In Stone & Sea by Graham Edwards, Jonah and Annie must cross Stone’s unsettling vertical ocean, whose waters are filled with magic. Together with companions both human and dragon, they voyage in the Bark: the only vessel capable of crossing such an unruly sea. But the Bark’s temperamental pilot has ideas of his own.
Gradually the sea’s charm weaves its destructive spell on the hearts and minds of all the crew. Soon Jonah must face again the immortal Archan, but not before he has used his new-found powers to manipulate Stone’s fragile store of memories. The flow of the great river of time is about to be interrupted. Everything – even history – is about to change.
Jonah’s story continues in Stone & Sun
- “A fascinating adventure in the grand old tradition” – Charlotte Austin Review
- “Good solid fantasy … superior fare” – Amazon
- “[Stone is] a world as coherent as McCaffrey’s Pern yet as relevant to the reader’s own view of the universe as John Crowley’s Aegypt series. Edwards is a very significant writer in this respect.” – Fantastic Fiction
The story behind Stone & Sea
Middle books of a trilogy are sometimes tricky but I had a whale of a time with this one. Right out of the gate, it veered from my imagined synopsis and set off on its own course without so much as a ‘by-your-leave’. So I just shut my eyes and let myself be swept along, in particular enjoying the possibilities raised by Jonah’s new-found powers (the ability to change history – or rather the memory of history, which is somewhat different).
The strange physical qualities of Stone’s inverted ocean demanded that I soak the characters in charm for a while. Some of the things that happened as a result of this surprised me. I also had fun with some of the standard fantasy stereotypes. Mermaids were too obvious for my sea-going tale, so I went for selkies and a giant sea goddess who’s half-woman, half-whale. Don’t ask where she came from – I’ve no idea.
In Stone & Sky, I’d introduced a new dragon character called Kythe. Stone’s peculiar brand of time travel gave Kythe the chance to explore the early history of her race, a time period I’d left deliberately vague in Dragoncharm and its sequels. While writing Stone & Sea, I came to realise this time travel business was the key to wrapping up the whole trilogy.
Graham Edwards 