Phew, well, things are getting very busy. I’m hopping back and forth between two lots of TV plotting, comic plotting, radio writing and novel writing, but it’s all stuff I’m really enthused about and enjoying, and all with serious goals in sight. It’s just a joy getting up in the morning at the moment.

First of all, I should thank dear old (author of repute) Neil Gaiman, who was kind enough to put in a plug for ‘Human Nature’ this morning, over at his blog:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/01/bad-blogger-no-liver-stories.html

The reason he mentions it is that we’re now in Hugo Award nomination season, and he’d like to see it represented in the category of Best Dramatic Wossname. Thank you very much, Neil. That’s was a tenner well spent.

I’d also like to mention something huge that’s going to happen in my home town this summer. The Hush Festival takes place just about outside my window over the weekend of 25^th-27^th July. It’s a full on new rock festival, with camping available, and I’ve heard tell of many interesting bands that are going to be announced in the next few weeks. Registration is on an incline scheme, getting more expensive as the dates approach, but right now it’s just £30 for a huge load of music. At the moment the announced bands are serious NME and upcoming names like Vince Vincent and the Villains, the Alfonz, Dollshouse and the Perils. Plus all the local talent I rave about on a regular basis. But those names will also get bigger as the dates approach. Do go and have a look, and help disturb my sleep patterns this summer:

http://www.hushfest.co.uk/

I’ve been researching British Marvel comics hugely in the last few months… no reason… and this new blog has become something I look at very often. It’s also updated with wonderful frequency (though confusingly always has the same first entry), and deserves your support. It is It Came From Darkmoor, and is entirely about Marvel UK:

http://itcamefromdarkmoor.blogspot.com/

And finally, might I say how pleased I am with the documentary on the DVD release of Doctor Who and the Silurians, which I filmed a contribution to last summer? It’s called What Lies Beneath, and for perhaps the first time it’s a DVD extra that could just about be shown on BBC4. It ventures into proper critique of the episodes: that is, it explores the political and societal backdrop against which the story was made. I think that between us we crack open a lot of interesting boxes and find things inside the text which nobody’s ever talked about before. Which is hard to do in terms of classic Who, the ground being very well trod. That would be the ground with boxes on it, which contain… the text. It’s teatime, I’m not a writer at the moment. And it’s quite a surprise to share a documentary with former Labour Cabinet minister and accomplished author Roy Hattersley. That was certainly a coup for the doco production team. I hope this is just the start of much more analysis on the Doctor Who DVDs. There are lots of stories still to be released which cry out for this approach.

Anyhow, I must get back to my tea, ready to gird my loins for the next working day. Until we encounter each other again, Cheerio!

I’ve been remiss about posting here, so my apologies, but I’ve had a really good excuse. I’ve been laid low with chicken pox. I got it from my small God-daughter, who, I’m proud to say, was powerfully infectious, laying low another whole Godparent as well as several other folk. So I was covered in painful muesli, while having what felt like the worst hangover I ever had. It wasn’t so much the itching, in my case, but the little spiky sensations that stopped me getting a good night’s sleep. I felt like I should be stumbling around thrashing, hissing ‘absorb!’ Like no Doctor Who monster ever did, but they should have done. I’m also sure no Doctor Who monster ever found daytime television so dull. Except perhaps the Kraals. Anyhow, I may not have been out of the house for two weeks (I miss air), but it’s all dropping off now, and I’m well on the mend, and have been working for the last few days. Three deadlines in a row, no less. None of which I can talk about yet. But no, before you ask, none of them are Doctor Who. I’m left with some catching up of items for the blog. So here we go…

ITEM! Tom Daylight spared my blushes in the Comments section the other day, by posting the full solicitation to my Young Avengers Presents issue, which I feel I should reproduce here, the link taking you to the lovely cover (love those old Vision images in the background)…

http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/April08/YAPresents.html

YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #4 (of 6)
Written by PAUL CORNELL
Penciled by MARK BROOKS
Cover by JIM CHEUNG
The Vision is going through changes. He's a passionate man. And an impulsive one, if his decision to go and visit Stature at her Initiative training camp is anything to go by. He's got some important things to tell her. But will getting intangibly stuck halfway through her body while A.I.M. are attacking put a damper on his ardour?
32 PGS./Rated T+ $2.99

For those of us not in the faith, a solicitation is an advertisement for the benefit of comic shops, its intent being to lure them into buying many copies of said issue, out in April, to put on their shelves. I got to write the blurb this time, which was great fun.

ITEM! My Agent is at it again, creating another interesting competition on Facebook. This one concerns the launch of the new Iain M. Banks Culture novel, Matter, and you can win signed copies:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=21615138152

ITEM! Now, back at Worldcon in Yokohama, I took part in a panel about Blogging in SF, which featured a number of very witty participants, including Tor Books senior editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden. Only now is it available as two podcasts:

http://www.tor-forge.com/Podcasts/

I do feel sorry for the Japanese chap who took part without benefit of translator. He had good things to say, but sometimes you can hear tectonic plates moving while he gets there. But hey, it’s better than I would have managed.

ITEM! This chap, Anthony Dry, is about to illustrate a fanzine interview I’ve done, and I was very impressed with his Doctor Who art. Do take a look:

http://www.gravisart.com/

ITEM! I’m going to be guesting at Darwen Doctor Who Day on the 5^th April, in Lancashire. I’ll let you know if there’s a website. I’m also probably going to be popping over the pond to the New York Comic Convention in the same month.

ITEM! And, goodness me, there’s now a replica of the Time Lord – containing fob watch from ‘Human Nature’!

http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=42628

Truly, this is the golden age of nice Doctor Who toys.

Anyhow, until I see you next, be it in Los Angeles or Imperial College, I warn you to beware of small God-children, and wish you a hearty Cheerio.