Big Finish just recently announced the end of their line of licensed Doctor Who short story anthologies, Short Trips. and if you head to the website right now, there’s a massive sale with every volume of the series going for only £7.50 each!

The end of Short Trips means the end of any officially published fiction featuring the “classic” First through Eighth incarnations of the Doctor, at least until something comes along to take its place. It’s a sad day for fans of these wonderful collections, and for me it’s even more so since Short Trips represents my first foray into professional fiction. Only a short while ago, I was proud to be one of the 25 winners of a writing contest conducted by Big Finish in a search for new talent. My story, “Stolen Days,” appeared in Short Trips: How the Doctor Changed My Life, a volume specifically created to feature all the contest winners. I’ve written about that experience a bit here and elsewhere, so I won’t belabor the point. But that was just the beginning.

Soon after that book came together under the auspices of editor Simon Guerrier, I had the chance to pitch some ideas for another Short Trips, this time themed around the concept of magic. Neil Corry was the editor this time, and after e-mailing him three ideas with three different Doctors, he commissioned me to write what would become my second piece of professional fiction and my second Who story, “Mardi Gras Massacre.”

For me, this was as extraordinary a feeling as finding out that “Stolen Days” would be published; maybe even a bit more, since now I wasn’t a newcomer winning a contest. I was a professional writer being asked to write a story to a (very specific) brief and trusted to deliver on time and as expected. On top of it, I was now contributing a story to a book that would also feature established authors like Simon, Gareth Roberts, and so many more. It was daunting but wonderful.

Since “Stolen Days” was a Seventh Doctor tale and “Mardi Gras Massacre” featured the Sixth Doctor, I figured I was now obligated to keep moving back in the Doctor’s timeline. My next pitch would have to be a Fifth Doctor (my favorite) story. With the end of the Short Trips line, however, that will have to wait.

I’m sorry to see the Short Trips series end, but I’m very grateful for the opportunity they and everyone at Big Finish gave me to contribute to the ever-growing universe of Doctor Who fiction, and I certainly hope that this will not be the last time I have a chance to do so.

So here’s to Short Trips: Splendid collections, all of them! Now go and buy them all (but get the two with me in it first)!