Paul Cornell's Festive Friday Newsletter

Tea and Sanctuary Advent Calendar

As I mentioned last week, Emma Newman is putting out a lovely little slice of supportive goodness every day over Advent on her podcast Tea and Sanctuary, and when she can’t do a day she has various friends filling in for her, including, here on Episode #7, myself! I did it unscripted, it takes a turn, and it’s pretty raw and direct at times, while, I hope, still being funny and warming. Do check out the whole run.

Monarch: The Lost Adventures Pre-Order!

I’m one of a whole bunch of comickers contributing to Legendary Comics’ Monarch: The Lost Adventures, a graphic novel anthology which tells stories in the continuity of the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters TV series. (And we stick very closely to the lore.) My story, which I loved writing, concerns Bill Randa’s wartime encounter with the Ion Dragon, and is wonderfully rendered by Drew Zucker and Brad Simpson on art and colour art. The anthology is out on 14th July, and is up for pre-order now!

The Lychford Collection 2

Up for pre-order now, and out on 16th June next year is The Lychford Collection 2, featuring my fourth, fifth and sixth Lychford novellas!

Stolen Face

Lizbeth Myles and I have done another commentary track for a Hammer blu-ray box set! Stolen Face (1952) is a neat little black and white thriller, and we found lots to say about it! It’s out on February 16th, and you can read all about it and pre-order it here at Hammer.

Sophie Aldred in Salvation’s Child!

Winter is Coming has a big article on Doctor Who’s Sophie Aldred appearing as the clone warrior army the Partheni in the graphic novel my company Cosmic Lighthouse is publishing next year: Salvation’s Child.

Salvation’s Child is the graphic novel Prologue to Adrian Tchaikovsky’s best-selling SFF novel series The Final Architecture. (So new readers can start here!) It’s by Adrian himself, artist Mike Collins, colour artist Pippa Bowland and letterer Simon Bowland. We’re publishing it together with our partners ComiXology.

In that article you can see lots of panels featuring Sophie, and read quotes from everyone involved.

Check out these pre-order links at Amazon US and Amazon UK.

And you can find Cosmic Lighthouse at these links on BlueSky and Instagram.

Salvation’s Child will be released by ComiXology Originals on June 16th, 2026!

Get Signed and Personalised Copies of My Work!

I’ve re-stocked my Ko-fi online store, with all my current works, which you can get cheaper than anywhere else, plus you can have them signed and personalised! Right now, it’s just for UK residents, but that’ll change as I sort out international postage.

Of Intrigue and Espionage

I have a story in this just-announced forthcoming volume from Stars and Sabers publishing, which is due out in October 2026. I’m in good company, as you can see from the full announcement here.

Telefantasy Time Jump (including our Christmas Special!)

The new podcast from me and Lizbeth Myles covers the history of SFF on TV, from 1953 onward, with our regular episodes (on the 14th of every month) covering a show released that year in the UK, and the Patron Bonus episodes (on the 28th) covering a show from the rest of the world. The shows for December (covering 1964) are Studio 64: The Crunch/Bleep and Booster and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. And on the 21st we’ll be releasing our Christmas Special, which will feature, every year, us watching a Christmas episode of a show in the date range we covered in the previous year, in this case The Avengers: ‘Too Many Christmas Trees’. The main episode is available free wherever you get your podcasts. To get the bonus episode, you need to follow us on Patreon at £3/$3 or above. (And you get access to seven years of Hammer House of Podcast bonus episodes!) You can find all the info here.

My Linktrees

You can now find all my social media links, my website/blog and links to where you can buy my books, in one place here, thanks to Linktree!

The Work of Friends

Antony Johnston has sold a sequel to his best-selling Can You Solve the Murder?, The Forest of Death!

David Quantick has had a cover reveal for his forthcoming all-ages novel Imagine a Friend! (I loved this book, and was happy to blurb such a heartwarming and well-crafted novel.)

Mary Anne Mohanraj has found a second career, after that of novelist, as a cookery writer and chef, sending out her recipe books, treats and jewellery from her Serendib Shop!

And C.E. Murphy (Catie!) has a sale of her paranormal romance novels in progress!

My Week

Well, last Friday I did indeed wander along to the Festive Market, and took part afterwards in the Cricket Club Christmas Quiz. There was, as is now traditional, a frosty gale across the Market, but some stalls reported an uptick in traffic. I was pleased to say hello to the new recruits of the Festival at their teddy tombola, for the first time as an alumni.

What I didn’t do on that day, however, was have brunch with that old friend I mentioned, who was George R.R. Martin. We’d arranged to meet in Oxford the day after George had addressed the Union, but that morning Caroline called to say the battery on the electric car had suddenly conked out, just as she’d turned off from the dual carriageway when taking Tom to school. I went and took Thomas the rest of the way, and we got the car taken to a dealership (where it still is, with as yet no word) and by the time that was all dealt with we couldn’t have got to George in time. So boo to all that.

This week I’ve been fiercely revising the novel I’ve been writing, the official sequel to a beloved children’s classic. I realised I wasn’t entirely on firm ground for the big change of direction that I’d plotted, and now I’ve gone back through it I’m much happier about continuing. I’ve also been doing lots of work for Cosmic Lighthouse, putting together creative teams for future projects and being delighted at the last few pages of art for Salvation’s Child in my inbox.

I had a bit of a wobble last week (as you’ll hear if you listen to that podcast episode), but now I’m full on loving the festive season. There’s something about the little changes to one’s schedule, the festive foods, the Advent podcasts, Tom having special events at school (they went bowling on Wednesday, and yesterday was Christmas Jumper Day), the sense of community as everyone prepares together, that I love. And this year, for some reason, something in me has opened up now and I’m able to enjoy it all whole-heartedly. Ho ho ho!

To Be Continued

It’s the Vicarage Christmas Party tonight, so lots of party fear about nobody coming (honestly the guest list is huge), and I’ll be spending all day today getting the house ready for what’s always a raucous time as all my different worlds collide.

So I’ll see you somewhat blearily next Friday, for a very festive Newsletter indeed!