Paul Cornell's Friday Newsletter

Rachael Smith and I do a Video Interview!

Rachael and I took part in a wide-ranging live interview with Nigel from Mayamada last night in his Casual Conversations with Comic Creators series. He proved to be a great interviewer, and we got deep into the creative process, and talked a lot about how Who Killed Nessie? came about. It’s a really good one. You can see it here.

I’m a Guest at Caption!

On the afternoon of Sunday, August 17th, I’m going to be a guest at the Caption Small Press and Comics Festival in Botley, Oxford. I’m on the Networking in Comics panel. Do come along if you can!

‘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?

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 read all about it, and see lots of sample pages, here.

And you can pre-order it here.

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

The reviews are already coming in, including this lovely one from Monkeys Fighting Robots.

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!

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.)

“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?”

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. (You can find the full list of exhibitors here.)

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 July (covering 1959) are Noggin the Nog and The Twilight Zone. 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!

My Week

Thomas has two days off school for teacher training, so yesterday we went to pick strawberries and today we’re going to go have pizza for lunch. He’s in that ‘last couple of weeks of term’ phase, and is on 100% attendance, so he got a treat in the form of a trip to Laser Quest, which I’m amazed is what he would pick, but his whole life at school is full of choices that he’d never make at home (and that’s as it should be). I got to see his results card from his experiences running around a soft labyrinth shooting lasers, which show he fired over 700 times, with a hit rate of 1%. I think actually that tells a fun story, in that if he hadn’t fired at all I’d be worried. Of course, all he’ll say about it is ‘it was good’. He also listed ‘Marvel’ as his favourite TV show on a poster he designed about himself, while never wanting to see a super hero movie at home. I hope he’s seeing some at school in reward time? Or maybe that was just peer pressure?

I sent in the first draft of the Monarch script this week, and have been writing 1000 words a day of the Official Sequel novel which has not yet been announced. I also set up some meetings at San Diego, and got a local businessman here to create some… promotional items… for the huge project which will be announced there. I’m pretty happy with how the book is going. It’s demented, just like the original. (Wait until you see what this is.)

I played cricket on Wednesday evening. Out for 1, but I stayed out there a long time, helping my partner down the other end get runs, and took blows to the back of the knee and the groin from a fearsome (and frankly drunken) fast bowler. My box had dropped into my cricket trousers, and I hadn’t bothered to retrieve it, but actually the blow on the knee was worse. The match wasn’t played in the best of spirits, with a bit of sledging (trash talk from the fielders) on both sides. Mind you, what was directed at me, that I had an unconventional stance and could be got out leg before wicket was perfectly within the spirit as well as the laws of the game. Fair enough to talk tactics out loud and get into the batter’s head. ‘Loving the banter,’ I replied, before getting struck in the groin. I found a run for my partner when there wasn’t one, then knocked a ball nicely behind me and made it to the other end, only to be told it had been caught. My partner, the guy who’s been tutouring me in batting, upbraided me when I said to him that I thought I was doing better, effectively telling me I’d learned nothing, which was the perfect end to a tetchy evening. We lost, in the end, but not by much, our bowling slowing the other side up. The ball came to me only once in the field, I threw myself down to stop it, it hit a lump in the turf and went diagonally away from me. Typical of the evening. I’m going to have to psyche myself up if I’m going to keep trying.

To Be Continued

Lots of SDCC goodness in the next few weeks!

And I hope to see all of you again next week!