The latest edition of the Doctor Who Appreciation SocietyPublication, Cosmic Masque, is now available for download.

Cosmic Masque is the Doctor Who Appreciation Society’s free-to-download e-magazine. The title is all about fandom - being a fan, taking part, contributing, and just enjoying.

The latest issue runs to 61 pages and contains fiction, merchandise reviews, event reviews, and interviews. It is available free of charge as a download at the DWAS website along with many items.

Cosmic Masque was first published in 1977 and a facsimile of that first edition remains available from the DWAS eBay store.

All proceeds go towards the DWAS Heritage Plaque fund.

Fan project The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1972 is to be published in February 2019 with a host of star names involved.

Katy Manning, John Levene, Mike Tucker and Alister Pearson have all contributed to the publication, joining a large number of Doctor Who fan writers and artists.

And in a further scoop, Wayne Howarth – the son of Walter Howarth, who was the main illustrator on some of the original annuals – has also lent his artistic skills to the book.

Announced on Doctor Who News late last year with an appeal for contributors, this homage to the World Distributors-produced annuals of the 1970s will be a physical publication packed with stories, puzzles and features, and is intended to fill the gap when – to fans’ great surprise and disappointment – a Doctor Who annual wasn’t published in the autumn of 1971, following Jon Pertwee’s second season in the title role.

Had one come out then, it would have seen Katy Manning’s companion character Jo Grant – who burst into the Doctor’s life on TV in January that year – featured in annual form for the first time. Instead, her inaugural annual appearance happened the following autumn, in 1972, when World Distributors, which began publishing the official Doctor Who annuals in autumn 1965, resumed their production with an annual for 1973 – the first time the cover bore an identifying year. The Manchester-based publisher continued bringing out the annuals until autumn 1985.

Terraqueous Distributors, publishers of The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1972, said:The price of the annual will be determined nearer the time, when the precise date of publication and details of how it can be bought will also be announced.

A Facebook page for the project has been set up.

Temporal Logbook II: Further Journeys from Pencil Tip Publishing, has been officially released. Contributors include Hamish Crawford, Nic Ford, Russell McGee, Richard Peevers, Tony Jones, Rob Nisbet, R.P. Fox, Kate Coleman, Kevin Mason, Frank Danes, David Smith and Violet Addison, J.E. Remy, Fionna MacDonald and Nick Mellish.

All proceeds from this publication will be donated in support of the Mood Disorders Association of British Columbia (MDABC) which is a non-profit organization that provides treatment, support, education, and hope of recovery for people living with a mood disorder.

To order a copy click here

The Doctor Who Club of Australia (DWCA) has announced the return of its Zerinza yearbook.

The magazine contains interviews, fiction, comics and articles. From the archives, you can read Nicholas Courtney discussing his career as the Brigadier and Dudley Simpson reflecting on everything from composing scores to street racing with Jon Pertwee.

Go behind the scenes on Whovians with show researcher Pat Magee, then from in front of the camera with Adam Richard. Camille Coduri discusses the departure of Christopher Eccleston and the arrival of David Tennant, writers Jon Blum and Kate Orman talk about writing for Big Finish, and Titan artist Simon Myers discusses his covers for the Doctor Who comics range.

Plus the true story of how Rosemary Howe succeeded in writing the first ever novelisation of The Daleks’ Master Plan, without access to the script or ever having seen it! And just what did happen to Katy Manning on the drive to the recent DWCA day event?

Zerinza Volume Two is available now as a free PDF to all current DWCA members.

It can also be purchased in hardcover, softcover (ISBN 978-0-244-99088-6) or epub (ISBN 978-0-244-99086-2) formats via the DWCA Publishing store:

Issue 32 of the fan production Whotopia is now available from Jigsaw Publications

This issue looks at the world of Doctor Who in print

• DOUGLAS ADAMS AND DOCTOR WHO
Adams’ stories come to life as novelisations, Jessica Chaleff shares her thoughts.
• INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR NICK MELLISH
Bob Furnell speaks with Whotopia’s longest-running columnist, and his plans for the ‘Target Trawl’ book.
• WHO YOU BUILD Dave Etches explores more full-scale Doctor Who model making
• COLUMN: MASTER WHO PART 5: PRINTS OF DARKNESS
Dan Tessier explores the Master as depicted in print.
• REVIEW: THE DOCTOR FALLS
Jon Arnold reviews the Series Ten finale.
• REVIEW x 2: TWICE UPON A TIME
Matthew Kresal and James P Quick take turns to steer us through Peter Capaldi’s festive farewell.
• COLUMN: WHOLIFE: COOKING IN THE TARDIS
Grant Bull raises a glass to one of the more unusul Doctor Who books.s
• REVIEWED: TWELFTH DOCTOR NOVELS
Dan Tessier tests the waters with three new Twelfth Doctor adventures.
• REVIEW: THIS TOWN WILL NEVER LET GO
Matthew Kresal gives us the lowdown on Lawrence Miles’ Faction Paradox novel.
• INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR ROBERT MAMMONE
Bob Furnell sits done with writer, editor and all-round creative engine Rob Mammone to discover the secrets of writing.
• REVIEW: SCRIPT DOCTOR
Jez Strickley takes a second look at the Sylvester McCoy era through the eyes of its script editor, Andrew Cartmel.
• TARGET NOVELIZATIONS AND ME
Jessica Chaleff ponders the world of collecting Doctor Who books.
• COLUMN: THE AUDIO ARCHIVES: ISH
Andrew Screen reviews the Sixth Doctor story Ish.’
• MEMORIES OF AMNESIA: THE EIGHTH DOCTOR ADVENTURES
A reflection on the Eighth Doctor book range by Dan Tessier.
• INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR RICK CROSS
How does a writer get plugged into the professional circuit? Whotopia regular Matthew Kresal speaks to Candy Jar Books author Rick Cross.
• LOOKING AT COVERS
Hamish Crawford takes a tour of the series’ bookcover artworks.
• COLUMN: THE BLACK ARCHIVES INVESTIGATED
Andrew Screen continues his look at the Black Archives collection.
• REVIEW: CLASS NOVELS
Nick Mellish critically examines the latest run of series-extending novels, this time derived from the Doctor Who spin-off Class.
• COLUMN: THE CURATE'S EGG: PETER HAINING
Richard Michaels shines a glowing light of approval on one of the series’s most prolific historians.
• BOOKMARKS IN TIME
Two nostalgic book slices by David P. May.
• RETROPLAY: THE GUNFIGHTERS
A recently uncovered review of The Gunfighters (1966) written by the late Gary Phillips.

Issue 32 is available to download for free in PDF format from the Whotopia site and/or to purchase in print via this link.

Graham Strong, the man responsible for the survival of many high-quality audio recordings, from missing Doctor Who episodes, has donated his collection to Mark Ayres of the Doctor Who Restoration Team, in order to be properly archived.

Strong started recording the audio from the series when he was just 14, using a domestic reel to reel, quarter-inch, tape recorder, the only way of preserving audio recordings at the time. The first recordings were made via a basic crystal microphone, hanging over the television speaker with a plant pot placed on the top of the T.V. to keep the microphone in place.

Following The Daleks' Master Plan, episode 7, Strong, a keen electronics student, managed to wire the audio input into the Tape recorder, directly to the audio output of the Television set. A highly dangerous procedure that breaks every rule of electrical safety but one that resulted in recordings that were crystal clear.

In fact, the surviving recordings are so clear that they often exceed the quality available on the surviving film prints of the episodes, and as a result, a number of DVD's of early episodes contain audio taken from Strong's recordings rather than the film print.

Strong was one of a small number of early fans who recorded audio from the now missing stories. However, he is believed to be the only one to record directly from the Television, resulting in the superior quality of his recordings.

A group of Doctor Who fans have got together to raise money for organizations committed to ending gun violence, using the hashtag #WhoAgainstGuns

The campaign follows the murder of 17 high school students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. the latest in a number of mass shooting incidents in the United States.

To raise money representatives of over 40 Doctor Who podcasters, writers and fans will be taking part in a special podcast commentary of the 1969 Patrick Troughton story The War Games.

Supporters of the project, which has already raised neary $4,000, include writers Paul Cornell (Human Nature, Father’s Day), Jamie Mathieson (Oxygen, Flatline) Andrew Smith (Full Circle) and Peter Harness (The Zygon Invasion, Kill The Moon). They will be joining comic artists Rachael Stott (Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor) and Simon Fraser (Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor) along with representatives of the popular Doctor Who podcasts Radio Free Skaro, Verity!, Reality Bomb, Coal Hill AV Club, Mutter’s Spiral, Gallifrey Public Radio, TARBIS, Web of Queer, Who and Company, bloggers and fans.

Former showrunner Steven Moffat has also offered his support, and will record an additional commentary if the amount raised exceeds $7,000 by 12th March.

The podcast will be released to listeners who provide a donation of at least $10 to an organization committed to ending gun violence.

Recomended organisations include

• US: March For Our Lives
• US: Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
• US: Moms Demand Action
• Canada: Campaign for Gun Control
• UK: Gun Control Network

Once you’ve made your donation, send a copy of your receipt to gallifreystands@realitybombpodcast.com and you’ll get information on how to download your special commentary podcast later in March.

A new fan produced publication, wrtten in tribute to the Doctor Who Annuals of the 1970's, is looking for contributers.

The unofficial 1972 annual will be released in 2018

The latest season of adventures from the long-running fan-written fiction series, The Doctor Who Project (TDWP), is currently in production.

The unofficial series features the Tenth Doctor and companion Hannah Redfoot as they travel through all of time and space in seven new adventures.

Season 41 begins with The Throne of Peladon by James P. Quick, the first part of a two-part adventure which sees the Doctor and Hannah return to Peladon in the year 4,100, where political machinations could once again rip the planet apart. Then, they encounter a boy soprano with a voice of gold who never grows old, land on a planet where the ghost of the Great One returns, confront an alien scientist bent on changing time, and the Doctor falls ill to a mysterious disease.

Writers for the rest of the season include Hamish Crawford, Ian Manning, J.E. Remy, Matthew James (Ghost Ship, The Snow Maiden), Richard Hoover (Where There’s Thunder), and Nick Krohn. Season 41 continues with The Secret of Peladon (Sep 30), Palimpsest (Oct 7), Web of Insanity (Oct 14), Dolce Music Della Morte (Oct 21), Rights and Responsibilities (Oct 28) and Moondust (Nov 4).

Stories are available free to readers in PDF format.

For more information visit The Doctor Who Project website.

Two unofficial books about the visual effects work of twentieth century Doctor Who, previously only available to a mainly UK fanbase and via various offline avenues, have now been made available to purchase worldwide online.

The books were written by Steve Cambden, who worked on the show as one of K9's operators. The first, The Doctor's Affect (1999), chronicles how he achieved his dream as a teenager to work on the series, with in-depth accounts of the recording of Destiny of the Daleks, Nightmare of Eden, The Horns of Nimon, Shada, Meglos, Full Circle and State of Decay, plus exclusive behind-the-scenes photographs and a comprehensive account of K9’s creation.

The second, The Doctor’s Effects, features interviews with many of the visual effects and design legends who worked on Doctor Who throughout the 'classic era', covering over a hundred productions including stories such as The Daleks, The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Sea Devils, Genesis of the Daleks, Terror of the Zygons, The Awakening and The Trial of a Timelord. The book includes many previously unseen photographs and includes interviews with Bernard Wilkie, Jack Kine, John Friedlander, Ian Scoones, Mat Irvine and Ray Cusick.


The online initiative has been organised by Steve's long-term friend Simon Meade, of The Ark in Space Facebook group and Twitter feed:

Full details about the books - which will be personally signed - and how to purchase them can be found via the sevenzero.net website.