Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter
Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter
For June 21st. I have my panel time for Develop! And Tom's school visit went great!
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!
My Week
Now, knowing you, lovely audience, you’ll be most interested in hearing how Thomas did last Friday on his first visit to his new school. And the answer is: it was amazing. He was clearly nervous going in. The place seemed supernaturally calm and quiet. I asked if this was because Friday was reward day, as they’d told me, and everyone was either baking, playing X-Box, or playing in the science teacher’s D&D campaign (!) The teacher escorting us said this was as noisy as it ever gets, which made Thomas react with one of his sidelong smiles, which indicate he’s pleased but doesn’t want anyone to make a fuss about him being pleased. He was also pleased by the sensory room, the playground and most of all that at the end of the tour, when the teacher wanted us to have a chat, she asked Thomas if he’d like to make a jigsaw. (She’d noted this as one of his interests.) He said ‘yes please!’ with huge glee, and did just that as we talked. (The teacher even said she’d keep the jigsaw aside in its half-made state ready for his next visit.) We all went away with a great sense of hope for the future. When asked if he had any worries or bad feelings about the visit, Thomas said no, and hasn’t revealed anything to his confidante Nanny Louise. He now seems a lot happier in general. I think he’s become a lot more relaxed and certain about what the future holds. Phew!
In terms of work, I’ve put everything else aside for a week and have really jumped into the new novel. I’m enjoying it hugely. It’s a lighthearted fantasy romp, and the first person present tense I’ve chosen lets me roar along, hitting an average of two thousand words a day this week. (Let’s see if I make it today!) This work I find deeply satisfying, because it feels like the core business of being a writer, and it’s good to know I can still move wordcount. And the story is unfolding pleasingly easily. At the moment. Sooner or later, this being a novel, I’ll hit plotting problems and feel awful. But at least I know that.
Alongside that, an enormous thing which I’ll be announcing soon is going really well, and I’m continually delighted by the build-up to San Diego Comic Con, where I’ve already got quite a lot to do. All in all, with the summer finally arriving and England doing well in the cricket, I’m back to feeling pretty happy about my situation!
To Be Continued
Hopefully some solid SDCC news for you soon.
In the meantime, I hope to see you all next week.
Great to hear you're feeling pretty happy, that Thomas's visit was amazing and that the novel's going well!