I am very excited to announce that my next release will be a graphic novel! The Victors is illustrated by the miraculous Beth Fuller (@bf_illustrates) and will be published in May 2026 with Walker Books!
If you preorder via Waterstones using the code OCTOBER25 before this Friday 17th, you’ll get 25% off!!
The Victors is about what happens after the chosen one has saved the world. At fifteen, Dirk Earnest led the world to victory in a savage battle against the evil overlord Rárog and his demon horde. Now he’s just a normal university student – or he’s trying to be. As the poster boy for fighting evil, Dirk has many adoring fans who follow his every move, but he’s crushingly lonely.
Cue his new housemate, Medusa de la Nuage: art student, former demon soldier, war criminal … and Dirk’s nemesis. With Dirk haunted by the ghosts of his past, and Medusa’s desire for human connection battling her demonic nature, the two are about to discover that the best friend you need most might be your (ex) mortal enemy.
After working in script development on Heartstopper, I was dying to write something in a tight, cinematic format. There’s something so special about a beautifully designed standalone graphic novel that immerses you in a self-contained adventure. Writing within those constraints is a bit of a literary puzzle.
I pitched a graphic novel to Walker Books knowing full well that I don’t have the artistic talent to pull off the illustrations myself. But I had a strong vision of Dirk and Medusa right from the onset. Their character details are total mirrors of each other, from dark to light; dull to vibrant; outgoing to reclusive.
Miraculously, we found Beth Fuller, who has gone above and beyond my original vision to create something truly spectacular. Her rich art style is startlingly funny, heart-breaking and endearing, all at once. She’s a true talent. She’s brought Dirk and Medusa to life so perfectly that I actually got her design of Medusa tattooed on my forearm. A true sign of how perfectly she’s captured the character!
She’s an utter genius and I feel incredibly lucky to have her, Non Pratt and Jamie Hammond at Walker working on The Victors.
Find out more about Beth:
Read her debut short comic Witching Hour, a Broken Frontier 2023 Award winner or her comic The Silent City
Beth Fuller is an artist from Dublin, Ireland. Accustomed to getting into trouble for drawing in school, she then decided to subvert that by going to art college, graduating from DJCAD with a degree in illustration in 2022. Now based in Copenhagen, she draws anything from concept art to comics, and is interested in art for video games and animation. She can usually be found somewhere between the wine and biscuit aisles of her local supermarket or taking bad black and white film photographs of her friends.
Wren James 