The latest issue of DWIN's award-winning fiction magazine Myth Makers, #14, is in release, with ten new stories "told from a personal perspective," featuring fiction from Doctor Who novelists Simon A Forward, Mags L Halliday (with a new tie-in to her forthcoming Faction Paradox novel, Warring States) and Dale Smith, and Short Trips anthology writers Ian Mond, Stephen Hatcher and more. "Whether you're a fan of the classic series, the novels, the audios, the spinoffs or even the Richard E Grant Doctor, you're sure to find something that appeals to you." Further details available at DWIN's website. (Thanks to Richard Salter)

We've received the cover illustration for February 2005's CD release of the audio soundtrack of The Underwater Menace, the adventure starring Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Anneke Wills and Michael Craze. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version. (Thanks to Stephen Roddam, Mark Backhurst)

The recent installment of Radio Times magazine features a gag photo with the Daleks settling down for Christmas dinner. Says BBCi: "The metal meanies seem to be enjoying a traditional mix of of turkey, stuffing, sprouts and carrots - but have foregone roast potatoes in favour of mountains of the fluffiest mash you have ever seen. Well, they do have rather good whisk attachments, we guess." You can view it on the BBCi site by clicking here. (Thanks to BBCi)

According to Retail Week, the retailer Comet has hired the unmistakable voice of Tom Baker to present its "surprising gifts at predictably low prices."

In a small sidebar news article in the recent issue of Doctor Who Magazine, DWM announces that Autumn 2005 will see the first Doctor Who Annual for twenty years; they got the licence to do annuals as part of their recent renewal, and it will evidently be aimed at a younger audience than the magazine itself.

The Big Finish website has been updated with a lot of new information including the following; note that you can see all of the covers and cover blurbs for everything listed below now on our Forthcoming Releases page:

• Short Trips: The twelfth book, Short Trips: Seven Deadly Sins now has a cover illustration and cover blurb. Big Finish has also officially announced Short Trips: A Day in the Life edited by Ian Farrington; the cover blurb and illustration plus writer and story list are now on the releases page.
• Catch-1782: This Sixth Doctor tale by Alison Lawson will be the second of several stories next year with Bonnie Langford as Mel; the cover illustration is now online. The story Unregenerate! by David A McIntee, due out in June, will also feature Langford playing Mel, but this time alongside the Seventh Doctor.
• UNIT Series: Provisional covers (subject to change) for all four volumes are now on the releases page. Nicholas Courtney is currently only appearing in the first story (though the cast lists for parts three and four haven't been updated.)
• The Juggernauts: You can now listen to a preview of this story online on the Big Finish website.
• A Storm of Angels: This seventh Unbound CD will not be released until January due to post-production issues ("The sound and music requirements of this play have proved to be particularly demanding and, despite much planning and preparation, this has taken us all rather by surprise. In fact the complete post production time on A Storm of Angels has turned out to be almost three times as long as it normally takes for a double CD release.")

Visit the Releases page for more details.

At right is the cover illustration for the forthcoming Script Doctor book by former series script editor Andrew Cartmel, featuring an introduction by Sylvester McCoy, sent to us by the Galaxy 4 retail shop. "Script Doctor" is Cartmel's memoir of his time working on the show as script editor during the McCoy era. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version. (Thanks to Galaxy 4 for the cover illustration!)

A few updates we can pass along: in the third episode (still tentatively called "The Unquiet Dead"), we can attach two confirmed actors with their roles -- Eve Miles plays Gwyneth and Alan David plays Gabriel Sneed -- while a new name,Meic Povey, plays The Driver. Also, Paul McFadden is the sound editor for the new series; his credits include "Agent Cody Banks 2," "Waking the Dead" and "Captain Corelli's Mandolin," and he was nominated for an MPSE Golden Reel award and won a BAFTA Wales award for his work on the film "Veronica Guerin" with Cate Blanchett. Also, the latest issue of Dreamwatch magazine mentions the name of an alien race apparently appearing in Paul Cornell's episode (the one they note as "Death Day" although this is not the title): the race is called the Vanishers. December 15 update: I'm told this is also not correct, there is no race called the Vanishers in this story.

Details have been announced for Big Finish's forthcoming Short Trips 13: A Day in the Life, edited by Ian Farrington, due out in the spring of 2005. Included in the anthology are "Making History" by Trevor Baxendale, "A Life in the Day" by Xanna Eve Chown, "The Last Broadcast" by Matthew Griffiths, "How You Get There" by Simon Guerrier, "One Wednesday Afternoon" by Alison Jacobs, "Terror of the Darkness" by Joseph Lidster, "Undercurrents" by Gary Merchant, "The Heroine, the Hero and the Megalomaniac" by Ian Mond, "Sold Out" by Danny Oz, "Morphology" by Phil Pascoe, "Visiting Hours" by Eddie Robson, "After Midnight" by Andy Russell, "Before Midnight" by Andy Russell, and "Waiting for Jeremy" by Richard Salter. (Thanks to DWM)

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, #351, has reached subscribers. While no preview of this issue was issued this month, we have a scan below of the cover as well as the free CD that was included, featuring two short pieces from Big Finish: the standalone UNIT audio "The Coup" by Simon Guerrier starring Nicholas Courtney, and a Bernice Summerfield audio featuring the Cybermen starring Lisa Bowerman. Also in the issue are interviews with Paul McGann and Daphne Ashbrook from the TV Movie and all the usual features. This will also be the last issue in this format, as #352 will have a new cover design and carry expanded coverage of the new series. (Thanks to Steve Tribe)

Update Dec. 9, 2200 GMT: The editors of Doctor Who Magazine have provided us with a larger scan of the cover; click below left. Also included in the issue is an interview with new series make-up artist Davy Jones; part six of the comic strip "The Flood," part two of the Archive Extra "Doctor Who on the Radio" and more.