Paul Cornell's Friday Newsletter

Jill Mansell at Fairford Festival Next Weekend!

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.

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 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.)

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. I hope to see you there!

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 Dutch SF show Morgen Gebeurt Het (plus US cartoon 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 writer Melissa F. Olson has her new novel The Other Frankenstein now available for pre-order here. I’m delighted to have read an advance copy and I think the blurb I provided sums up my reaction: “Heartfelt, raw and atmospheric, this is Frankenstein made afresh, made real for right now. Enormously recommended.”

“In 1816, Elizabeth's life had been carefully planned for her. A home, a family, a life that she was trained to fill... and had never questioned if she wanted, until the future she expected was stolen from her. In the present day, Heqet “Heck” Saville's hopes and dreams have been destroyed, the life she was fighting for gone in an instant. Amid the devastation of her plans, she's determined to follow her lover to his new teaching post in Alaska. In order to do so, she succeeds in taking passage on a cruise ship bound for Juneau. During the voyage, Heck is intrigued by an enigmatic ship employee: a beautiful woman with yellowed skin and dark glasses. The mysterious figure proves to be Elizabeth Lavenza Frankenstein, wife of Victor, and she’s ready to tell someone what happened after her murder... Drawn together across time, Elizabeth Frankenstein and Heck Saville's parallel, intersecting stories encompass murder, loss, trauma and ultimately empowerment, in this stunning feminist riff on the story of Frankenstein.”

And equally exciting, Wizard’s Tower Press have announced they’re planning to reprint, re-edited by the author, the first two volumes of my friend Sophia McDougall’s Mars novels for Middle Grade readers, Mars Evacuees and Space Hostages. If they do well enough, the long-awaited third volume might see print. At the time, these much-loved books were casualties of Sophia drawing attention to industry sexism. I hope this time they get their shot. So more about that when there’s a pre-order link.

My Week

I finished the novel! Properly finished finished, the second time through, making sure everything fits together. I’ve now sent it off to a couple of people to have a look at before I send it to my agent. That’s an enormous relief. Now I’m going to give myself a week of doing other things (including working on my local Festival) before starting the contracted novel. There was also an exciting late-night options meeting. Ahead of me I have some big decisions about what my work life is going to be like. I’m still struggling with those, but finishing the novel has put aside one major stressor.

It’s been Half Term Holiday this week, so Thomas has been home. It’s largely been nicely relaxed. Caroline took him to an adventure playground on Wednesday and I took him to Mini Golf yesterday (the way he applauded the person in front of us getting a hole in one was delightful). Largely, however, he’s wanted to stay home and do his jigsaws, which he now once more has old ladies ringing the doorbell to supply him with.

You know I’d started to get really stressed about our Sunday visits to the Arboretum (a combination of Thomas’ tension about roadworks and the regular repetition allowing me to brood)? Well, I was very anxious when, on the day before, Thomas decided he didn’t want to go somewhere else after all, but wanted to keep on doing those trips which had started to stress me out. I am powerless to disappoint him. I asked him if he could stop complaining about delays, and he agreed he would. Wonderfully, dear reader, he kept his promise. (And I distracted myself before the trip with reading rather than doomscrolling.) At the Arboretum, I told him he was very kind. He told me that being kind was something they’d mentioned on Treasure Champs.

To Be Continued

It’s the Festival weekend next week, so let’s see if I can manage to get a Newsletter out. If so, I’ll try to get some photos from me playing my first cricket match of the season on Wednesday.

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