Paul Cornell's Friday Newsletter

Who Killed Nessie? Signing Tomorrow! And More in the Coming Weeks!

Who Killed Nessie?, the graphic novel by myself and the great Rachael Smith, is out now (but will be available on Amazon from 18th September).

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

And you can order it here, direct from the publishers, Avery Hill.

You can also now order it from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

And it’s in all good bookstores, physical and online!

Rachael and I did a great interview with Jenn Jordan of Syosset Public Library’s Turn the Page podcast, which you can find here.

Those of you who supported us on Zoop should now have your copies, physical and digital, or at least know they’re on their way. (I’m still trying to find two backers who haven’t responded to my email about our southern distribution comic shop.)

Tomorrow, 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!

On Saturday, 27th September at Noon I’ll be signing the book at Excelsior Comics in Bristol!

And on Friday, 10th October at 7pm, Rachael and I will be participating in the Avery Hill Publishing Triple Launch Party at Gosh! Comics in London!

“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 Lychford Collection is Out Next Month!

Up for pre-order, and coming out on 14th October is The Lychford Collection, which contains my first three Lychford novellas.

The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s is Out in November! (Now With Preview Pages!)

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), now with some preview pages at that link that really show off our full colour art!

Thought Bubble(now with Portfolio Reviews!)

Lizbeth Myles and I will once more be tabling at the wonderful Thought Bubble comic convention in Harrogate on November 15th and 16th.

And if you’re an aspiring comicker, and want a pro to check out your portfolio, I’m one of many at the show who’s signed up to do just that! Check out all the details at the link.

And Vision & Labour: Making Comics, The Art Of Avery Hill Publishing is an exhibition at the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate which is going to be running between 18th October and 26th April. (Neatly over the weekend of Thought Bubble.) To quote from the press release:

‘Harrogate’s Mercer Art Gallery has teamed up with indie publisher Avery Hill Publishing to create an exhibition showcasing some of today’s most exciting comics creators. Opening in October in time for this year’s Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival, the exhibition offers a fascinating glimpse into the work of leading comic artists, and an important snapshot of the UK comics landscape over the past decade.’

And included in the exhibition will be a display case featuring the process of Rachael Smith and I making Who Killed Nessie?!

I’m really looking forward to it, and I very much want a copy of Kristyna Baczynski’s poster below.

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.

Cosmic Lighthouse and Salvation’s Child

Cosmic Lighthouse is a new comics company, the brainchild of myself and Lee Harris, with Anthony Cronin helping out with the day to day business. I’m the Editor-in-Chief.

Our mission is to publish original graphic novels by bestselling SFF authors.

And here, via this news story at IGN, where you can see lots of preview pages, is our launch title!

Salvation’s Child is the digital 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.

It’s 110 pages of comics, plus extras, at what we think is quite the wonderful price. (Under a fiver!)

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

You can read more about the company and the project, with biogs, blurbs and histories, in our press release here.

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

Salvation’s Child will be released by ComiXology Originals in 2026!

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 September (covering 1961) are A from Andromeda/The Avengers and Way Out. 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 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! And here’s the one for Cosmic Lighthouse!

The Work of Friends

Comics artist Alison Sampson has a spotlight panel at the forthcoming Lakes International Comics Art Festival. She’ll be interviewed by Lucy Sullivan at 2.30pm on the Sunday.

Rob Williams, the comics writer is now also a film writer, because he has an indie movie coming out! Game was all filmed around Bristol with a Bristol cast and crew, aside from Jason Williamson from Sleaford Mods (who's from Nottingham). Directed by John Minton who directed a bunch of the Portishead music videos and produced by Geoff Barrow (Portishead, Ex Machina, Annihilation).

And the SFF writer Gareth L. Powell has released his first collection of short fiction, Who Will You Save.

“With settings ranging from the dead sands of Mars to the seedy backstreets of Amsterdam and Buenos Aires, these action-packed tales explore mind-bending ideas through the eyes of unforgettable and all-too-human characters. As their lives implode around them, will they use the moment to save their own skins, or to find a way to make up for past misdeeds? “Who will they save? Who would you save? This entertaining and thought-provoking collection features work drawn from Powell’s twenty-year career as a writer, including previously unpublished material alongside some of his best-loved stories.”

My Week

Last Saturday I went to see the fourth ever (and final for now) performance of Unfolding, a new musical by Emma Vieceli, a friend who was previously best known as a comics artist, including on The Modern Frankenstein. That’s going to change, because she’s completely mastered musical theatre on the first attempt. (You can find the soundtrack on Spotify here.) I knew from the lyrics of the first track she’d released, ‘It Starts Small’, and the content warnings about the show, that there was some traumatic stuff in here, and stuff that was very personal to my own experience, so I spent the week beforehand worrying a bit about how the show would work out for me. I met up with some friends beforehand, we had a lovely dinner in Cambridge and all went over to the theatre together. I needn’t have worried. The difficult stuff was dealt with with enormous maturity and honesty, and the witty, humane nature of the show kept the audience heading toward hope. (So many great funny lines!) Emma herself played the lead, a woman who spends most of her life writing letters to a penpal she’s never met, only to hear that he’s died, with great skill, and the rest of the cast were superb too. Before the end I was in floods of tears, but it was an enormously cathartic experience, a sort-of-romcom about healing, and I joined in the standing ovation as a complete wreck. I know our part of the audience was a little biased toward our friend, but I’m told that was the reaction on all four nights. Fingers crossed that the production can find a new home. It would adorn the West End. I made the long drive home feeling healed and heartened.

I was also very heartened to hear that my agent loved the fantasy novel I sent to her a few months back, and, following a slight edit mostly about grammar, has sent it out to many publishers. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, this week I’ve been writing the official sequel novel that hasn’t been announced yet, which I’m taking great delight in. The Nessie launch has also been great fun.

Thomas has been continuing to enjoy school. Last Friday he brought home a very creditable savory rice that he’d made, and declared himself to be ‘an expert’ at cooking. That confidence is so wonderful to hear. (Though given some of the things I have to eat I think his expert status applies more to drumming, swimming and highly original Lego designs.) Talking of which, he’s got today off because of teacher training, so Caroline and I are taking him to visit the Lego Store. He’s after a specific Lego Friends set to add a detail to his grand tabletop creation, the resort of ‘Tenerife’, where skateboarders drink coffee on the airport runway.

I may have some trauma in my past, but I think I’m doing pretty well at not passing that on to the next generation.

To Be Continued

I hope to see some of you at Waterstones Piccadilly tomorrow!

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