Bits and bobs, multiple fandoms so I don't lose the links

BBC has updated their FAQ page. They're acknowledging that the Time Lords "used" to have 13 incarnations, and continuing to fudge that they feel in any way obligated to end a successful show because of a 20-year-old plot point. Interestingly enough, they are also bowing to the canonicity of the Doctor being half human, "however purists tend to disregard this."

Heh. This is Who we're talking about. Even our canon isn't canon anyway.

There are short handwritten stories by famous authors online. No time to read them now, but Gaiman has said good things and I'm already hearing that something's going to cause a fic explosion in the Potterverse.

Alton Brown is a darling and a gentleman: Scroll down here for a 2-part interview with him. Includes discussion of the proper pronunciation of his name and its meaning, which I've always wondered about.

Huzzah!

I was going to write a melancholy post about giving up plays I wanted to see in DC and the annual Stratford trip because time and money just won't stretch, with wistful comments about my Stratford map with my favorite B&B and an excellent store scratched off because neither is open for business this year.

That was before I logged on and discovered that Elisabeth Sladen is one of the GOHs at ChicagoTARDIS and found my coauthors discussing another review of Qualities of Leadership.

I've just bought a 3-day membership for ChiTARDIS and checked the schedule - it falls at a fortunate conjunction of timecards allowing me to work off any vacation I'd otherwise need to use. (The current company doesn't give the day after Thanksgiving off.) And since I know I'm going, I can go ahead and get my tickets when they're as cheap as possible. Consider this an open post calling for possible roommates at the con hotel.

(This totally makes up for also bidding a wistful farewell to the notion of seeing Gareth David-Lloyd at Dragoncon... although I will confess to fantasizing that maybe they're talking to him too.)

Qualities of Leadership: The previous review I linked to wondered how the book would read to someone who wasn't familiar with Doctor Who. "JENS," a Who newbie who has seen only the Eccleston season, took the challenge. The total review is a very positive one, urging people to buy the book.

And it includes this lovely paragraph:
Next up is Linnea Dodson's Fifth Doctor story God Send Me Well to Keep, featuring Nyssa, where they have to rescue the timeline after Henry VIII seems to fall in love with the wrong woman. It’s a very solid story. While nothing in it is really exceptional, it’s a fun little tale nonetheless. And considering that this is Dodson's fiction debut, I would say it's a positive surprise how well she is able cover the basics: her writing style has a good flow, her way of integrating the Doctor and Nyssa into history is sound and her character work is solid. One of her biggest strengths in this story was her ability to really bring a feeling for the time and surroundings that the story was set in onto the page. Reading this story, I certainly see some potential in her and would be willing to bet that this isn't her last published fictional work.

I'm betting that myself. Now I just have to get off my ass and do!