Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter

For July 19th. Goth Opera is out! And it's Tom's last week of Primary School!

Doctor Who: Goth Opera is Out Now!

My podcast partner Lizbeth Myles, already one of Big Finish’s most acclaimed writers, has adapted into audio drama for them my Doctor Who novel Goth Opera! It’s an excellent adaptation, and I heartily recommend it.

This Fifth Doctor vampire adventure with Nyssa and Tegan guest stars Richard Armitage, Natalie Gumede and Micah Balfour.

You can read more about it, hear the trailer, and either order a CD copy or download it direct from Big Finish, here.

Cover 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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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 July episode being about The Woman in Black. 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 loved this movie. This is the ‘old style’ art poster referred to in the episode.)

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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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The Work of Friends

My friend the comics writer Cavan Scott has a new title coming out from Magma in October. Night Of The Slashers is his love letter to slasher movies, telling the story about a bunch of teens that find themselves trapped in a town on the night when every member of the population is transformed into a bloodthirsty killer. You can read all about it here.

My friend the TV (Doctor Who and Torchwood) writer James Moran has his first issue of Commando comic out now! “In 1944, the unluckiest soldier in the world, Billy Mooney, parachuted straight into enemy territory, landing right in the middle of a POW camp! The German soldiers in charge couldn’t believe they had captured the thickest Tommy in the entire fighting force. “You see, after several accidents and mishaps throughout the war, this was Billy’s last chance to prove himself — and it had gone wrong again! But would his luck turn around in the end?”

You can read all about it here!

(Cover by Jaume Forns.)

And my friend the comics artist Alison Sampson tells me she’ll be drawing parts of The Department of Truth #26 and #27, the story of what happened to Marilyn Monroe, in the revived conspiracy comics thriller written by James Tynion IV. You can read all about it here. Alison’s variant cover art below is exclusive to this Newsletter.

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My Week

Last Friday, I went with Caroline and Liz to the Arboretum to see Chic, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and (excellent) support act Deco, who seem to me like they might be filling stadiums of their own before long. Bringing along a picnic and having one’s own chairs there in the open day made it a very comfy experience, the most fun I’ve had at a gig in years. Deco worked the crowd like they were the lead act, with a blend of bouncy original pop and disco, Sophie seemed committed to the idea that she was here to warm up the crowd, when actually we could have done with a full set of her exuberant disco vocals and light show, and then Chic were absolutely stellar. Nile Rogers seems very at peace, just wandering out on stage while the enormous video introduction bigging him up was still playing, and, instead of an encore, hanging around at the end watching the crowd department and gently bopping to audio of his latest track, unmoved by the traditional demands of rock concert narrative. Inbetween, the Chic Organisation provided a full show of literally no filler, just hit after hit, with two incredibly powerful lead singers, a drummer who could actually do the vocals on the David Bowie tracks justice, and of course that legendary rhythm section. Chic could certainly rest on their laurels and be a tribute act nostalgia version of themselves at this point. They have not. This was full commitment from an outstanding curated band in their prime.

On Monday, while Caroline took Liz to the station (come back soon!) I took Tom to spend two hours unaccompanied at his new school, where he starts in September. He came out again declaring it to be ‘wonderful’, which was a great relief. Not so wonderful has been the final week of Primary School, which of course is a week of enormous changes to the schedule. But he’s got through it all admirably. Yesterday was the Leaver’s Service at the church. When Thomas began at this school, straight out of Nursery, he got anxious at the idea of going into the big, crowded, hall to put a pebble with his name on it into a bowl. And thus he was prevented (too quickly I thought at the time, this being a point where the school really weren’t dealing well with his autism) from doing so, and had to go in after everyone else had gone to drop off his pebble alone, unincluded. That moment always stayed with me as a defining point about how schools were going to treat Thomas. But within six weeks that school had worked incredibly hard to turn their strategy around, and from then on he was included and flourished. His pebble stayed in the bowl alongside everyone else’s. I was moved beyond words to see him not only go to pick it out of the bowl, but also join in the singing and stay for the whole ceremony. His headteacher was moved to tears as she talked specifically about Thomas’ journey (as she did for every pupil). I had trouble too. He’s come such a long way. And soon he’ll be off on another adventure.

Talking of going a long way, on Tuesday I fly out to San Diego for Comic Con. It’s always something I hugely look forward to and this year I’m looking at 20 meetings, the Scribe Awards, some wonderful scheduled meet-ups with friends, shopping for back issues on a Sunday I have completely given over to fun, and an extra special something the nature of which I can’t yet reveal. The prep has been intense, but it always pays off. It turns out my favourite sort of holiday is one that involves a ton of work. Obviously. Maybe I’m a long way from Nile Rogers’ sense of career calm.

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To Be Continued

Therefore, there’ll be no Newsletter next Friday, but I look forward to seeing you all again on Friday, August 2nd for loads of San Diego stories and images!