The Paranormalist Journey Begins!

Have you been wondering how the writing for The Paranormalist series began?

The truth is… the plan has evolved a lot over time.

When I first conceived the series, it was going to be a work of fiction, loosely inspired by Graham Phillips’s extraordinary life.

There were so many incredible stories—events that had never appeared in any of his books, or those of Andy Collins—that I knew deserved to be told. At the time, I was already writing the first novel in my science fiction series, Future’s End, but friends kept telling me the same thing:

“If you don’t start writing Graham’s story soon, some of these memories could be lost forever.”

They were right.

While putting the finishing touches to Killing Time, the first Future’s End novel, Debbie, Graham and I attended a gathering of questers(*) at Whiteleaved Oak near Ledbury, in the centre of the Circle of Perpetual Choirs, the sacred heart of Britain. Unable to make the walk to the middle of the woods, I stayed behind in the car park with my laptop and the germ of an idea.

Surrounded by ancient woodland, I wrote the first draft of what is now the first chapter of The Paranormalist, The Nazarite. If you’ve read the extract on my website, you’ll know exactly why it carries that title.

Later, as I shared my plans with family and close friends, one question kept coming back:

“Why not just tell Graham’s real story?”

After all, the thinking went, the truth is even more remarkable than any fiction.

Those who know Graham personally know that the man behind the books is every bit as fascinating as the public figure. The Graham Phillips of history—the one friends and family know—is far more interesting than the Graham Phillips of faith—the version of him that the majority of his readers know. His life has been filled with extraordinary adventures, bizarre coincidences, comedic escapades, paranormal encounters, and moments that defy conventional explanation.

Once Killing Time was complete, I threw myself into researching Graham’s early life. I expected to write perhaps half a dozen chapters covering his childhood and the surreal military boarding school he entered just after his eleventh birthday.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The deeper I dug, the more interviews I recorded, and the more family history I uncovered, the larger the story became. Everything seemed to build towards one pivotal moment in February 1978, when Graham met a wide-eyed, twenty-one-year-old Andrew Collins.

If you’ve read The Green Stone or The Eye of Fire, you’ve seen a glimpse of what followed.

Just a glimpse.

What those books don’t reveal is the full story behind Graham’s paranormal investigations before The Green Stone, the methods he developed, the remarkable experiences he lived through, and the unique way he came to understand a subject that continues to fascinate people around the world.

The story became so vast that there was simply no way to fit it into a trilogy.

Believe me… I tried!

So, the series has grown to four books!

For now, though, I’m delighted to share my current progress on The Paranormalist, covering Graham’s paranormal undertakings through to mid-1987, just after the gripping events portrayed in The Eye of Fire.

I hope you’re as excited to see where this journey leads as I am.

*What is the collective term for a group of questers? A mystery of questers? A synchronicity of questers?