Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter

New Bernice Summerfield Fanzine!

Refracted Lives is a new fanzine about my creation Bernice Summerfield at Big Finish, celebrating the upcoming 25th anniversary of her time there. The first issue can be pre-ordered (until 8th September) here at their Ko-fi shop. There’s some amazing artwork involved. Do take a look.

Monthly Zoom Meet-Ups for Paid Subscribers

At 9pm BST on Sunday, 3rd September, I’ll be holding my first two hour Zoom meet-up for paid subscribers (who’ll get sent a Zoom link on the Friday before). This will be a monthly event (though the date within the month may vary, given my lifestyle), open to everyone who’s kind enough to pay for this newsletter’s subscriber content. You can ask me anything, including writing advice (though I can’t read anything of your work) and in the future I’ll sometimes bring along creator guests. I’m looking forward to it!

If you like the sound of that, you can sign up for the paid option here:

Witches of Lychford: Night of the Gnomes

My new sequel to my bestselling Witches of Lychford rural fantasy series (urban fantasy in the Cotswolds) is in the form of a serial right here on Substack, and lots of episodes are now out there!

On the first four Thursdays of every month, at 5pm BST (or GMT when we get there) paid subscribers will get an episode of the new serial. It’ll run until the end of November, then there’ll be a four-episode Christmas Special, then another new Lychford serial will run until the end of May, 2024. (So those who’ve subscribed for the whole year will get a full year of episodes.)

It’ll be absolutely fine for those who haven’t read the books to start reading with this serial, because we’ll re-introduce the whole concept. (Though you will be spoiled for what’s happened previously.) And paid subscribers can read all the previous episodes too, so you’ll be able to catch up if you join late.

Lychford is a little modern-day market town in the Cotswolds that borders many of the hidden worlds of the supernatural, the lands of the fairy folk, of demons, of a whole array of magical creatures. Protecting it are three very different women. There’s a lot of comedy in this series, mostly about the clash between everyday life and the world of magic, but there’s also some dark heartfelt emotional stuff and some real-world commentary on what life in such a town is like right now (because I live in such a town).

I’ve missed writing about Lizzie, Autumn, new coven member Zoya and their increasingly-large supporting cast of town councillors, pensioners and creatures of the night. I’m also looking forward to the rollercoaster of having to put fingers to keyboard on a regular basis.

To get this Lychford serial, just subscribe to the paid option on this Newsletter. It’s $8/month or $80/year.

And of course you’ll always get the Friday Newsletter and exclusive subscriber content for free. (And I don’t share your email address with anyone.)

If you’d like to catch up on the Lychford series up to now, five novellas have been published by Tor.com. You can find them all here at Bookshop.org and support UK indie bookstores, or here are links to the first one at Amazon US and Amazon UK.

And if you want to see the last story about my three heroines, it’s a Christmas story from a few years back, available for free here on my blog!

I’m looking forward to my adventure into serial fiction.

If you want to read the Prologue to Witches of Lychford: Night of the Gnomes, you can find it here for free.

Project: Cryptid

Ahoy comics have a new comedy horror anthology series coming out in September, Project: Cryptid, with a variety of stories by great creators concerning mysterious beasts. I have a story with the great monster artist P.J. Holden in the first issue (and another with a different artist in a later issue). You can read all about it here at Screen Rant, with a list of the other contributors and some choice quotes and art. I love being part of Ahoy’s bouncy, fun, extra-packed series, and this one looks excellent. (And it also features the first comics work of my urban fantasy writer friend Melissa F. Olson!) Project Cryptid #1 will be in your comic stores and out digitally on 6th September!

Secret Invasion

I’m writing the novel of the acclaimed Marvel comic series Secret Invasion, which was originally written by Brian Michael Bendis with art (on the main title) by Leinil Francis Yu. The novel will be covering the central mini-series of that name, plus lots of excursions into the other comics involved in the crossover, my own Captain Britain and MI-13 included. I’m excited to be once again grappling with the Marvel Universe. The novel will be out from Titan on 9th September, and you can read all the details here at Forces of Geek.

And you can now pre-order the book from Amazon UK and Amazon US at those links.

Con and On #3

The third issue of my satire on the comics industry across decades (with art from Marika Cresta), Con and On, is out from Ahoy Comics on 13th September. It’s 2008: fame grows and departs; Anthony Mole is not comfortable in the size of room he now has to sign in; death touches someone on the shoulder.

(Cover by Peter Snejbjerg.)

The Work of Friends

Christopher Fowler was someone I could perhaps call a friend. I knew him well enough to smile whenever I saw him. He was a very funny, humane, man, but above all a great writer. And now he’s gone, and my friend Joanne Harris has written, in the form of a review of his last work, this lovely tribute.

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 August episode being about 1972’s Fear in the Night. 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.

(For the last Hammer contribution by the great Jimmy Sangster, it’s really just… very okay?)

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(s)

Last Friday was a very long car journey, with many delays which made Thomas sigh and repeat his stock phrases (‘we’re trapped!’) over and over, but which led to a good time for him on the beach with Grandma and Grandad, during which he ran into the ocean in his trunks and t-shirt, and basically sat there for close to an hour, playing with the enormous blooms of seaweed that had grown along that coast.

He spent much of that time putting it on his head, turning himself into something like Swamp Thing. Then he had an enormous bacon roll and we went home with Thomas laughing quite a lot.

On Monday morning, I drove Caroline to her train, because she’s actually taken some annual leave, and is spending a few days up in Scotland with Liz, exploring islands and distilleries. This has left me (with interludes from the wonderful Nanny Louise) in sole charge of Thomas, and I’ve really enjoyed the time together. We’ve got a lot closer in the last year or so, and this has really helped with that process. He knows where Mummy is and when she’s coming back, and so he hasn’t been worried about the lack of her presence at all, which is great to see. We’ve started to throw an inflatable doughnut over each other, amongst many other rituals. We’ve also gone to the local market, a white horse chalk figure and a bike park. It feels really good to have done good work for him and given Caroline a proper break from her half of the childcare.

It means that I’ve had to work in short bursts, but that’s actually worked out pretty well. I wrote a chapter of Gnomes on the sofa beside Tom while he was watching his videos, and I’ve managed a couple of pitches too. Midweek I got an encouraging email out of the blue from a comics editor I hadn’t expected to hear from, and there were also two exciting Zoom meetings after Thomas went to bed. (I think one of the means I’m now employed on a new comics project.) I’ve also been commissioned for two rather tasty articles.

Given my rather sad cricket-related communication last time, I thought I’d reassure especially those who got in touch (and thank you so much) that this week has been way better in terms of mental health. I’ve felt a sense of calm, of grace even, and even some hope for the future. The weather has been correct for this end of summer, and, while usually the approach of autumn puts a sigh in my heart, this time around I feel love around me that makes the changing of the seasons more about looking forward to the next thing. That double release week in early September will be quite something for a start. And Thomas starts his last year at primary school, and there’s Thought Bubble, and… at least time for one more game of cricket before the shadows grow too long.

To Be Continued

Those of you who are paid subscribers have our first Zoom meet-up approaching! I’m… kind of anxious about it, honestly. But I’ll attempt to entertain!

See you all next week!