Graham Edwards's Blog, page 22

Ghostwriter Diaries – Unenlightening Pixels

I’ve just seen a beautiful book cover. It belongs to the Czech translation of my most recent ghostwritten novel, and it’s gorgeous. I’d love to share it with you, but I’m afraid the rules just don’t allow it. The best I can do, unenlighteningthough it may be, is to show you a random bunch of pixels from one tiny segmentof the image.You’re welcome.

Read the previous entries in my Ghostwriter Diaries

Ten Reasons to Write Fantasy

“Why don’t you write something normal for a change?” That’s what my wife often says to me after she’s read my latest piece of fiction. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t like what I’ve written – well, not always … It’s just another reminder that one man’s meat is another woman’s poison.

So why bother to write fantasy at all? There are lots of reasons, but here are just ten …

… the wizard’s magic has me in its spell. … it’s one way to keep the dark lord’s evil minions distracted while I try to find...

Ten Reasons to Write Horror

Some people seem to think that, just because a novelis labeled as fantasy or crime, romance or historical, it should be devoid of horror. “I liked your book,” they say, “except for that nasty bit in the middle. Couldn’t you have left that out?”

My responseto any such question is: “No! And thrice no!”Why? Because everywhere you look there’s horror. There’s also love and wonder and excitement and fear. If fiction is to be inclusive, itshould embrace all these things and more. Only by painting...

Ghostwriter Diaries – Feet Up

Every ghostwriter has to put his feet up once in a while. That’s what I’m doing right now. The trouble with being a ghost, of course, is that your feet go right through the coffee table.

The reason for this self-indulgent behaviour? Well, the first novelof the fantasy trilogy I’m steadilyworking my way through was published earlier this month. The first crop of review have planted it firmlyinthe “4 stars out of 5″ zone. Which is fantastic.

Best of all, some reviews are coming straight from m...

Magical Visuals of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

In my latest article for Cinefex, I spoke to Soho-based Milk VFX about their work on the BBC adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, the award-winning dark fantasy novel by Susanna Clarke.

Here’s ashortextract:

Milk VFX populated their digital battlefield with no less than 50,000 soldiers. During production, performers and extras were photoscanned wearing period costume, with the resulting data being used to create multiple types of CG double, ranging from Napoleonic grunt to Regency of...

The Bone Clocks – Review

Ever since the publication in 1999 of his first novel, Ghostwritten, author David Mitchell has consistently delighted in playing with narrative structure, such as in his earlier work, Cloud Atlas, in which six centuries-spanning narratives are nested together like matryoshka dolls.

Mitchell’s latest novel, The Bone Clocks, is also divided into multiple sections, each with its own narrator. However, unlike Cloud Atlas, its story is ultimately about just one person – Holly Sykes, an ordinary Gr...

Kurosawa Lander

Here’s a time-lapse video of my latest Sunday sketch, which I’ve called Kurosawa Lander. The title’sa totalcheat, sincethe (imaginary)subject isn’t Kurosawa-ish at all.Nevertheless, just like last week’s sketch, it’s inspired by the images still sloshing around inside my head since my recent viewing ofthe master Japanese director’s1980 movieKagemusha.

This is first time I’ve tried a timelapse of one of my doodles,and Ikind of likethe result. I’m less pleased with the drawing itself. Thepen r...

“Black Angel” Launches Crowdfunding Campaign

Last year on the Cinefex blog, I interviewed film director Roger Christian about the rediscovery of his lost short film Black Angel. The film was made in 1980 on a budget of just 25,000, and was released theatrically alongside The Empire Strikes Back.

Now, 35 years on, Black Angel is being resurrected as a feature-length movie. Christian’s team hope to raise the $100,000 they need to make their ambitious dreams a reality via an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. I write this having just backed...

Kurosawa Watchtower

Last night I found myself alone in the house. An unusualsituation which, on the rare occasionsit occurs, generallyseesme frittering away thehours by completelyfailing to decide what to do with the unexpected me-time. ShouldI read? Write? Watch a movie? Lie in a semi-comatose state and relish the peace and quiet?

For once,the decision cameeasy. After a brief rummage through myshelf of unwatched DVDs, Ipicked up Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha. It’s a film I last saw in 1980, when it was first rele...

String City: The Tartarus Heist

Click the cover to read “String City: 1. The Tartarus Heist”

There’s astormbrewing in String City. Not only hasthe economic slump collapsed into a full-blown depression, but the trans-dimensional strings that bind togetherthis unlikely urban melting pot have started to snap.Worse than all that, somebody’sstarted blowing things up.

But who would be crazy enough to set off high explosives in a casino run by Titans, a family so bigon dirty tricks that they make the Sopranos look like the Waltons...