Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter

The London Film and Comic Con

On Saturday, 6th July, I’ll be guesting and doing panels and signings at the London Comics Festival, which is part of the London Film & Comic Con at Olympia!

One Week of Lychford Serial Access Left

Last week I published the last episode of my 52-week Lychford serial on the paid tier of this Newsletter. I’m very pleased to have accomplished this, something I was a little daunted by at first. I very much hope that paid subscribers have enjoyed it.

If you’re a paying subscriber, or thinking of signing up now you can read the whole thing, you have just under a week to check out all the episodes, before I close down the paying option of subscriptions on 13th June. At that point all paying subscribers will become free ones and access to the episodes will end.

You can, of course, switch to being a non-paying subscriber before that, and if you’re content that you’ve had your fill of the serial, you doing so now would save me a job later. Plus, I don’t want you to pay again for no new content.

Joanne Harris at Fairford Festival Tomorrow!

So to help out my local Festival, I’ve had a hand in arranging for award-winning author Joanne Harris to make a personal appearance. If you’re going to be in the Cotswolds this summer, why not pop in? She’ll be appearing tomorrow, Saturday, 8th June at 4pm as part of the Fairford Festival and I’ll be interviewing her. You can see all the details and get tickets here.

I’m a Speaker at Develop: Brighton

Courtesy of Game Republic, I’m going to be on a panel at the Develop: Brighton gaming conference, which runs from 9th-11th July, though when my panel is still hasn’t been announced.

The panel is called Tips and Insights on Narrative Design from Leading Writers.

“Award-winning writers Rhianna Pratchett, Charles Cecil (Revolution, Broken Sword), Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, Marvel) and Judi Alston (Dreaming Methods) share their experiences, insights, learnings and tips for creating high quality narrative games with Dr Jackie Mulligan (Game Republic). The panelists will explore how to make narrative games on a budget, techniques to explore character, using new technology like AI and VR to enhance storytelling in games and trends in narrative design in particular stories being interpreted across multiple media. The session will also include a Q&A.”

I’m delighted to be part of such an excellent line-up.

Doctor Who: Goth Opera

It’s just been announced that my podcast partner Lizbeth Myles, already one of Big Finish’s most acclaimed writers, is going to be adapting for into audio drama for them my Doctor Who novel Goth Opera!

This Fifth Doctor vampire adventure with Nyssa and Tegan guest stars Richard Armitage, Natalie Gumede and Micah Balfour, and will be out in July!

You can read all about it here at Sci-Fi Bulletin and pre-order at Big Finish’s site here.

(This lovely final cover art by Sean Longmore.)

I’m a Hugo Awards Finalist!

The graphic novel by myself, artist Valeria Burzo and colour artist Jordie Bellaire, The Witches of World War 2, is a Finalist in the Best Graphic Story or Comic category in this year’s Hugo Awards!

The Awards will be given out at the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow (August 8th-12th), and I’ll be at the ceremony. So wish me luck!

Those of you who are members of the convention, and thus able to vote, will find the complete digital version of the graphic novel in their Voter Packets, courtesy of our kind publishers, TKO.

Thanks again to everyone who nominated us!

The Complete(d) Saucer Country is in Stores in September!

The Syzygy/Image edition of The Complete(d) Saucer Country, which has an entirely different design from the Zoop crowdfunded edition, will be in comic and book stores in September, and is now available for pre-order from Amazon! (Amazon release date: September 3rd.)

We’re Going Back to Thought Bubble!

Lizbeth Myles and I will once more be running at table at the great Thought Bubble comics convention in Harrogate on 16th-17th November! I’m looking forward to meeting once again so many lovely comics fans.

The Death of Wolverine

As announced here on ICv2, on 27th November Marvel will be releasing an omnibus edition of the Death of Wolverine storyline, featuring not only the miniseries of that name, but also my entire run on the comic. I’m very pleased that all this material will now be available in one volume.

There are going to be two covers, this regular one from Alex Ross…

And this direct market exclusive version from Joe Quesada.

It’s available to pre-order on Amazon, and at all good bookstores and comic shops.

I’m In a New Anthology!

I’m one of many authors who’ll have stories in Jendia Gammon’s forthcoming cross-genre anthology, which she’s funding on Ko-fi! Check it out here!

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.

Hammer House of Podcast

Hammer House of Podcast, in which myself and Lizbeth Myles watch the Hammer horror movies in UK release order, is out on the 13th of every month, with our May episode being about The Resident. These modern Hammers will take us until the end of the year, and then we’ll be announcing our sequel podcast!

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.

Liz and I really disagreed about this one.

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!

My Week

So on Monday, Tom met two teachers from what’s going to be his new school, a specialist establishment for autistic children which has, amazingly, opened up twenty minutes away. They then met with us and were empathetic, funny and joyous in their enthusiasm for their workplace. I asked them about bullying, and they said they couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen, but then outlined the very sensible no tolerance procedures they had in place to stop it. I did not get the red flag of ‘we don’t have a bullying problem’ that I was dreading. Thomas liked them too, and he’s not cautiously looking forward to going to see the school next week. (He’s sold on the idea of it being quieter, and there being no homework. I haven’t even told him yet that they’ve banned that lifelong foe of all autistic children: the air hand-drier. That’s such a universal antagonist I’m surprised it hasn’t been the villain in a Pixar movie.)

Within a couple of days I found the burden had lifted from my shoulders. Thomas seemed happier and I was too, and we started to influence each other in positive ways again, instead of making each other more gloomy as we had been doing. It’s the Festival this weekend, and so Caroline and I went to a wine-tasting last night, and I’m having a proper night out this evening with the beer and bands. Joanne Harris is staying over after I interview her onstage on the Saturday, and then on the Sunday I’ll enjoy taking part in the annual Festival Quiz, which manages to be both the greatest test of local quizzers and also out of its head raucous at the same time.

Work-wise, I’ve been moving fast with Nessie, now more than three-quarters finished, and making equally fast progress with a new project, something I’ve originated, that seems to have gained quite a lot of attention from useful people. (You will definitely hear about this by the end of the year!) I’m also starting to put in place the first details of what I’ll be up to at San Diego Comic Con, which includes at least one panel.

It’s such a relief to be able to relax and enjoy local fun without worrying about the future so much. If Thomas is happy then I am too. One of the visiting teachers said to me ‘oh, he’s entirely mainstream for us, we see so many like him’.

That’s the first time anyone’s told me that Thomas isn’t an outlier who needs special provisions. I can’t wait to see what he does in an environment designed to let him grow.

To Be Continued

Let’s see if I can get a Comic Con panel announcement sorted out by next week. And I hope to see you all again then!