Welcome to Issue Eight of the Winterwind Papers.

We almost had five articles in this issue, something we'd hoped for every issue but haven't managed since the first. Just this past weekend, we were looking at anything between four and six. A month ago, we only had two.

Here's the scoop...

After the last issue, I met Pat Daley on Tom Baker's forums. She liked the issue, I liked her work and we had our artist for this issue. Actually, it worked out better than I'd hoped.

When I asked Pat for alternate shots of some pictures, she linked me to her backstage Photobucket album. It showed a lot of step by step pictures. Since she's also the author of Stained Glass Step by Step, I thought it was a great opportunity to actually show some of the creation process.

Since my Doctor Who article, and the Seventh Issue overall, performed well, I thought I'd try my hand at a Doctor Who webcomic... using action figures.

(Trust me, my girlfriend has already called me a geek.)

Dragos had hoped to write a new piece but his studies wouldn't allow the time. We decided to use an older piece that he'd edit. When he saw my webcomic and the Seal of Rassilon in the artist's profile, he completely re-wrote his story to what he called "PoMo existential Doctor Who fanfiction".

And he asked me to make him a pink background. Seriously. You see... we'd had this conversation about exfoliating and...

I'd hoped to write a critique of my recent college experience but wasn't sure I'd have the time or energy.

Mattias had an idea for an column but wasn't sure he'd make it either.

Maybe four, maybe five, maybe six.

I tried to write mine over the past weekend but only managed to take some pictures and write the intro. I wanted it to be an objective report but what I was trying to churn out in one night were sarcastic rough notes. Fortunately, Mattias' column was one page and he penned it, and the background for it, Sunday night.

It's Mattias's first Random Thoughts column since this time in 2006. And strangely, it's something that I almost wrote in Issue Six.

I was asked if we had a theme for this issue. At the time we didn't but wound up with two: Doctor Who and metrosexuals.

Three out of men in this issue watch Doctor Who and pamper themselves. The lady watches Doctor Who and pampering is assumed by gender but... metrosexual is a manly term.

And one of these days, when I find the time, energy and inspiration, we'll have a new background for the editorial page. Dammit.

Peace.