Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter

The End of the Lychford Serial

Yesterday, 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 two weeks 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 two more weeks with no content.

Joanne Harris at Fairford Festival a Week 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 on 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!

The Work of Friends

My friend the writer Mark Russell is Kickstarting a hardcover edition of his Eisner-nominated graphic novel Traveling to Mars, a moving and humane SF story, with artist Roberto Meli, about the extraordinary circumstances of the first human on the red planet. You have to check this out.

And my friend the novelist and games writer Lou Anders is starting a new course as a paid-for tier on his Substack newsletter. He says: “I'm beginning a series on novel plotting, starting June 2nd, on my newsletter. It's based on my seminars and classes and is the culmination of over 30 years worth of experience, trials and errors! This is going to be in the paid tier. It's going to come out at least twice a month (more at the start probably), and is a series specifically on novel plotting. However, the paid tier will also have other series, including posts on game design and posts previewing/offering early access to specific game elements (monsters, mechanics, etc.)

You can find his Newsletter here.

My Week

So things have been a bit easier with Thomas this week, but only a bit. (Thanks to all of you who wrote such supportive messages, all much appreciated.) Caroline and I were cheered by the annual meeting about him at school, where we were told how positive his SATs results were, and at which a teacher from his new school popped in on video, albeit briefly. (The two of us will get to meet her properly, along with Thomas, at a meeting next week.) However, even during this half-term holiday week, Thomas has been fractious in the evenings, often getting close to a meltdown. The general uncertainty about the future, plus the way he and I get into a spiral of cause and effect together, is making the atmosphere pretty tough.

Weirdly this has mostly been about his jigsaws. The two of us helped out on one of the larger ones when there was just a mass of undifferentiated blue sky left, and he was daunted by it, so we worked on that bit while he did other things, calling him over when we found a piece that fit so he could enjoy putting it in. However, and maybe we should have seen this coming, with this paradigm established he then decided this outsourcing was how all jigsaws should be done in future, and the answer to that is hell, no. To do so would be to actively stop him being challenged and from getting full satisfaction from having achieved something difficult. Cue all the yelling, because to him me or Caroline having done something once and then withdrawing that seems very unfair and destabilising.

As of this morning, holding out has proven to work, and he’s back to working alongside me, doing all the work while I suggest pieces, on the basis that when we get back to there only being sky left, *then* I’m prepared to be a zero wages intern for him. This, being about establishing a pattern, seems to be okay.

Of the handful of other stressors in my life right now, my bank having lost a payment from my agent rates pretty high on the list. Barclays also offered to call me back about the problem, then put the phone down immediately I answered it, and, incredibly, the feedback form that just arrived led to a site indicating I’d already filled in the form, presumably with a glowing review. I may be reconsidering my choice of bank.

Work-wise, I’m now about halfway through the Nessie script, and Rachael Smith and I have sorted out all the backer rewards. And as always there’s more stuff churning away in the background.

I should really let myself relax and enjoy the idea that the half-term holiday drags me away from work. But the down side of that is I’ve been dragged away from work. Back to normal next week, albeit normal with the local Festival at the end of the week, so… anyway, I’m hoping that perhaps a jigsaw-related peace has been put into place.

To Be Continued

Next time I should have news of a panel I’m on in San Diego! I hope to see you all then. (And over there, some of you!)