From The SFX Office

Torchwood Give Us A Clue, zombies, hobnobs and the SFX app – it’s all been going on in SFX towers this week

Pinch, punch… no, nothing to do with it being the first of the month. Pinching ourselves is what all the men have been doing in the office since the we heard the news that Eve Myles was coming to the next Weekender. And then punching the air when we realise it isn’t all a dream. Various members of the team have had the luck to interview her over the years, and believe us, she’s indescribably adorable and even more lovely in the flesh than on TV. Oddly Kirky hasn’t been reacting the same way to hearing that Sylvester McCoy’s coming – he’s probably a little old to be her dream man. But all the old-time Who fans on the team are suitably excited – although plans to see if he can break his own ferrets-down-trousers record live on stage might not get very far.

Which is all distracting us from the job in hand of getting SFX 214 out of the door. The printers are expecting it tomorrow. They may be lucky, if the copious caffeine injections work. And once again, it’s been a busy week as far as out-of-office activities have been going, with SFX hacks chasing about the country, cameras and dictaphones in hand, hunting down sci-fi and fantasy quarry. Jordan is currently in London doing an impression of Christian Slater – he’s interviewing a vampire… not a real one, but an actor who plays one of the most recognisable bloodsuckers on TV at the moment.

Rob achieved two life goals in one morning on Tuesday, when he met the mighty McLovin' (that’s Christopher Mintz Plasse to his mum) and a current crew member of the Enterprise, baby-faced genius Chekov (Anton Yelchin). Yep, he was at the Fright Night junket. It would have been an even better morning if David Tennant had turned up as he was supposed to (he’d lost his voice, according to news reports), but you can’t win ’em all...

In other news, Rob’s been wondering what the hell happened to his secret stash of Hobnobs, Rich has come back from a brief break with Gallic lurgy, and Russell, Jon and Catherine have discovered the joys of Mission Burrito, freshly open in Bath (and they’re so stuffed they’re off the suspect list when it comes to Hobnobbling). Russell is wondering if he can arrange some burrito product placement in the next Couch Potato in exchange for free nosh.

Ade is also unlikely to have swiped the biscuits, as readers have been sending him food. This week he was surprised to receive two 12-inch salamis in the post (courtesy of Chris Montoya) and can now be seen wandering about the office boasting about his big package.

Due to the demands of trying to satisfy both a) a voracious art editor on Zombies: The Ultimate Guide (our next special issue) and b) a vociferous production editor on your regular SFX , Ian has spent every night this week working until 3 or 4am, and has now reached that stage of exhaustion where you start seeing non-existent cats in your peripheral vision. It’s all worth it, though – with one week of production to go, the Zombie Special (out on 26 September, flesheating-ghouls fans!) is looking great! If you’re a subscriber to undead newsletter The Zombie Times you’ll be getting a full preview of the contents when the latest instalment hits your inbox this week, since we’ve given them the exclusive. To subscribe, go to: http://www.terror4fun.com/zombie_mailing_list.html .

Dave B is desperately encouraging people to follow us on our Facebook so that we can break yet another momentous barrier (8,000 followers) and reckons that we’ll be 9,000 in no time the way he’s going. He’s also been working with Jon on the cover of the next issue of SFX (shh! Still top secret at this stage!) and beavering away on SFX ’s upcoming iPhone app, a brilliant sci-fi trivia quiz. You’ll be able to download and play it within the next few weeks. Jon has also been drawing pictures of ghosts (why? Again, top secret!) while Dave B is knackered, having joined the gym at last – although the new burrito shop is putting pay to all that good work.

Meanwhile, Nick came back from a Welsh break, slightly unnerved at discovering a spinning Hulk in Porthcawl.

And Dave G has been seen wiping biscuit crumbs out of his stubble.

Random Quote Of The Week : “It’s like Big Brother with dwarves.”

Whose mug? (last week’s answer – they were Rich’s glasses!)