No. However, I was a member of an archery club a few years ago. I was hoping we might get to storm Nottingham Castle, but apparently there are laws against it.<\/p>\n Ok seriously (but not too seriously), when did you start writing, and when did you decide that it would be your chosen path?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been writing for as long as I can remember. Possibly longer. As a child I made scruffy comic books, then graduated to writing bad science fiction stories on a battered typewriter. Gradually the bad science fiction got better. While I was an art student, I self-published a one-off SF comic called Colossus<\/em> with my friend Andy Wicks, but I was in my mid-20s before I decided it was time to knuckle down and write my first novel. That turned out to be Dragoncharm<\/em>, which was published by Voyager Books in 1995.<\/p>\n Who are your favourite authors? Which writers or books most inspire you?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m one of Stephen King\u2019s \u2018constant readers\u2019. I\u2019ve long been a fan of Robert Holdstock\u2019s luscious English mythology and Stephen Baxter\u2019s hard-but-human science fiction. There are special slots on my bookshelves for John Crowley and Jonathan Carroll. I worship Neal Stephenson. Adam Christopher\u2019s new on the block and rather good. Oh, and there are so many more \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n What does Graham do in his spare time?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n You write both short stories and novels, which do you prefer?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I guess the answer is novels. My short stories frequently end up as beginnings of books rather than complete pieces. My instinct is always to add characters, motivating circumstances, sub-plots, ravening monsters, you know.<\/p>\n Most of my so-called short stories weigh in at around 10,000 words, which drops them firmly into the novelette category. Having said that, when I get a good idea, I love the self-discipline it takes to keep a short story smart and tight and, well, short.<\/strong><\/p>\n In Italy Sci-Fi and Fantasy are considered just \u201cbooks for children\u201d, is it different in the UK? \u00a0Would you like to say something to aid our cause \u00a0\u201cdreams and nightmares are important\u201d?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I think it is different in the UK. If you stopped the average person in the street and asked them who reads SF\/F, I don\u2019t believe the first answer would be \u2018children\u2019. (Actually the first answer is more likely to be \u2018geeks and nerds\u2019 – the UK\u2019s ghetto is just a different shape to the Italian one.)<\/p>\n There\u2019s still an underlying perception that SF\/F isn\u2019t serious literature \u2013 and yes, that it\u2019s childish. But things may be improving. Writers like China Mi\u00e9ville are helping to elevate critical perception of the genre. And it seems to me that book covers are reflecting a move towards a more adult presentation, rejecting pulp genre cliches for more subtle designs.<\/p>\n It\u2019s always puzzled me why SF\/F is so dominant in cinema and TV and yet so ignored in literature. There\u2019s no doubt that many of the traditional SF\/F tropes appeal to a young adult audience \u2013 exactly the same demographic that excites Hollywood investors. It\u2019s a problem that most fans of the genre complain about sooner or later. I don\u2019t worry about it. I know what I like, and I know there are plenty of incredibly talented writers able to deliver it to me.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk about the <\/em>The String City Mysteries series. It is a particular collection of hard boiled stories, set in a world where people passes through different universes. When did the idea come from?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Having watched a lot of film noir as a youth \u2013 The Maltese Falcon<\/em>, The Big Sleep<\/em> and so on \u2013 I suddenly realised I\u2019d never read the classic literature. I immediately started reading. It was a Dashiell Hammett anthology that really fired me up. I loved the atmosphere, the dialogue and, of course, the stories. I loved them so much I had to give it a try. It turned out to be a lot harder than I\u2019d thought. It\u2019s easy to create a pale imitation or a parody of the hardboiled style. It\u2019s a lot harder to do it well. I\u2019ve no idea if I managed it or not, but I had a lot of fun trying.<\/p>\n The big difference with my stories is that they\u2019re fantasies. The central mystery of The Wooden Baby<\/em> revolves around fairies and changelings, and later stories in the series concern themselves with everything from werewolves to syrens and zombies to angels. I\u2019m not the first person to mash up the two genres of fantasy and crime, but I doubt there\u2019s anybody out there who\u2019s enjoyed it quite so much.<\/strong><\/p>\n What would you like to find in another universe if you could go there?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Surprises.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Wooden Baby is the first story of \u00a0<\/em>The String City Mysteries, did you know when you were writing it that it was going to be the first in a series?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n No. I wrote The Wooden Baby<\/em> simply so I could fool around with some of the hard-boiled archetypes. I deliberately placed my private investigator hero in a nebulous, rain-drenched space that was neither in this world nor any other. I didn\u2019t even give him a name. He wasn\u2019t so much a fantasy detective as an existential one.<\/p>\n The Dame Don\u2019t Whimper, the sixth story of \u00a0<\/em>The String City Mysteries series, has just been published. \u00a0Have you already thought about the next one?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Yes \u2013 in fact, it\u2019s already written. It\u2019s called Lifestrings of the Loving Couple<\/em> and it should be available from 40k Books soon. The story follows our detective hero as he tries to locate a woman\u2019s missing soul and does battle with a gigantic magpie.<\/strong><\/p>\n How many stories there will be?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Lifestrings<\/em> is the seventh and final story in this particular sequence. I\u2019ve recently finished the first draft of a novel called String City Apocalypse<\/em>, which takes up the narrative more or less where Lifestrings<\/em> ends. The novel is the culmination of everything I\u2019ve written about this strange world so far. As well as giving my detective a pile of new cases to solve, it also reintroduces some of the characters from the stories and ties up most of the plot threads I\u2019ve left hanging loose. It\u2019s a kind of grand finale, I suppose.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/fantasyonair.improntadigitale.org\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Graham_Edwards1.jpeg\" "\\"Graham_Edwards\\"")
<\/a>Dear Graham, first of all thanks for granting us this interview.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Welcome to Fantasy on Air. <\/em><\/strong>
\n We hope you enjoy \u00a0yourself with us and that we will soon meet live in the flesh. <\/em><\/strong>
\n Let\u2019s start by introducing you to the Italians: Graham Edwards, writer, born near Glastonbury Tor, now living in Nottingham. First question: are you Robin Hood?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>I have a day job working as a graphic designer so if you catch me with any spare time I\u2019ll usually be writing. Or writing. Or, just possibly, writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>As for your assertion that \u2018dreams and nightmares are important\u2019, I absolutely agree. Storytelling has it roots in prehistory, when our ancestors sat around their fires telling each other tales in the dark. Stories allow us to face the monsters, both those inside us and those that prowl the world around us. Story is<\/em> fantasy \u2013 it\u2019s as simple as that.<\/p>\n<\/a>After I\u2019d finished The Wooden Baby<\/em>, something about the character stuck in my head. The next thing I knew, I was imagining what might happen if a wolf-man came crashing through his office door on the end of a bullet, which led me to write the second story in the series: Dead Wolf in a Hat<\/em>. This time I knew I needed a little background material, and so I started sketching in a fantastic city that, even though it\u2019s populated by the strangest of beings, nevertheless seems terribly familiar. Since then, the whole thing\u2019s just grown and grown.<\/strong><\/p>\n