Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter

Saucer County: The Finale (the Zoop version is shipping!)

Those of you who didn’t back our incredibly successful Zoop crowdfunding campaign will be relieved to hear there’s going to be a comic store version of the conclusion to Saucer Country, the UFO mythology comic by myself and artist Ryan Kelly that survived two cancellations. This concluding issue wraps up the whole story and answers all the mysteries. Courtesy of Chris Ryall’s Syzygy company, it’s being published by Image and will be in comic stores on February 7th. But you can bet that almost the only way it’s going to appear in your local store is if you pre-order a copy with that store right now!

Zoop backers should rest assured that the version they’re getting (if they ordered the separate Finale comic rather than the Complete(d) graphic novel) is very different in design, a very limited edition item that will be easily distinguishable from the store version.

You can see the Previews entry for the issue, and see the first four complete pages, here.

“First there was Saucer Country, a dark thriller that blended UFO lore and alien abduction with political intrigue, all set in the hauntingly beautiful Southwest. The story continued in Saucer State... and now, the series reaches its long-awaited conclusion in this special one-shot, as co-creators Cornell and Kelly present the final story of alien abductee Arcadia Alvarado's campaign to be US President... and her search for the truth of what happened to her!”

I’m hearing that people are getting emails saying the Zoop version is in the mail, so soon I hope we’ll all be getting our hands on it, and I can’t wait to finally bring this project to completion. If your copy arrives, let me know!

And if you get your copy from Bird City Comics, you can get this exclusive textless cover variant by Peejay Catacutan, only available from them!

Con and On Collected Edition

The collected edition of Con and On, with all five issues plus some lovely extras, will be out from Ahoy on 26th March, and is now available to pre-order from these links at Amazon UK and Amazon US. (And here it is at B&N.)

Witches of Lychford: Fantasy Cricket

That’s the title of the second and final new Lychford novella that paid subscribers to this Newsletter have now started recieving in serial form. (Because of Substack’s platforming of Nazis, I’m getting rid of the paid option when this serial is completed.) Episodes of the new serial will appear, as with the previous ones, at 5pm UK time on the first four Thursdays of every month.

If you subscribe now, you get to read all of the previous episodes, that is the whole last novella, Night of the Gnomes plus the Christmas Special Don’t Forget to Catch Me, as well as getting the new episodes going forward. It’s $8 (or the equivalent in your currency) per month, or $80 per year.

My Ko-fi and eBay Stores

I’ve re-stocked my Ko-fi store, where you can buy my books and comics, signed and personalised, and now I’ve set up shipping to a range of international destinations.

Similarly, I’ve now re-stocked my ebay store, full of Bronze Age Marvel comics at bargain prices, a Doctor Who item or two and, err, a guide to learning Japanese!

Hammer House of Podcast

Hammer House of Podcast, in which myself and Lizbeth Myles watch the Hammer horror movies in UK release order, is (usually) out on the 13th of every month, with our January episode being about Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. You can get these episodes free wherever you normally get your podcasts, as well as on our site, but if you sign up to our Patreon, for any sum of money from £1/$1, you get an extra episode every month too, on the 27th, in which we watch Patron requested movies and films from other horror studios of the same era.

Find my Books at Bookshop.Org and Help Out Indie Booksellers!

Bookshop.org is a collective selling tool that sets up a marketplace for all indie bookstores in the UK, functioning exactly like Amazon, except you’re supporting your local bookshop. You can find a selection of my books here, and I get a little cut of the proceeds too if you order from here!

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

If you’re a writer of comedic Science Fiction short stories, my friend Donna Scott is looking for some for an anthology she’s editing. It’s paid work, and the new imprint she’s putting together looks great. Small but honest! Search for ‘The Slab Press, quirkier sorts of books’ and you’ll find it.

My Week

So here I am in bed in Leeds, editing this week’s Newsletter on my iPad, and as you’ll have seen with the lack of new images and links above, that is far from ideal. I didn’t realise that so much functionality vanished when away from the desktop. Or I’m probably missing something.

Last night’s Game Republic event was terrific, a mini-convention held monthly, with three short speakers on the theme of narrative in games, then me, Rhianna Pratchett and Charles Cecil on a panel. Those other two are titans of gaming, and up there on stage, even with Adrian Tchaikovsky being supportive in the audience, I got suddenly terrified. This is not usual for me. I normally love speaking to a big audience. I think maybe I’m used to being recognised as knowing of what I speak, and not having to prove myself. At any rate, I’m told my babble was reflexively funny at the least, and afterwards I spoke to a bunch of young devs who wanted to ask about the use of story in their own work. I met a load of cool people, and feel I have now at least embarrassed myself in front of a whole new audience.

It’s an enormous relief that Saucer Country has shipped. That has been such a long road. Do let me know when your copy arrives, if you’ve ordered it.

I’ve been feverishly writing The Cornell Collective games for Gallifrey One this week. It’s great to have the annual joy of that con, plus the excitement of the meetings I’m having, up ahead.

Forgive me if I keep this short this week. It’s a bit of a miracle it’s going out at all, in terms of tech!

To Be Continued

As I said last week, as soon as the Gallifrey One schedule goes up I’ll sort out a time for our Subscriber Meet-Up.

And I hope I’ll see all of you again next week! Phew!