[First published June 2004 by Ecumenical News International. Copyright Pulford Media Ltd. This article may not be reprinted or distributed either electronically or on hard copy without permission]

Yorkshire vicar Graham Taylor scored a huge hit with his first book, Shadowmancer. Its vivid story of battles between good and evil has brought comparison with J. K. Rowling. As Taylor tells CEDRIC PULFORD, he has equally high hopes for his new book, Wormwood

Graham Taylor finds no conflict between being a best-selling writer and an Anglican vicar. He writes extremely fast, leaving plenty of time for his parish duties in Cloughton, northern England.

As G. P. Taylor, he is the author of Shadowmancer, the children’s book that reached number one in both Britain and the United States – a feat he hopes to equal with his second book, Wormwood. This has just been published in the UK and will appear in the US in the autumn.

Both books tackle the largest of themes – the attempted overthrow of God by the forces of darkness. Gutsy teenagers pull off feats of derring-do against a terrifying array of evil spirits, with help from the Archangel Raphael in disguise.

Taylor says his writing is like the popular British yeast-based sandwich spread, Marmite, "you either like it or you hate it".

In an interview, Taylor said he can write "a page in 10 minutes" (at least 300 words), which many writers would see as an hour’s work. He can do this because he has already written it in his head. "Ideas are bubbling through my head [all day] … I carry a notepad so I can put down any ideas that come to me."

He finds writing a "great way of relaxing". As a vicar he has had to work up to 90 hours a week. "Writing sorted me out. It made me look at my ministry."

Asked if he saw writing as part of his Christian ministry, Taylor
said: "Everything I do is ministry. Walking down the street. Talking to neighbours. Even being taken to lunch at the Ivy [a top London restaurant]!

" It’s going about your life and being a Christian."

His dual life will, however, come to an end in October when he retires as vicar of Cloughton. This is not, Taylor, 46, explained, to free up more time for writing but because of a heart condition. He was in hospital three times in the past year, and felt himself near to death.

He and his wife and three daughters have just moved into a new home. It is a four-bedroom detached house on a huge housing estate "like hundreds of others". It is comfortable but well short of the mansion that his current income would allow or that his writing rival, Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling, enjoys.

Before being ordained in 1995, Taylor was a pop music promoter, a social worker and a policeman. For much of his life his idea of luxury was to have "two pairs of black shoes", and he says a
mansion "would not be a good use of God’s money".

He said he loves leading the "growing, thriving" parish of Cloughton. He does not know what his plans are after he retires, "but God has sorted it out; it will be working in a different
way".

He has never met J. K. Rowling, and did not manage to contact her last year when he wanted advice on handling the role of a celebrity author with a young family. However, he got "kind and generous and helpful" advice from Philip Pullman, the atheist author who has been praised by the Archbishop of Canterbury for making people think about spiritual matters.

Taylor’s first book, Shadowmancer, has had a substantial sale among adults, and Taylor does not see himself as a writer only for children. He regrets that bookshop and chart pressures mean that books have to be "put into boxes".

" There’s no space for just books anymore," he said. "How do you market Mark Twain or William Golding [author of Lord of the Flies], for example?"

Although Taylor had been lecturing on the supernatural for years before becoming a priest, his interest was sharpened by his first church appointment. This was at St Mary’s, Whitby, which features
in Bram Stoker’s vampire novel, Dracula.

Taylor’s own books abound with ghastly creatures that vie with Dracula for horror: a Dunamez (a being that takes over human bodies), a Diakka (a fallen angel) and a Sekaris (a creature
conjured into life from inert materials).

He believes that evil spirits exist and can interact with human beings. He has performed many exorcisms.

" I don’t like the word 'exorcisms'. I prefer to call them blessings. It is inviting the positive in rather than driving the negative out. Evil spirits feed on human tragedy and negativity."

Click here for the CONTENTS page