Posts
Dublin Signing, Black Widow, and Oops, My Wife Will Be A Vicar
I finally get a chance this week to collapse in front of the computer and talk to you lot. First up, and most importantly (and thanks everyone for their congratulations), my wife Caroline's been told that she passed her Selection Conference (a three day marathon of presentations and tests which thankfully didn't include anything about listing the Ten Commandments in order, which she can never do in pub quizzes) and will be training, from this autumn, to become a priest in the Church of England. This means huge changes to our lives in the next few months, but it also means we can have a proper holiday this summer before it all starts. It's been Caroline's ambition since she was fourteen. I hope being cloistered in academia will do good things for my writing life, and that it won't be like, you know, me as the lead in The Prisoner. I'm also aware that having someone in a dog collar at my side will make a difference in the various fandoms in which I move, with reactions ranging from happy curiousity and questions (always welcome) through the tiny added burden suffered in silence by the many kindly atheists we know (and I'm sure it does hurt a bit, and, you know, sorry!), all the way to complete bigotry. People tend not to say anything to Caroline's face, but, you know, the internet. I sometimes worry that all my work will start being examined by the more extreme sorts of fandom for signs that it's not ideologically pure, and that my rather confrontational way of coming at issues in fandom will also be read as ideological. When actually, I think Tolkien and Rowling got it right: representing your ideology directly in a text, rather than working it over and challenging it, just makes for bad books. But this is all mere paranoia on my part. By and large, people have been lovely, and in some cases have amazed me with their kindness for people who don't believe the same things they do. That, dears, is what the world is after.
Also, this week, I wrote 'The End' at the end of the novel manuscript (122,000 words, which is a reasonably slim volume). I still have to go back over it and smooth a few things out (I may have mentioned this a couple of blogs ago: I'm really scared of finishing and then having to, you know, show it to anyone). But I'm confident that I'll deliver it to my Agent for his notes at the end of the month. And then I look forward to getting into a whole new draft of editing.
I had a wonderful time hosting the Faringdon Arts Festival last weekend. Thanks to the prop makers (you know who you are) who turned up and entertained the audience so much, and to Phil Ford and Simon Guerrier, who became the latest authors to address the assembled masses. The bands were, as always, terrific, and the crowd held out even amid the rain on the Saturday night. Here, filmed by Sheila Donovan, is one example from the weekend, the terrific Emma Kennedy:
And yesterday, I was honoured to be a guest at the wedding of stand up comedian and actor Toby Hadoke, who decided to sort out tables at the reception by means of badges with different Doctor Who actors on them. 'Troughtons, any Troughtons out here?' called the ushers moving the audience towards the buffet. The speeches were, as you might imagine, quite something. I'm sure Toby and the lovely Katherine will have a wonderful life together.
So, right, stuff! Next Saturday, the 25th, I'm doing a signing at the Sub City comics shop, at Unit 5, West Essex St, off Dame Street in Dublin, from 2pm to 5pm. If you're going to be in the area, it'd be a delight to meet you.
Secondly, and very importantly, amongst all the other great stuff this week, it was announced that artist Tom Raney and I will be collaborating on a Black Widow miniseries to tie in with the Iron Man 2 movie. There are interviews about it here:
http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22092
And here:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/090718-cornell-black-widow.html
Which I think cover what I want to say. I'm hugely excited to do this, because I love the character, and it means I get to write a spy thriller again. To cover a couple of points raised: it'll be a techno thriller set right now, with flashbacks to various aspect of Natalia's past. Everything established will be included, nothing will be retconned. I've heard a couple of commentators say the plot sounds sexist (a threat to 'everyone Natalia has ever kissed') but that's not exactly what the deal is, and I'm not going to play it like that. My main aim is to present a non-powered female hero who's incredibly tough, mentally and physically, having been at peak fitness, continually learning new martial arts, for fifty years. Who was an equal partner with the Son of Zeus. She's the lead, she's in charge, they are, to some extent, defined by her. And I get to write a James Bond style 'pre-titles sequence'. I hope you enjoy it when you see it.
And of course, Captain Britain and MI-13 reaches its series finale, I mean, its final issue, this Wednesday/Thursday. I'm hugely proud of the way we tie up the story and go out. There's an eight page preview here, which I really should have asked them not to go with (as I did the previous issue) because it does give away one of our big final twists, but if you don't mind being spoiled, do take a look:
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/news/124774241929250.htm
I'll be putting up a final issue blog, and letters page, midweek.
I'm into the 'excitement building up about Worldcon' phase of my Summer, which is especially keen considering I'll be having to fly the tuxedo over to Canada, since I'm presenting a Hugo Award this time round. My provisional schedule for the weekend is as follows:
Thursday 2pm: I'll be reading from my short stories.
Thursday 5pm: A panel about Fringe, glad to see that getting some attention.
Thursday, 9pm: Charades.
Friday, 11am: The Fantasy Music of Kate Bush. My own presentation, which I'm very excited about. It's basically going to be a lecture about how Kate presents fantasy topics in her music. More on this as the day approaches.
Friday 12.30pm: Snobs R Us: a panel about which texts genre audiences look down on (YA, media tie-ins, etc.) which I'm very much looking forward to.
Friday 3.30pm: I'll be doing a signing.
Friday 9pm: Just A Minute (which I'll be hosting).
Saturday 10am: Looking Forward, Moving Backward. 'How are current SF movies and TV shows reinforcing out of date attitudes and prejudices? It’s said that media SF is where written SF was a generation ago. In what ways is it pushing the genre forward?' (Again, just the sort of crunchy debate I enjoy.)
Sunday 9am: Stroll With The Stars. Me, Lou Anders, John Picacio, Mary Robinette Kowal, Farah Mendlesohn and Felix Gilman will be taking a turn around Montreal with everyone who wants to show up. It was great fun last year. It's something Stu Segal organises to encourage fitness within fandom. I hope my knees hold out.
Monday 10am: A United Planet? You Gotta Be Kidding. (About the way the concept of planetary government has always been popular in SF, but failed to catch on for real.)
Monday 11am: I'll be doing a Kaffeeklatsch, which is when a small bunch of folk who want to chat over coffee with an author can show up to do so. I think you need to sign up ahead of time.
I think I've been really lucky with panels this year. Great stuff. (I don't tend to name fellow panellists, although there are some delightful ones featured, until they've confirmed their own schedule.) Anyhow, I hope to see some of you next Saturday, and some of you in Montreal. Until then, Cheerio!
Also, this week, I wrote 'The End' at the end of the novel manuscript (122,000 words, which is a reasonably slim volume). I still have to go back over it and smooth a few things out (I may have mentioned this a couple of blogs ago: I'm really scared of finishing and then having to, you know, show it to anyone). But I'm confident that I'll deliver it to my Agent for his notes at the end of the month. And then I look forward to getting into a whole new draft of editing.
I had a wonderful time hosting the Faringdon Arts Festival last weekend. Thanks to the prop makers (you know who you are) who turned up and entertained the audience so much, and to Phil Ford and Simon Guerrier, who became the latest authors to address the assembled masses. The bands were, as always, terrific, and the crowd held out even amid the rain on the Saturday night. Here, filmed by Sheila Donovan, is one example from the weekend, the terrific Emma Kennedy:
And yesterday, I was honoured to be a guest at the wedding of stand up comedian and actor Toby Hadoke, who decided to sort out tables at the reception by means of badges with different Doctor Who actors on them. 'Troughtons, any Troughtons out here?' called the ushers moving the audience towards the buffet. The speeches were, as you might imagine, quite something. I'm sure Toby and the lovely Katherine will have a wonderful life together.
So, right, stuff! Next Saturday, the 25th, I'm doing a signing at the Sub City comics shop, at Unit 5, West Essex St, off Dame Street in Dublin, from 2pm to 5pm. If you're going to be in the area, it'd be a delight to meet you.
Secondly, and very importantly, amongst all the other great stuff this week, it was announced that artist Tom Raney and I will be collaborating on a Black Widow miniseries to tie in with the Iron Man 2 movie. There are interviews about it here:
http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22092
And here:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/090718-cornell-black-widow.html
Which I think cover what I want to say. I'm hugely excited to do this, because I love the character, and it means I get to write a spy thriller again. To cover a couple of points raised: it'll be a techno thriller set right now, with flashbacks to various aspect of Natalia's past. Everything established will be included, nothing will be retconned. I've heard a couple of commentators say the plot sounds sexist (a threat to 'everyone Natalia has ever kissed') but that's not exactly what the deal is, and I'm not going to play it like that. My main aim is to present a non-powered female hero who's incredibly tough, mentally and physically, having been at peak fitness, continually learning new martial arts, for fifty years. Who was an equal partner with the Son of Zeus. She's the lead, she's in charge, they are, to some extent, defined by her. And I get to write a James Bond style 'pre-titles sequence'. I hope you enjoy it when you see it.
And of course, Captain Britain and MI-13 reaches its series finale, I mean, its final issue, this Wednesday/Thursday. I'm hugely proud of the way we tie up the story and go out. There's an eight page preview here, which I really should have asked them not to go with (as I did the previous issue) because it does give away one of our big final twists, but if you don't mind being spoiled, do take a look:
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/news/124774241929250.htm
I'll be putting up a final issue blog, and letters page, midweek.
I'm into the 'excitement building up about Worldcon' phase of my Summer, which is especially keen considering I'll be having to fly the tuxedo over to Canada, since I'm presenting a Hugo Award this time round. My provisional schedule for the weekend is as follows:
Thursday 2pm: I'll be reading from my short stories.
Thursday 5pm: A panel about Fringe, glad to see that getting some attention.
Thursday, 9pm: Charades.
Friday, 11am: The Fantasy Music of Kate Bush. My own presentation, which I'm very excited about. It's basically going to be a lecture about how Kate presents fantasy topics in her music. More on this as the day approaches.
Friday 12.30pm: Snobs R Us: a panel about which texts genre audiences look down on (YA, media tie-ins, etc.) which I'm very much looking forward to.
Friday 3.30pm: I'll be doing a signing.
Friday 9pm: Just A Minute (which I'll be hosting).
Saturday 10am: Looking Forward, Moving Backward. 'How are current SF movies and TV shows reinforcing out of date attitudes and prejudices? It’s said that media SF is where written SF was a generation ago. In what ways is it pushing the genre forward?' (Again, just the sort of crunchy debate I enjoy.)
Sunday 9am: Stroll With The Stars. Me, Lou Anders, John Picacio, Mary Robinette Kowal, Farah Mendlesohn and Felix Gilman will be taking a turn around Montreal with everyone who wants to show up. It was great fun last year. It's something Stu Segal organises to encourage fitness within fandom. I hope my knees hold out.
Monday 10am: A United Planet? You Gotta Be Kidding. (About the way the concept of planetary government has always been popular in SF, but failed to catch on for real.)
Monday 11am: I'll be doing a Kaffeeklatsch, which is when a small bunch of folk who want to chat over coffee with an author can show up to do so. I think you need to sign up ahead of time.
I think I've been really lucky with panels this year. Great stuff. (I don't tend to name fellow panellists, although there are some delightful ones featured, until they've confirmed their own schedule.) Anyhow, I hope to see some of you next Saturday, and some of you in Montreal. Until then, Cheerio!
Labels:
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Many congratulations to Caroline! And being a Vicar's husband sounds like something that could lead to lots of writing ideas. Maybe you could write a sitcom about a female Vicar in a small, quiet British vil- oh wait...
Delighted to hear you're coming to Dublin for a signing. I'll hopefully get to meet you at Sub City next Saturday.
We have a couple of religious professionals in Bay Area fandom: Father John Blaker and Randy Smith. I suspect that Caroline will know them both from previous Worldcons, but if not they both have attending memberships for Montreal and I'd be delighted to make introductions.
Will you be tweeting or blogging from Montreal? If so I'd be delighted to have you involved in this:
http://www.conreporter.com/
You asked me what my job was in the previous thread, but I'll answer in this one since there's stuff here I want to comment on.
I design bellframes for the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (and run their website). Part of this involves visiting churches and measuring their belfries - as long as they don't crack, bells last pretty much forever (we've even had a few pre-Reformation bells pass through WBF in my time there) but bell-frames eventually need replacing. Kinda cool working for a company that's been going since at least 1420 in one form or another, and being able to stand on the spots where Big Ben and the Liberty Bell were cast. Also, one of the new customers to come along since we started is of course Protestantism.
Visiting CoE churches, I'm always impressed by the evidence of campaigns to raise funds to relieve suffering in various parts of the globe. If you have to have a state religion, the CoE seems to me a pretty decent one to have. It's a shame the fire'n'brimstone churches seem more popular, particularly those devoted to bizarrely mutated forms of Christianity such as the prosperity gospel. Can't say I'm a big fan of the Archbishop of Canterbury, however. Anyone who claims that those who don't believe in God aren't truly capable of being good is, frankly, a plonker. Not a big fan of those who smugly declare atheism to be a religion, either. As someone put it recently, an atheist is religious in the same way that someone who doesn't collect stamps is a stamp collector.
- Rob Hansen
Hi Paul,
Really do hope there is another series of Captain Britain in the future. Have loved everything you've done so far with the character.
Cheers
Ian
New layout? Looks nice!
Giving away my dirty secret, but I sometimes write fic with a street-smart priest who sometimes travels with the Doctor. I thought for certain that more...extreme...factions would give me grief about it, but so far nothing. (And the character is by no means a traditionalist.)
At least in the Who end of things, I don't think there are many extremists. I can't say I know many comics geeks who're extremists, either. Then again, Catholic fundies over here are their own unique brand of special. It doesn't seem like the CoE extremists get as nasty, but granted, I'm an outsider looking in.
I have a pet theory that the Doctor used to drink with the Inklings. That explains the Space Trilogy, the description of dimensional transcendence in The Last Battle, and the elves in Tolkien. And the Doctor never got Chesterton's name right, either.
Paul,
Please pass my congratulations along to Caroline!
Will she be able to do her studies in your local area, or will it mean some re-location?
I'll say that as a Roman Catholic, you won't be hearing any religious bigotry from me. (As long as Caroline doesn't start calling me a Papist Idolater. :-) ) I'm not a priest or part of any religious order, but I do serve in a couple of the lay ministries at my church.
Finally, if your way of tackling issues is confrontational, what does that make mine? :-)
Jack Beven
Congratulations to Caroline. LOVE the new blog design!
Tara's reupholstering of your blog looks great :) And total congrats to the wife. Achieving something you've been working for for ages is always an amazing feeling. And I'm sure she'll be teh roxor111 at it :) She'll hit them with God so hard they'll never see it coming ;)
Congratulations on your better half's impending vicar-hood - I'm sure she'll be brilliant.
And congratulations on writing those two beautiful words (The End) and here's hoping the editors go easy on you.
Thanks, all. DH: do say hello next Saturday! Cheryl: Caroline's not coming to Montreal, unfortunately. I will indeed get into ConReporter, thanks. Rob: that is absolutely fascinating work. I agree about those other churches you mention. I'd need quotation and context about Rowan, there, but feeling like that about something someone on the other side has purportedly said is exactly why we need loads of inter-belief dialogue. I think atheism *can* be a religion for some people, but only the gits. For many it's just a proud product of rationality. I suspect he was talking about gits. (Kind of ironic that I'm doing the 'oh, no, not *you*' line I hear a lot of.) Garpu: great stuff. That would been the First Doctor, I think! The bigotry I'm afraid of, by the way, mostly comes from atheists who aren't as kind as those I've mentioned. I've already experienced small moments of it, and do expect to be reviewed on that basis. But again, my paranoia may prove to be wrong in the face of how nice people can be. Indeed, Jack, your debate face makes me look like Bambi! And thank you! And thanks very much Ben, but I don't seek editorial ease. Thought of at least three huge things that are wrong with the book while I was asleep last night. And forgot one of them, damn it. Cheers!
Congratulations to Caroline! And I can now claim to have been battered with a stick by a vicar.
(At a convention in Dublin, some number of years back, I was the SCA guy in armour being whaled on by members of the audience. Caroline and Peter Morwood both knew how to swing a stick to good effect.)
Just to add my congratulations.
I'm guessing they don't check your spouse for heterodoxy before they let you don your cassock in good Queen Bess's compromise denomination, then?
Oh, fabulous! Congratulations, Caroline!
Sorry about the atheists. More proof, if any were needed, that nobody has the monopoly on dickery. :(
Much luck to Caroline as she gets on with the business of viccing.
Thanks, all. Ah yes, Drew, Caroline knows how to wield a sword and shield from her time in the SCA! SK: actually, I know some vicars with atheist spouses. It's not a big deal, though I should probably avoid dancing naked in the woods. (Yes, I know, there's already been a vote about that.) And indeed, dickery is pretty universal for people in general.
Congratulations on Caroline's entry into the vicarhood. (Isn't that the right term? As a Canadian Catholic I'm not hep to the CofE lingo)
And a little advice for her that I heard during my days as an altar boy: No matter what you do or say, someone in the parish will insist that you are wrong. No matter what.
And as for obnoxious atheists, start a campaign to force them to work on religious holidays like Xmas and Easter, and see how they like that.
Plus, I see you've changed the look for the blog, very snazzy.
Hi Paul,
Congrats to Caroline (from a non-denominational theist).
I'm on a week off, so if I get the chance I'd love to make it up to Dublin Saturday. Rob and Ritchie tend to put on a great show.
And after glancing at the reviews of #15 of Cap online....I want to thanks you from the bottom of my heart for giving my all-time favourite comic character a guest cameo....Yes!
Thanks Mr. Furious. Actually, we call it the priesthood too. And I think some more positive comment, on my part, about atheists, is called for now. I do after all know many lovely ones. And I find their point of view actually rather noble. And thanks, Chris, hope to see you at the weekend.
Congratulations to Caroline, (and also to you on finishing the book!) And I hope her, and your, enjoyment of her achievement isn't marred by any form of bigotry or dickery.
Oh my, Mr Cornell! May I just say that the final issue of Cap and MI-13 was proper amazing hairs-on-neck-sticking-up stuff. Sheer happiness for me all the way through. And those cameos, oh those cameos!
Sorry for posting a comment a few minutes ago in the wrong post of your blog! Oops!
Thanks, you two. And Thrills, don't worry, you'd be amazed where people post to! Cheers.
Belated congrats to Caroline. Where will she be studying? (Declaration of interest: my own spouse works at Wycliffe, staff not student, but Wycliffe is decidedly not to everyone's taste ...)
Anyway, I'm looking forward to our Just a Minute in Montreal!
Caroline will be at Cuddesdon. And yes, it's going to be fun, I hope!
Very belated congratulations to Caroline.
Thanks, Ras.
"I get to write a James Bond style pre-titles sequence"
I will love to read it Mr. Cornell. Black Widow is my favorite character ever and I've been waiting for this since I started to read comics....
Thanks, hope you enjoy it.