Paul Cornell's Friday Newsletter

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.

“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 out on the same day is The Lychford Collection, which contains my first three Lychford novellas. (Cover design for both by FORT.)

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.

The Mighty Avengers Vs. the 1970s

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. (Release date, etc., TBA.) 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.

Telefantasy Time Jump (Patron episode out today!)

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 March (covering 1955) will be Quatermass 2 and Science Fiction Theatre. 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 Alex Segura has a new comic series coming out… on Patreon! The Forgotten Five is “a love letter to a lot of the comics me and my collaborators enjoyed as kids, with a (hopefully) modern twist - like Claremont's X-Men, Giffen's 5YL Legion, Locas, and lots more. Long-running series with simmering subplots and fun, soap operatic drama. It's about outcasts forced to grapple with not only a terrible world, but the curse of super-abilities.” The series is written by Alex and Sara Century, with art by Pat Kennedy, letters by Chas! Pangburn and edits by Priya Saxena.

I’ve been delighted to read the first chapter, and this is great stuff. If you like the classic comics, check out how you can follow the series on Patreon here.

My friend David Pepose also has a new comic coming out. Ten-Ton Titan Terrier is a gorgeous all-ages romp, which I’ve also had the pleasure of reading. “When a meteor crash-lands on Earth, a series of kaiju eggs hatch and begin attacking our planet. Humanity's only hope? A suit of alien battle armor that crashed in the wreckage. But there's just one catch — because the only creature capable of turning on the suit... is an 11-inch-tall terrier. It's Pokemon meets Pacific Rim! Coming out this October from David, artist Ornella Greco, letterer Justin Birch, and logo designer Tim Daniel. It’s out from PaperCutz on October 7th, and you can read all about it here.

My Week

Last Saturday my expedition was to Aylebury, to visit the wonderful Dead Universe comics shop. It’s got a gorgeous basement full of back issues, an attentive manager and staff, and a great upstairs area for the new stuff, including comics for children right at the front. Great engagement with the general public going on there.

This week I’ve been working on the fantasy novel (83,000 words right now), concentrating on plotting out the ending, and working out what I’d have to change in the current draft to get there. Yesterday I pinned down a way to make this work, and went back to the start to put the changes in place. Then I can head for the finishing line with confidence.

This week Liz and I recorded a commentary track for a forthcoming blu ray release! We can’t say what the movie is yet, but it was very flattering to be asked. We talked up a storm, leaving almost no dead air, and honestly we were quite delighted with how we did.

Today, Caroline and I will be going to Tom’s school (we’ll be there when this arrives in your inbox) to watch him doing a lion-tamer act. How this connects to anything or what larger thing this might be a part of we have yet to discover. Thomas is very dubious about the whole thing.

I’ve been struggling at finding enough time to work this week, but I suspect the above will be charming enough to justify time away from my desk. No photos, I should think, but I hope to be able to tell you all about it next week. Tomorrow I’m taking Thomas off on some kind of outing, because we have no childcare this Saturday, and I still haven’t thought of where we could go.

So I hope you’ll forgive me that this is relatively brief! (Back to struggling with how to post the new Telefantasy Time Jump on Patreon I go!)

To Be Continued

And it’s half-term holidays soon! Gah!

See you all next week!