MARK MORRIS

Now that this month's issue of Doctor Who Magazine has spilled the beans, I'm finally at liberty to announce that I have written a four-part Doctor Who audio drama for Big Finish Productions entitled Village of the Damned. The story is set in the village of Stockbridge, which became the Doctor's home from home in the DWM comic strips of the 80s, and stars Peter Davison as the 5th Doctor and Sarah Sutton as his companion, Nyssa.

There's still quite a bit about this story that I'm not yet allowed to tell you, but what I can reveal is that it's set in a future Stockbridge, and is, to quote Alan Barnes in Doctor Who Magazine "a full-blooded, horror-ish sort of thing, with sinister ravens and zombie cricketers!" (well, they're not exactly 'zombie' cricketers - coming so soon after the release of my Torchwood novel, Bay of the Dead, I don't just want to become known as 'that zombie guy' - but we'll let that pass).

I'm down in London this week for the recording of Village of the Damned, and though details have not yet been revealed, I can tell you that it's got an absolutely stellar cast. I can't wait to hear them all in action, bringing the words of my script to life.

In other news, I've recently sold three new short stories to three different anthologies (more details once contracts are signed), and am currently juggling four projects - the aforementioned Cinema Futura, a long-overdue novella for Earthling Publications, a co-written novel with a very good friend of mine, and a major re-structuring job on a novel that's been sitting patiently in a drawer for about 18 months while I've been frantically scribbling books and scripts for Doctor Who and Torchwood.

Hope to see some of you at the BFS Open Night next week.

Cheers for now.

Just a quick note to let you all know that the next BFS Open Night on Friday 3rd July at The George pub in Fleet Street (that's in London, in case you weren't sure) will have a distinctive Torchwood flavour.

Me and fellow Torchwood novel authors Sarah Pinborough and Guy Adams will be joined by Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures scriptwriter Joe Lidster (whose new Torchwood audio, In The Shadows has just been released) to talk about...erm, Torchwood. The panel will be chaired by Andrew Cartmel, who was script editor on Doctor Who between 1986-89. Should be a fun night.

A week later, on Thursday July 9th, me, Sarah and Guy will be teaming up to promote our Torchwood novels once again, this time at Borders in Leeds. We'll be reading from our books and answering questions from the audience, so if you can't make it to London, why not come along to Leeds and get a book signed. The fun starts at 6:30pm.

Okeley-dokeley, that's pretty much it for now. I'm juggling various projects at the moment, so I'd better get back to work - even though it's Sunday and a beautiful day outside. Bah.