Big Finish has announced three standalone hardback books and two new audios for 2005, all Doctor Who spinoffs, as part of their "New Worlds" range. Iris Wildthyme, the character originally created for the BBC Books collection and who has been played by Katy Manning on several Big Finish audios, is featured in the short story anthology Wildthyme on Top, edited by Paul Magrs (who created the character), with stories by Jonathan Blum, Stephen Cole, Jake Elliot, Craig Hinton, Kate Orman, Lance Parkin, Philip Purser-Hallard, Jacqueline Rayner, Justin Richards and Stewart Sheargold. Manning will return to the role later in 2005 in two single-CD audios, the details of which have yet to be announced. Project: Valhalla by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright is a novel about the Forge, the clandestine organisation created for their audios "Project: Twilight" and "Project: Lazarus". And The Coming of the Queen by Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett is a novel about the life of Erimem, the Fifth Doctor companion from Big Finish's audio range played by Caroline Morris, taking place immediately before her debut story, "The Eye of the Scorpion."

Mad Norwegian Press have released the cover illustration for Warring States by Mags L. Halliday, their next installment of the "Faction Paradox" series of novels based on the characters and situations originally created by Lawrence Miles for the BBC Doctor Who novels. Click on the thumbnail for a larger cover. Outpost Gallifrey still features online the prologue preview for the book, courtesy Mad Norwegian. (Thanks to Lars Pearson)

The official Doctor Who site today released the cover illustration for Lance Parkin's The Gallifrey Chronicles, the next BBC Doctor Who novel and the "final" arc story for the Eighth Doctor (for which we printed the cover blurb some time ago). While early reports suggested it was moved back to February (from June), the inside "Coming Soon" blurb for the previous novel, Steve Cole's "To The Slaughter," notes that the book is now due on June 6, as does the BBC Shop website; author Parkin confirmed today on the Outpost Gallifrey Forum that it would indeed be out in June, a delay caused by printers' schedules. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version of the cover.

BBC Books has decided to change its submissions policy for new Doctor Who novels, according to a statement on the official Doctor Who site. "With Doctor Who set to return to our television screens, bigger and better than ever before, the interest in Doctor Who fiction - from readers and from prospective writers - is already increasing enormously," says the statement. "At the same time, we are waiting to evaluate the impact of the new series on our continuing lines of Doctor Who books. That means that at the moment - without the help of a real TARDIS - we do not yet know what our requirements for Doctor Who novels will be for 2006 and beyond. With this in mind, it simply isn't fair for us to try to evaluate proposals against criteria that are bound to change. So, for the time being, we have decided it is not possible for us to accept Doctor Who novel proposals for consideration." The statement goes on to note that once there are more concrete plans for long-term publishing, they will revisit the policy.

Issue 7 of Black Scrolls has been released. A 36-page full color fanzine with cover by Adrian Salmon ("Professor Bernice Summerfield"), the issue features the last interview recorded with Michael Craze from 1997, an interview with Salmon, humor and much more. For more details, visit their website. (Thanks to Steve Preston)

Some updates from Mad Norwegian Press. The release of About Time 5 by Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood has been delayed until March but has greatly increased in page count ("it only covers four seasons of 'Doctor Who,' but they're an extremely busy four seasons in terms of cast changes, continuity and stylistic alterations"). The next volume is due in May, then the next in July, and the final in August. Lance Parkin's A History of the Universe will now be out in July, while several other releases (including "I Who 4") have still not been scheduled for final release dates yet. (Thanks to Lars Pearson)

New series writer and novelist Paul Cornell has written a new piece of Sherlock Holmes fiction, The Deer Stalker, now on the bbc.co.uk website, read aloud by Andrew Sachs ("Shada").

Doctor Who is featured in a new book, 'Fifty Key Television Programmes', an academic work edited by Glen Creeber of the University of Aberwystywth; the Doctor who section is written by Matt Hills. The book is distributed by Arnold Publishers in the UK and Oxford University Press in the USA. (Thanks to Steve Freestone)

Outpost Gallifrey has received a hazy but legible version of the cover illustration for the BBC Books novel To the Slaughter by Stephen Cole, due in February 2005. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version. Update - January 11: The official site has posted a clear version of the cover so we've replaced our original view with the official version. (Thanks to Jim Trenowden)

According to Mad Norwegian Press, the second book in their About Time series (numbered 4, for seasons 12-17) is now shipping and should be arriving throughout the next week.