Heads up, Bristol people, and indeed anyone within easy reach of Bristol. I have some exciting news about the author event we are doing on May 16th. As some of you will know, Paul Cornell has a new book out in May. It is called The Severed Streets and it features the same group of dysfunctional London coppers that appeared in his previous book, London Falling. The official launch of The Severed Streets will be at Forbidden Planet in London on May 21st. However, Tor UK have kindly agreed to try to get us a few advance copies for our event. So if you come to Bristol for Murder Most Magical you should be able to get a copy of Paul’s new book almost a week before the rest of the country. He’ll probably sign it for you too.

To whet your appetite, Tor has posted an excerpt from The Severed Streets on their US website.

As a reminder, doors open at 7:00pm at Waterstones in The Galleries. The store tells me that they are expecting a big turnout, so we won’t start until around 7:30pm to give everyone time to get seated. Please don’t assume this means you can arrive at 7:45pm. We do need to get the authors out of there and fed. There may also be restrictions on the number of books each author will sign. Tickets are £3 and are only available from the store, but if you ask nicely someone in Bristol will pop in and buy some for you.

While I’m on the subject of Paul, his equally fabulous wife, Caroline Symcox, will be appearing on my radio show tomorrow at Noon. She’ll be talking about what it is like being a woman trainee vicar in the Church of England, and plugging her book, The Vicar’s FAQ.