The Witches of World War 2 is Out Today!

(I’ll be sending out Newsletter extras on release days and for other really big news. You’ll still get the regular Newsletter on Fridays, with all the usual features.)

#ThisMagicKillsFascists

My new original graphic novel from TKO Studios, The Witches of World War 2, is in your comic shops and book stores today, physically and digitally. The artists are Valeria Burzo (pencils) and Jordie Bellaire (colours) and they’re both amazing.

This is the story of five real life figures (Doreen Valiente, Aleister Crowley, Gerald Gardner, Dion Fortune, Rollo Ahmed) from the British magical community in the 1940s, historical fiction rather than fantasy, though I keep the question of whether magic is real unresolved. I’m very proud of the research I put in, consulting with the Doreen Valiente Foundation (Doreen being our lead character) and others in the UK occult community. I certainly take our heroes on an adventure into Nazi-occupied Europe they didn’t have in real life, but I also feature a lot of real events, and I think portray them as they’d want to be seen. (Except Crowley, who I doubt one could ever please in this regard.)

We’re already getting some great reviews:

‘Excellent… you don’t want to mess with these witches.’ (5 stars) - SFX Magazine.

‘Vengefully imaginative…Full of sharp knife twists, proving yet again that Cornell is a storyteller to cherish.’ - Chuck Wendig.

‘Paul Cornell has foraged some highly-charged elements from the historical record — and brewed up something magikal.’ - Matthew Sweet.

You can read all about the book, and see more finished pages here.

You can order The Witches of World War 2 from Bookstore.org in the UK, helping out independent bookshops. You can find that link (and all my other books they have) here.

And you can find the book on Amazon US and Amazon UK at those links. (The US site still has the wrong release date up, but the UK site fixed that overnight, so they should still ship immediately.)

Here’s our blurb:

“Inspired by a true story, writer Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, Saucer Country), artist Valeria Burzo, (Castle Full of Blackbirds) and color artist Jordie Bellaire (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pretty Deadly) introduce a coven of witches embarking on a mission to help defeat the Nazis…with magic!

In the darkest hours of World War II, Doreen Valiente (then known as Doreen Dominy), an expert on British folklore and the occult, is approached by British intelligence at Bletchley Park who tell her they know she’s a witch…and that’s how she can best serve her country.

Together with the ‘most evil man in the world’, a hard-nosed white witch, the grizzled founder of Wicca, and a professional exorcist and con man, Valiente will travel deep into the heart of Nazi-occupied Europe and gamble her life, her belief, and her powers on a mission to help capture Rudolf Hess, second in command to Adolf Hitler himself.”

I’m so proud of this book, and love the 1940s glamour and detail Valeria and Jordie have brought to it. It’s a passionate story about fighting fascism with all one’s heart and how the small things of life are precious in the face of tyranny. Do take a look.