Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter

For June 14th. What a lovely Festival that was!

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!

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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.

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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.)

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.)

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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!

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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!

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My Week

I had a really enjoyable weekend at my local Festival, and interviewing Joanne Harris onstage was a great pleasure. That really went down well, and the Festival made a profit on the interview tent that weekend, which secures the idea of doing more of these. Joanne was a pleasure to have as a house guest, and we had some lovely chats. After the Festival was over, I realised that the uncertainty around it had been a major part of my anxiety. (Also, an outstanding invoice, one of several from companies I work for that haven’t yet been paid, came through, and the return of relative financial security always helps one’s mood. Seriously, one knows media companies are having it tough, but if they don’t pay their freelancers now, they won’t have any left in the business by the time they’re ready to expand again.) On the Sunday of the Festival, I finally had time to have a few pints of real ale and wander around talking to friends. That evening, myself and an elite team of whoever showed up at the table - including the conoisseur who’d created such a lovely cheese and wine event on the Thursday night - won the annual quiz! Which means we’ll be setting it next year. That was my entire goal, albeit not one shared by everyone at the table.

(The Festival crew, myself included, posing with Joanne Harris.)

Midweek, still feeling pretty exhausted, I got to play cricket again with my social side, and was pleased to finish Not Out (having scored 1) against the returning USAF side, and bowling an over with results that were not hugely awful. The game was declared a tie, and diplomacy was the winner.

Work-wise, I will today finish and deliver to Rachael Smith the first draft of the script for Who Killed Nessie? (Our backers should get the finished product by February.) I’ve also had some very useful meetings about three exciting new projects. Also today, Caroline and I will be taking Thomas to see his new school for the first time. He’s been kept informed about it, and so seems to be feeling more interested than nervous. He’s more worried by the fact that, having got through so many so fast, he’s running out of jigsaws. We’re aiming to arrange some swapping with other jigsawists.

So what with work satisfaction, my place amongst my community reaffirmed, and Thomas’ future in sight, I’m feeling so much better this week. I can only say thank you for listening to all the bad times in the last few Newsletters. Onward!

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To Be Continued

That San Diego panel I was meant to be announcing fell through because the organiser couldn’t find enough panelists. There may well be others. I’ll report when I know.

And I hope to see you all here again next week!