We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ralph Edgerson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ralph, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

I would like to not only be remembered as a good husband, father, friend and brother but also a talented author that allowed his reader(s) to enjoy along with see the world I created in my words. I would love to be added to the list of great writers like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Stephen King, Toni Morrison and so many others. Just to be in the conversation of their names would be an honor. To make my children, my wife and my family proud of the works I’ve created that’s the legacy I hope for.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Ralph M. Edgerson Jr. was the youngest of three, born and raised in New Orleans Louisiana. He always had a wild imagination but didn’t start writing stories and poems until high school. Impressed with his visual writings in class an English teacher introduced him to Journalism where he honed his skills even more. After high school Ralph thought of majoring in Journalism in college but life had other plans for him. He joined the work force and writing fell to the backburner of his mind. After meeting his soulmate in September of 1995 Ralph focused on family and his first born arrived in November of 2003. 2005 came and life again had other plans for Ralph but this time on a much greater level in the form of a hurricane named Katrina. Stripped from everything he knows; Ralph moved his family to Houston, Texas for a new beginning but that didn’t come without trials. Thoughts of the unknown and uncertainty brought Ralph back to an old friend that allowed him to vent in a way of literary release, in 2006. It was just a way to occupy his mind for the time being, but the creation of the “Decisions” saga began without him even knowing it. In between filling out application and taking care of his family, Ralph wrote passages to a story he was putting together just for fun. His only reader being his loving wife, who enjoyed a quiet moment with the characters her husband created. Ten years had passed, and writing fell off again for Ralph as he focused more on family and work, but he still occasionally wrote poems. He met a poet on social media that really enjoyed his poems and she suggested he have them published. Not thinking nothing of it, Ralph just shrugged it off, but he did let her read over the short story “Decisions” he wrote ten years earlier. She immediately wanted to have the story published and in July of 2018 Ralph M Edgerson Jr became a published author and his five-star rated urban novel “Decisions” arrived. In June of the following year, he had the second installment, “Decisions 2 True Adjustments” published, and he hasn’t stopped writing since. A true New Orleans native, all of Ralph’s novels are based in the city he grew up in and throughout every novel he gives detailed descriptions of the city that will always be home to him. In the beginning of 2021, he released “A Lotus Dream”, an exotic urban novel and has three more urban novels in the works. All three urban novels are set to be released in 2022. “Levi’s Labyrinth” is an origin story of one of his intriguing characters from his previous novels and is set to be released in July. “Decisions Trilogy” is the finale to the saga that changed Ralph from a novice to a novelist and was released in February 2022. “Tears to Drowning Waters” is a partial biography of a friend that needed to get her story out and it was an honor for Ralph to write. Along with writing urban novels Ralph Edgerson ventured into graphic design when he created the book covers for “A Lotus Dream”, “Jahzara the Afro Girl” and “Decisions Trilogy”. His “works in progress” brings him to a genre he loved as a teen, which was horror and Ralph is excited to dabble in the art with his version of scary writings. “Seeds of Laveau” will be his first attempt at the horror/paranormal genre and should be ready for release by Halloween. The next “WIP” he has in store for his readers is “Zulu Soldiers” which is still deep in its concept state, so he’ll have to come back to us on a date. Ralph enjoys creating dramas that keep his readers enthralled in the storyline and hearing reader’s fascination with the story and the characters. But what he loves the most is hearing the excitement from his children saying, “My dad is an author.” All of his urban fiction novels can be purchased online (i.e., Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Google Books, Kindle, etc.) He can be found on Facebook under Ralph Edge Edgerson, on Instagram as 19edge73 and he also has a Facebook Page for his books under Decisions Series/Decisions Universe, R.M.Edgerson Jr.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I can’t really call them my business partner because over time we’ve become more like family. Dawn Blanchard is my publisher and we met in a Facebook poetry group back in 2016. She’s a very talented poet with several published books but at the time I met her I knew nothing of her published works. Dawn was just a poet I exchanged impromptu poems with in the group. She was so impressed with the works I shared that she suggested that I have them published but I didn’t know the first thing about getting anything published. After a few conversations, a lot of procrastination on my part and Dawn continuing to push for me to self-publish my poems, I let her read the short story “Decisions” I wrote. She fell in love with the story, told me to finish it and get it published ASAP. When I told her I didn’t know the first steps in getting my book published Dawn replied, “I have my own publishing company and I would love to publish your book.” That was 6 years and 4 published urban novels ago. Trust me, she’s more than just a business partner…more like a big sister.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding for me is the smile on my wife’s face when she reads my novels, the sparkle in my children’s eyes when they see their father’s name on the front of a book and the excitement in a person’s voice when they tell me about how much they enjoyed my works. Telling stories has always been a fun experience for me but at first it was merely just for my enjoyment of creating a world of my own. When I finally pulled the trigger and had my stories published, the joy came from writing along with witnessing others enjoy the worlds I created for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.facebook.com/DecisionsTheSeries/about/?ref=page_internal
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/19edge73/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ralph.edgerson