Rumors have begun to fly over the identities of 11 authors who will pen a series of short stories to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.

The BBC reported on Thursday that 11 short stories, dubbed “eshorts,” will be published via the internet over the next 11 months, culminating in a bound anthology that will release just in time for the show’s big 50 in November. Each short will feature a different regeneration of the Doctor and each tale will be written by a member of the “who’s who of children’s fiction.” The author of the first tale will be revealed later today on the Doctor Who Facebook page.

Instead of waiting with giddy patience, the internet has been all abuzz with speculation over the identities of this literary pantheon all weekend. Most seem wild speculation at this point, but Bleeding Cool came upon a theory with some merit when they spotted a tweet by Neil Gaiman where the author stated that he was reviewing old clips of Doctor Who in preparation for a new project.

It’s possible that this means nothing for the 50th anniversary project. Gaiman announced several months ago that he was working on a new script for Doctor Who TV series, and this research could be for that project. Even so, I would call it a missed opportunity if the BBC didn’t tap Gaiman’s talents for this project. Back in September Gaiman won the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form for The Doctor’s Wife, an episode he wrote for series 6 of Stephen Moffat‘s revival. With several children’s and young adult awards under his belt, he’s definitely a shoe-in for the short list. Add to that his apparent mastery of the material in question I fully expect him to be on the list, and I may riot if he’s not.

Stay tuned later today for the announcement of the first author of this incredible project.