Paul Cornell's Friday Newsletter

Jill Mansell at Fairford Festival

On Saturday, June 7th at 2pm, as part of Fairford Festival in Gloucestershire, I’ll be interviewing bestselling romance author Jill Mansell about her career. (I’ll also be running the Festival Quiz on the Sunday night and doing a couple more bits and pieces too.) You can find out more info and buy tickets here.

Ace Jacket

I’ve contributed a short story to this anthology in aid of autism charities, edited by Sophie Aldred and Shawn J. Levy. It’s out on June 17th. You can read all about it and pre-order a copy here.

‘The Longest War’

That’s the title of the issue of Commando I’ve written, which is tentatively due to be released in August. The artist is the great Steve Yeowell, and it’s amazing work. I’m delighted to have contributed to this very exacting classic format. More news nearer the time!

Gnomes of Lychford and The Lychford Collection

On 9th September, Tor.com Publishing is releasing the sixth book in my Lychford series of rural fantasy novellas, Gnomes of Lychford. It’s a re-editing of the serial I ran on this newsletter, and I’ve taken the opportunity to sort out a couple of little plot problems. I think it’s my best Lychford book, and, weirdly, it’s a great jumping-on point, because everything about the series is explained at the start. You can read all about it here.

And you can now pre-order!

“An unlikely group of supernatural creatures terrorizes the sleepy village of Lychford. Okay, they're gnomes. That's not a spoiler: you worked it out it from the title. When an ancient prophecy clashes with an unfortunate modern design aesthetic, the people of Lychford must band together to put out fires (both literal and metaphorical) to save their town before the king of the Gnomes (King Greg, and it's dangerous to laugh at a gnome) calls in the terms of an old promise. Trouble is: no one knows what the promise is, nor how to fulfil it. It's going to be a long night.”

And also up for pre-order, and out on the same day is The Lychford Collection, which contains my first three Lychford novellas. (Cover design for both by FORT.)

Who Killed Nessie Bookstore Edition and London Signing!

On 18th September, Avery Hill will be releasing a bookstore edition of Who Killed Nessie?, the graphic novel by myself and the great Rachael Smith.

You can pre-order it already from Amazon UK and Amazon US. And you can order it from all good bookstores and comic shops.

“A cosy comedy murder mystery… with a monstrous twist! Lyndsay Grockle has just started her new job at an isolated hotel. She’s trying to get over heartbreak. She’s amazed to be left in sole charge just before a big convention. When the terrifying guests start to arrive, she realises why: this is a gathering of the fantastic beasts of myth and legend! The attendees ask her to stay in her room and let them be. But when the Loch Ness Monster is found dead, there’s nobody else they trust to solve the murder. She may not entirely believe in them… but they believe in her! Lyndsay is going to have to dig deep into her own fears and vulnerabilities to discover… WHO KILLED NESSIE?”

Those of you who backed the graphic novel on Zoop, don’t worry, you’ll be getting a unique edition with a different cover. (And you’ll be getting it first, in June and July, because that edition is off to the printer!)

And on Saturday, 20th September, from 1pm-2pm, Rachael and I will be signing the book (copies of which will be on sale) at Waterstones London-Piccadilly!

You can read all about that free-to-attend event here.

And here’s John Freeman at Down the Tubes talking about the whole project, with preview pages!

The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s

On November 13th, I’ve got a book coming out from Bloomsbury that’s part of a new range of popular studies of Marvel Comics! The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s is fully illustrated with panels from the comics, and is my journey through how Marvel’s main super team navigated that difficult decade. You can read the announcement here at AP News. This is very much a labour of love for me, a book I’ve wanted to find a way to write for the longest time.

And you can now pre-order it from the publisher (and from all good booksellers)!

Thought Bubble

Our application has been accepted, so I’m pleased to say that Lizbeth Myles and I will once more be tabling at the wonderful Thought Bubble comic convention in Harrogate on November 15th and 16th.

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

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 May (covering 1957) are The Sky at Night and the Dutch SF show Morgen Gebeurt Het, plus a bit about Colonel Bleep.. 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 Ko-fi and eBay Stores

Here’s my Ko-fi store, where you can buy my books and comics, signed and personalised, for shipping worldwide. And here’s my ebay store, full of Bronze Age Marvel comics at bargain prices.

My Linktree

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

My friend the novelist Jendia Gammon’s new (fully illustrated!) book Atacama is out now! ‘ When her best friend is murdered in the Atacama Desert, Appalachian academic researcher Fiona Hawthorne finds herself facing a sinister corporation and a monster hiding in plain sight.’ You can find it on Amazon US, Amazon UK and in all good bookstores!

My Week

I finished the fantasy novel! Well, all writers will know what I mean by ‘finished’. I got to the ending, and then immediately thought ‘well, that isn’t quite right, but I need to know how the rest of the book feels before getting back here’, ready to go back to the start and revise, using all the notes I’d written to myself along the way. Still, I went out and celebrated with a baked potato. (And that evening I worked out why I wasn’t pleased and put a major plot tweak into those notes.) Also this week I’ve nearly finished a lovely thing written with a partner, about which you will here more.

It’s been just me and Thomas for most of this week, while Caroline was away at a vicar convention. (So no cricket nets on Wednesday evening.) It’s been pretty chill. Tom’s doing well at school, and he made a good choice the other day about taking a different route home in the car rather than getting wound up at our waiting at traffic lights. He’s also doing a Marvel jigsaw, and, given that he’s seeing some of the Thunderbolts cast on the videos he watches on his iPad (it’s an eclectic range of things!) he asked if any of them were in the jigsaw, and we got to talk about super-heroes for a while. (He has such a limited exposure to pop culture, by choice, that I try to nudge him toward anything his peers might enjoy. And okay, that was me hoping one day we could share something.)

On Monday, I went to collect a roller-top bureau for my office. It’s a lovely thing and it’s made the whole place tidier, but I had to wait until Caroline got home before I could get it up the stairs. Lis has been encouraging me toward de-cluttering, and, though I maintain that everything in the office is in its place, I also want to make it look neat to the uninitiated.

My little town is building up to the local Festival, which I’m on the Committee of, so there are lots of lovely sociable jobs to do. I’m loving the summer coming on, and it’s keeping a lot of my gloom at bay.

To Be Continued

Off on some more outings next weekend, and another big meeting midweek!

I hope to see all of you again next week!