2017 will almost certainly be better than 2016

News about Big Finish's recent DARK SHADOWS anthologies has been flowing so freely lately that it's been a bit overwhelming. Thanks to the new format, fans will get 24 new DARK SHADOWS tales within a 16-month time frame ... and that's in addition to the upcoming BLOODLUST serial.

The first anthology, "Echoes of the Past," was released last summer and featured four original tales read by Jerry Lacy, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker and David Selby. December sees the release of the second anthology, "Haunting Memories," with Lacy, Parker, Kathryn Leigh Scott and Marie Wallace.

The third collection, "Phantom Melodies," is expected in May, 2017, followed two months later by "Dreams of Long Ago." Details about the fourth collection are still firmly TBD, but Big Finish released a few details about "Phantom Melodies" earlier this morning.

Next generation DARK SHADOWS cast members Stephanie Ellyne and Matthew Waterhouse will be returning to Collinsport in volume three. Waterhouse appears in Rob Morris’s "Last Orders at the Blue Whale," a tale showcasing the odious Harry Johnson.

"Harry is a character who never really got developed on the show and then got unceremoniously bundled off it, so it’s nice to give him an exit story at last," Morris said in the Big Finish announcement.

Ellyne will reprise her role of an adult Amy Jennings in "In A Broken Dream," written by Penelope Faith. The collection also includes "Old Acquaintance" by Waterhouse, and a fourth as-yet unannounced story.

Big Finish will close out 2017 with two more anthologies, "Love Lives On" and "Shadows of the Night." The first will include Paul Phipps' "Behind Closed Doors" (with Marie Wallace), and Daniel Hinchliffe's "Retreat" (with Stephanie Ellyne). Hinchliffe's story sees Amy, Roger Collins and Elizabeth Stoddard dealing with a werewolf.

While we're still a year away from "Shadows of the Night," Big Finish has revealed that Cody Schell, who previously wrote "And Red All Over" and "The Flip Side," will be contributing a story titled "Tuesdays and Thursdays." It tells of the first meeting of demonologists Timothy Stokes and Janet Findley.

"I knew the I Ching would be involved in my story, so as an experiment I cast a Hexagram at random,"Schell said. "I researched it, and incorporated it into my story. I think Stokes would be proud."

Anyway, that's my assessment of what's coming out during the next year. You can visit Big Finish's newsroom HERE to read the full announcement, yourself, which features additional commentary from the writers and cast members.