It's a rare time when a nasty flu bug lays me low for more than a week, but the last three weeks has been a non-stop battle against the mother of all viruses. Not enough to land me in the hospital, but quite nearly.

But good news... I woke up just as they were wheeling me into a very premature tomb and I'm 98% back in shape. Unfortunately, the illness made me incredibly late on damn near everything, and there's a lot before me: updates on the website, forging the November issue of the Gazette, and starting work on the December-scheduled INNER DIMENSIONS/NEUTRON FLOW 2007 SPECIAL, which will occupy my days and nights between now and before Christmas. We also have the Halloween Party coming up in less than two weeks, so there's lots of work to do.

De Boss here again to remind everyone in the Central Indiana area that the Whoosier Network is on the prowl again at the Dwelling Place (see the column to your right), and now that the good Doctor is saying his fond farewells on the Sci-Fi Channel (at least until next year), let's turn our focus to his longtime companion, Sarah Jane Smith and her new adventures!

Along with the first part of "The Revenge of the Slitheen", we also have a Doctor Who classic that will be revealed at the meeting. All this, the latest news from the Whoniverse, and loads more stuff! We hope to see you this Friday

Folks, God was on our side today.

We were told rain, and despite a few nervous-making clouds around noon, the skies opened up to all their blueness. The sweltering heat and humidity that has put many in the hospital or worse, peeled away to a very temporate 83 degrees.

And the Who-Net picnic for 2007 came off without a hitch. It was a terrific gathering, and I actually got to learn how to play croquette with the Lee clan (though I take great exception to that sticking penalty Julie hit me with. Her son Jeffrey should watch where his head is when I'm swinging that mallot).

Anyway, thanks to everyone who made this year's last big outdoor get-together a huge success.

Can it truly be the end of summer? Well, Who-Net can't let it completely fade into memory before the WHOOSIER NETWORK "DALEK BURGERS IN PARADISE" PICNIC, taking place Saturday, August 25th, 12:00 PM - ???? at Garfield Park, 2345 Pagoda Drive, Indianapolis, IN. We'll be set up at Shelter House 3, so bring some goodies, a lawn chair, some games, and get ready for a terrific afternoon. And be sure to leave room for a challenging round of our trivia game, "Are You Smarter Than a Sci-Fi Geek?"! We hope to see you all then!

It came and went so quickly.

But still, Who-Net's presence at InCon was keenly felt, both at our great video and event room, and with Mark Gasper's incredibly elaborate Dr. Who USA set up in the merchandising area. How could you be a Doctor Who fan and not just spaz at the tons of Doctor Who/Torchwood/British sci-fi goodies he had set up?

I, of course spent a slight fortune at Mark's booth (we didn't need to make that electric payment anyway) and got me some cool action figures, a Doctor Who clock, and a table mat, as well as the first volume of Big Finish's Dark Shadows audio series. It is a difficult thing to pay for that while your wife is trying to snatch the checkbook out of your hand...

The Whoosier Network will NOT be meeting at the Dwelling Place this Friday. We will, however, be meeting at InConJunction at the Keystone Sheraton Hotel. A short meeting will be held at 7:00 PM to bring everyone up to speed on things before we launch into the third season of Doctor Who. We hope to see you for a great weekend of fun and fantasy!

Boy, I can't believe it's this close, less than two weeks before InConJunction, and the Whoosier Network is going to be there with a huge line-up of classic and all-new video and live presentations. Amidst the running of the entire third season of DOCTOR WHO and selected episodes of TORCHWOOD, we have our wildly successful trivia game from last year, now entitled ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A SCI-FI GEEK? and our variety show A DOCTOR WHO COMPANION, starring the musical talents of our President Emeritus Rick Lee and a dramatic reading of Chapter 1 of the hilarious SIR APROPOS OF NOTHING by Peter David.

Mark "De Boss" Dooley here with a reminder that the Whoosier Network will be meeting Friday June 1st at 6:30 PM at the Dwelling Place, 7440 E. Michigan Road (across the parking lot from Jubilee Bowl), Indianapolis, IN.

Prepare for the ultimate extermination, as the Daleks invade our own shores in the rousing two-parter Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks. In 1930's New York, the Doctor and Martha arrive at Radio City Music Hall in time to discover that the lone surviving Dalek of Canary Wharf, Sek, is thinking very unDalekian thoughts... like evolving the Dalek mutant from its current state into something much more mobile. But the remaining Daleks are determined to stop him at any cost!

Yes, yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the film that changed an industry forever... but I don't celebrate it on its launch day. My celebration begins right on Memorial Day this week.

Because that's when, 30 years ago, my future wife and my youngest brother shared that most significant event in the best possible surroundings at the time.

Now, prior to the premiere date, I had already seen some stuff on Star Wars... I picked up the paperback real cheap (with the early concept paintings by Ralph McQuarrie on the cover), saw the tralier the winter before at a showing of Silver Streak, and the first issue of the Marvel comic in April. The comic, sadly, was sloppily thrown together, with some of the worst art I'd ever seen by Howard Chaykin, and I had this feeling that, like with Logan's Run and several of the Edgar Rice Burrough movie adaptations, this was gonna be another crap sci-fi movie that Marvel had licensed out for a quick buck.

Mark "De Boss" Dooley here with a reminder that the Whoosier Network will be meeting Friday May 5th at 6:30 PM at the Dwelling Place, 7440 E. Michigan Road (across the parking lot from Jubilee Bowl), Indianapolis, IN.

And we continue the exciting third series with Martha Jones' first trip in the TARDIS to 17th Century London and the Globe Theater, where the Doctor and his new protege` arrive in time to save up-and-coming playwright Billy Shakesphere from what appears to be an actual witch! Can the time-traveling duo crack THE SHAKESPHERE CODE?

And then it's back to New Earth for a fateful encounter with the Face of Boe, who has a great secret to impart to the Time Lord... one that will change his life forever! Well... that is if he and Martha can get through New New York's insanely condensed GRIDLOCK.