eque romp in the company of the Eighth Doctor Fitz, and Trix... and then there's a guest appearance from the current Mayor of London Ken Livingstone
• Synthespians by Craig Hinton (July) - Sixth Doctor and Peri story set on a space station in the far future; kind of "Dynasty" meets "Spearhead from Space" and also allows the Sixth Doctor to behave at his most theatrical
• The Sleep of Reason by Martin Day (August) - An Eighth Doctor adventure, also featuring Fitz and Trix, set in a mental asylum in present day Britain, a dark tale of evil and insanity... DWM reported this novel as being titled "Dreams Never End"; author Martin Day contacted OG to inform us that "The Sleep of Reason" is indeed the correct title and that "Dreams Never End" was a working title when the article was written
• The Algebra of Ice by Lloyd Rose (September) - Seventh Doctor and Ace story set on Earth
• The Deadstone Memorial by Trevor Baxendale (October) - A dark ghost tale set on contemporary Earth with the Eighth Doctor (the DWM report said "Dreadstone Memorial"; author Trevor Baxendale emailed OG to let us know of the proper spelling)
• The Indestructible Man by Simon Messingham (November) - Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe novel; fans of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation series may recognise echoes of his work in here

Meanwhile, range consultant/editor Justin Richards discusses the rumors that the novel series might come to an end. "There's no notion of stopping and never has been, whatever the rumours," says Richards. "The cutback to one a month was partly forced on us by our American distributor going bust, which meant we had a warehouse full of books and there wasn't physical space to store anymore. So that was a pragmatic decision which came at a time when we needed people who normally worked on the novels to work on The Legend and The Dalek Survival Guide. Now we're waiting to see what happens with the new series. We're commissioned up to Febuary 2005 and we'll hang fire a bit now and see what develops. I know that people doing the series are keen to tie in with the books. My feeling is that we won't do novelisations - simply because people don't these days. That's not to say we wouldn't do an annotated script book of instance or original novels which use whoever the new TV Doctor might turn out to be." Meanwhile, Chris Boucher's novelMatch of the Day featuring the Fourth Doctor and Leela, confirmed some time ago, was pushed back to February 2005. (Thanks to DWM, Trevor Baxendale, Martin Day, Mark Michalowski, David McIntee, John Laurent, Dave Master)

Russell T. Davies, in the newest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, comments on the new series that "at the moment, we're planning thirteen episodes, 45 minutes long. The 13 would be a mixture of one-off episodes, and two-parters, complete with cliffhangers." However, he does emphasize that all of this is subject to change. "I can certainly tell you that the BBC talks about this show as a potential long-runner," Davies says. "We aren't looking at a special one-off series for nostalgists only - we all want this show to succeed, to gather viewers, to exhilarate and stimulate and create new memories, and return every year. ... I did an interview with DWM a few years ago, where we speculated how Doctor Who could return. In that, I said that budgetary restrictions would make the show Earth-bound. Well now we're here, and it's real, and I'm looking at the budget and thinking to hell with it. Let's voyage. In time and space. As a programme, it's always going to use present-day Earth as a touchstone.... but it would be a shame to ignore the endless vistas offered by a fully-functioning TARDIS. The Doctor and his friend Rose will be able to travel anywhere, any time, every Saturday night." (Thanks to "Bobbyfischface" on the OG Forum)

Issue #337 of Doctor Who Magazine is soon to be released (November 13, actually). Featured in the issue is, as expected, the CD of "Living Legend," the Big Finish single-episode audio play starring Paul McGann and India Fisher, as well as an interview with the stars of Big Finish's "Zagreus". Inside the magazine are interviews with Russell T. Davies (producer of the new series) and Barry Letts & Terrance Dicks (discussing the novel "Deadly Reunion"); a look at the production of "Zagreus"; The Fact of Fiction looks at "100,000 BC" (aka "An Unearthly Child"); "Happy Ever After," a single-episode anniversary comic from Scott Gray, Martin Geraghty and Daryl Joyce; and all the usual features. The cover illustration is at right.

Issue #336 of Doctor Who Magazine is now in bookshops; the cover is below. Included in the issue are an article by Benjamin Cook focusing on the new BBCi webcast "The Scream of the Shalka," Daniel O'Mahony's "The Accidental Tourist," interviews with BBC Radio Collection Michael Stevens and audio guru Mark Ayres, an interview with Paul McGann, the final chapter of the comic "The Curious Tale of Spring-Heeled Jack", plus all the usual reviews and features. Also due out soon is "We Love Doctor Who," the 40th anniversary DWM volume, which is due November 6. "Based upon the results of the DWM Anniversary Poll, this special 84-page commemorative edition examines the very best that Doctor Who has to offer - as voted by you! As well as counting down the Top 50 TV stories of all time, DWM examines books fictional and factual, novelisations, audio dramas and comic strips. Moreover, it is revealed who you consider to be Doctor Who's best-ever writers and which individuals you feel have made the greatest contribution to our favourite series! The best writers in Doctor Who fandom are gathered to take an in-depth look at what makes the series so special in all its varied forms. Beautifully illustrated throughout with a wealth of photographs, this issue is destined to become the ultimate souvenir of Doctor Who's 40th anniversary."

The 2004 Big Finish limited series taking place on Gallifrey will be called... Gallifrey! Big Finish recently confirmed that the audio series, which features Lalla Ward as Romana, Louise Jameson as Leela and John Leeson as K-9, will be four parts; parts one and four are written by Alan Barnes, part two by Stephen Cole and part three by Justin Richards. Also recently confirmed: the special one-shot CD featuring the single-episode story Living Legend will be attached to the cover of Doctor Who Magazine #337, and includes both the story and interviews with much of the cast of "Zagreus", BF's 40th anniversary story due in November. Finally... could there be more Doctor Who Unbounds? No plans as yet for a second series, according to John Ainsworth, who would not be producing one if there were, he says. However, Ainsworth does mention one interesting possibility: "Having said that we MAY do one more Unbound as a one-off special which I will both produce and direct. We'll see what happens." More of the interview with John Ainsworth is at the Total Telly site. (Thanks to DWM, Brian Edwards, John Ainsworth)

While no official word has been released as to the content of 2004's list of DVD releases in the UK, except for the confirmation that Pyramids of Mars (the winner of the DWM poll) will be released at some point that year, a reporton the Sci-Fi Online page purports to reveal some titles under consideration, including "The Green Death" (for which Katy Manning recorded a commentary in 2002 since she was in the UK at the time) and "Ghost Light". The report also mentions a box set called "The Beginning" featuring the first three stories, "An Unearthly Child," "The Daleks" and "The Edge of Destruction" -- a report that curiously sounds like the aborted 2001 VHS release boxed set. The site also suggests that 2004 will see no Patrick Troughton story releases. We emphasize that this is ONLY a page of rumor and speculation and no confirmation of any of these titles (except "Pyramids") has been released. (Thansk to Carl Simpson)