The cover for the Companion Chronicles THE SECOND DOCTOR VOLUME 02 has been revealed along with the story synopses. That’s me and Wendy Padbury on the left with the new cover, taken at The Moat just after Wendy recorded her part on my story Tactics of Defeat. Did I mention I’d written for Zoe? And Capt Ruth Matheson (Daphne Ashbrook)?

If you check the Big Finish news story (SECOND DOCTOR COMPANION CHRONICLES) there’s a competition to win a signed poster of the cover. If you’re interested, the story synopses are:

Four new stories from the Second Doctor’s era…

1. The Curator’s Egg by Julian Richards

Zoltan Clarkson (Eccentric Billionaire, Cybernetics Tycoon, Museum Curator) had a dream of a domestic dinosaur in every home. He bought the empty county of Dorset to work on this dream and develop cyborg dinosaur hybrids in a safe, contained environment.

Now Clarkson lies insensate in the infirmary, his twin brother Andrew struggles to hold things together and dinosaurs walk the Earth. With the Doctor and Ben chasing monsters at sea, Polly has only a socially awkward scientist and the world’s friendliest dog to help her prevent the rise of the ultimate predators…

2. Dumb Waiter by Rob Nisbet

The Doctor and Victoria attend a civilised garden party. But their genial hostess, Mrs De Winter, is convinced that the garden conceals a secret; something about Carlos the head waiter who never speaks.

The hidden truth can be glimpsed by people less accustomed to the mask of politeness and cake. People like Jamie.

And people like Leela, the mysterious “warrior of the Seventeen”…

3. The Iron Maid by John Pritchard

“I saw a wheel up in the heavens – a wheel of fire and swords… And I saw a heap of armour that was waiting for a Maid to put it on. I feared that it was meant for me, but a voice said otherwise – that another Maid was coming and she would save our country from its enemies…”

The TARDIS has arrived in France in the fourteenth century – a time of devastation and despair. In an empty church beside a crowded graveyard, Zoe meets a woman who claims to see a dreadful future waiting for the world.

4. The Tactics of Defeat by Tony Jones

In the rain-swept jungle of Belize, Captain Ruth Matheson and Zoe Heriot are both about to discover just what sacrifices they are prepared to make when faced with a seventeenth century threat that might just spell death for millions of innocent people.

Does the end justify the means? Sometimes winning feels like exactly like losing…