Graham Edwards's Blog

It’s publication day for the brand new 2026 edition of my interdimensional thriller String City, first published by Solaris Books in 2019, now reissued in paperback and for Kindle, and available from Amazon stores worldwide.

I know what you’re asking. What the heck is an interdimensional thriller?

Well, I could answer by telling you String City is a weird fantasy novel about a private detective who spends his days grappling with rogue gods and unlikely monsters. Or I could tell you it’...

I’m thrilled to present my first byline in Film Stories, the UK’s biggest film magazine. Issue 60, out now with no less than three collectible souvenir covers, includes my 6-page interview with Douglas Scroggins III, owner of Scroggins Aviation, a Las Vegas-based company that supplies all manner of flying machines to the movie industry.

Here’s a brief extract:

I’ve interviewed Doug on a number of occasions, and each time he’s regaled me with stories about how he refurbished a disused ...

What’s the carbon footprint of a fire-breathing dragon?

Frankly, I’ve no idea. But I do know, by choosing to print my self-published novels on groundwood paper, I can lower their CO2 emissions by at least 15%. That’s what Amazon says, at least, and I’m prepared to believe them.

So I’m pleased to announce that every paperback edition of my Ultimate Dragon Saga will now be printed on groundwood stock. Not only is it better for the planet, but I actually prefer the look and feel of this l...

Keep your eyes peeled for a brand new edition of my interdimensional thriller String City, coming soon!

Described by The Eloquent Page as “smart hard-bitten detective noir with a cosmically mind-bending chocolatey centre,” String City was first published by Solaris Books in 2019, and is now out of print.

The novel chronicles the adventures of a down-at-heel private detective trying to solve a baffling series of cases involving Titan crime lords, big-business vampires with lethal metal ...

You’re plotting your next novel. Naturally, you want to populate its pages with a cast of unforgettable characters. But where do you start?

With these fifteen Character Archetype Cards, of course. They’re my version of the various character wheels and charts you’ve probably seen knocking around online. The idea is that you set up each of your main characters as a different archetype, bless them with basic drives and ambitions, and set opposites against each other in the hope of striking a...

You’re writing an outline for a new story. Quite naturally, you want to pack it full of drama. How do you do this?

The answer’s simple. You find a way to add the word BUT to every single sentence you write.

Here’s an example:

Jack sets off across the rope bridge BUT torrential rain has made the planks slippery. He manages to keep his balance BUT he drops his map in the river. He finally makes it to the other side BUT a landslide has taken out the path. He scrambles down the rocky s...

Do you want to know what to do with adverbs? I’ll tell you.

Ditch them. Trash them. Toss them overboard and watch them sink without trace. Rip them to shreds and trample their pitiful remains into the ground. Don’t ask why. Just do it. I’ll wait …

Have you done it? Good. Now start seeking out alternatives. Instead of writing Alice ran quickly, think hard about how Alice actually looked when she took to her heels. Did she sprint? Did she scuttle? Did she dash, or gallop, or scamper? Per...

Forget April Fools’ Day. Today marks the official publication of Spellcraft: The Art of Golden Lightning, the final volume of my fantasy trilogy for young readers. The novel is written under the pseudonym R.L. Ferguson and published as a German language edition by Ravensburger. Want to know what it’s all about? Here’s the blurb:

When Lucy first lays eyes on the Bright One, she is entranced. Here is the world’s most powerful sorceress, returned to London to free the Spellcrafters from opp...

Let’s get something straight. I’m not a robot. I’m a flesh-and-blood human author alarmed by the rising tsunami of AI-generated books threatening to wash away everything that’s sacred about art, beauty, the meaning of life, tea, cake and, by the way, international copyright law.

Adding insult to injury, I’m flabbergasted by the emerging need to assert that the books I write (indeed, everything I write, or have ever written, including this blog post) is generated by my squishy human brain ...

During the seven years I worked at Cinefex, the journal of cinematic illusions, I wrote over 40 long-form articles on the making of films including The Shape of Water, Black Panther and Solo: A Star Wars Story. The focus was mainly on special and visual effects, accompanied by healthy dollops of animatronics, make-up, cinematography, production design … you name it, we covered it. More often than not, we interviewed the directors, too.

Recently I set about reorganising my old Cinefex file...