Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter
Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter
For June 28th. Out for three, but that's not so bad.
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!
I’m a Speaker at Develop: Brighton
I’m a guest at the Develop games conference in Brighton, which runs from 9th-11th July. I’ll just be there for Tuesday, 9th July, for a panel at 2pm in Room #3: 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
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 on September 4th, and is now available for pre-order from Amazon!
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 June episode being about Wake Wood. 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.
(We differ quite a lot 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
First off, if you’re in the UK, my friend the comics artist Alison Sampson will be doing a signing, with fellow artist Chris Wildgoose, at the Close Encounters store in Bedford tomorrow (Saturday 29th). (And I’m sure they mean Noon rather than 12am.)
My friends Jackson Lanzing and Collin P. Kelly have a truly extraordinary comics series coming out at the moment, The Principles of Necromancy from Magma, which had its third issue released this week. (And their artist, Eamon Winkle, was just nominated for the prestigious Russ Manning Award.) I’ve been reading along and loving it. It’s a medieval fantasy about… well, a pantheon of weird doctors and an apprentice drawn into their orbit. The lead, Dr. Eyes, is truly something to behold (that’s him looming below). Check it out here.
And my friend Kieron Gillen has a new comic coming out on August 7th (so be sure to order #1 from your local comic shop before July 15th), The Power Fantasy, with artist Caspar Wijngaard, letterer Clayton Cowles and designer Rian Hughes. I’ve had the privilege of reading the first issue, and if you’re missing The Wicked and the Divine, well, this revisits some of that territory, but with added 2024. Check it out here.
My Week
This week I have concentrated on writing 2000 words of novel every day. It’s flowing amazingly and I’m delighted to be back doing what I so love. It’s an odd sort of alternate history fantasy. Word count, above all, makes me feel like a proper writer. It’s also been amazing to see Rachael Smith’s pages of Who Killed Nessie? as she completes them. She adds so much acting and fun.
Thomas went to see his new specialist autistic school again midweek, this time with his teachers, one of whom told me it was ‘magnificent’. He actually showed them around, and said his favourite places were the sensory room and the room with jigsaw puzzles. He himself described it as ‘wonderful’, but that’s his default word for anything even vaguely positive. He’s actually been a bit tough to deal with this week, getting angry at the slightest trigger in the evenings and staging attempts to deliberately break the rules by going into Caroline’s office. Other parents in the playground tell me that this tension is manifesting all over in his year, as the great uncertainty of what happens next grips those who are leaving primary school. But at least Thomas has a clear mental picture of where he’ll be going. And so far it’s a positive one.
On Wednesday evening I played cricket once again for the social side I’m a member of. I batted for a satisfyingly long time, and got three runs, including a satisfying two, before I was out, bowled by the other side’s best player. Then I successfully completed my two alloted overs of bowling, including three or so which I managed to send straight at the stumps, which was even more satisfying. The Captain, who declared herself pleased with my progress, actually sent me on to bowl the final over of the day, both in order to continue my practice and because the other side needed 70 runs off it to win, so she was quite safe in both encouraging me and resting her better bowlers. All in all, a pleasing match. I get such pleasure from being out there playing on a summer evening. The release of it is hard to describe. It is simply, in those moments, where I most want to be, and it’s a sheer privilege to be able to take part.
To Be Continued
‘I wrote then I did some more writing’ won’t be the whole story in the next few weeks, I promise!
I hope to see you all again next week.