HOTTER THAN POTTER

Kisses & Rosses is honouring Reverend Graham Taylor the best selling author of "Shadowmancer" and "Wormwood". Here is the latest update on this charismatic and enigmatic author, whose extraordinary tales have been rated higher than JK Rowling's "Harry Potter". They say his own books are hotter than Potter.

August 16, 2005

Read more about the book, Shadowmancer.

Reverend G.P. (Graham) Taylor is not your average village vicar. Not every vicar was a police officer. Not every vicar used to work in the high-pressure pop music industry. Not every vicar's first vicarage is visited annually by thousands of vampires. And not every vicar is a best-selling author…. Perhaps it is fitting, therefore, that his first novel, Shadowmancer, is not your average book.

G.P. Taylor was born in the north of England in Scarborough, the youngest of three children to a working class family. His father, a cobbler, was profoundly deaf so sign language was almost like a first language to Graham. He says that his writing style is very visual for that reason.

Growing up, Graham hung out with the neighborhood rebels. As a teen he idolized David Bowie. Plans to become a teacher were sidelined when he moved to London. In London, at the age of 19, Graham became a promoter for CBS Records, plugging such popular acts as Earth, Wind, and Fire, Adam Ant, and Bob Dylan to radio stations, record stores, and concert promoters over the phone. Meanwhile, in the evenings he was heavily involved in the Punk Rock scene with the likes of Sid Vicious, Johnny Rotten, the Stranglers, the Clash, and the Sex Pistols.

By 22, the hectic lifestyle of the Punk Rock scene had taken its toll and Graham decided to leave London. He returned to the North of England with a single suitcase in hand and less than ten pounds in his wallet. He found a job in the social work sector at a drop-in daycare center for the elderly, and adults who were mentally ill, had learning disabilities, or were visually or hearing impaired. He met his wife, a volunteer, at the center and they married within six months. Today they have been married for over twenty years.

Beginning in his teenage years, Graham had often felt as if a voice were telling him to turn toward the Church and to become a Vicar. He first ran away from the voice to go to London and he ran away from it again at this time. Many of his friends were members of the police force and they loved their jobs. Graham decided he would join them.

After his police training, Graham was assigned to large market towns in the North with a lot of street violence. He will tell you that for two years he spent his weekends "rolling around on the ground with teenagers." Later, he moved on to drug enforcement, the riot squad, and was sent to the New Castle Riots.

During all of this time, Graham ignored repeated callings from the voice. One day, he hoped to quiet it a little by enrolling in theological college while still working full time as a police officer.

While Graham had many close calls during his eight years on the police force, it was in 1995 that he was beaten to within an inch of his life. The physical trauma resulted in serious, permanent injuries which made him unfit for duty. As a result, he was forced to retire.

His time as a policeman came to an end, but during the same year, he had also finished theological college and was ordained by the Church of England. Later, after the attack, the Bishop of Whitby offered Graham the post of Parish Priest of Whitby. Something, it seems, the voice had known all along would happen.

Graham's first Church, St. Mary's of Whitby, is one of the oldest in the UK and is famous for its connection with Bram Stoker's Dracula. Hundreds, if not thousands, of believers in the occult come to St. Mary's every November to commemorate Dracula's escape from the shipwrecked Dementor. Stoker's story has Dracula, who changed into the form of a black dog, run from the destroyed ship in the harbor up 199 steps and into the church.

In addition to "vampires," Whitby's parishioners have had their fair share of ghosts. In Graham's time there, he was asked at least once a month to expel ghosts from people's homes. Graham believes that it is the rise in people's interest in the occult that attracts the spirits into their homes. In the middle ages, it was a capital offence if a Vicar was unable to rid a home of a troublesome ghost. In his career as Vicar, Graham has been involved in at least 50 exorcisms.

Today, Graham is the Vicar of Ravenscar at another church called St. Mary's. It has a dramatic location, set on high clifftops. On sunny days, sometimes a white fog rolls just below the level of the cliffs and makes it look as if you could walk off the cliffs and into the clouds. It was in this idyllic setting, as Graham was driving over the moors one night, that the idea for Shadowmancer started taking form.

The very next day, Graham sat down to begin the story. He wrote in his spare time over the next nine months. After sending the manuscript to an on-line editor for what turned out to be a very negative critique, Graham decided that he would self-publish his novel. Since a Vicar's wages are meager, Graham decided to sell his most prized possession, his 1000cc "chopper" motorcycle, to finance the endeavor.

Graham's first two events as an author took place at local bookstores. He sold about 100 copies at each signing, but was a little discouraged because he had 2,000 more copies lining the small hallways of his house. He did not realize that these numbers were impressive for a first-time author. These events proved to be an early key in the success of Shadowmancer as a reporter from the local daily newspaper, The Yorkshire Post, attended one of the signings. He later gave Shadowmancer a shining review, and after hearing about it, Waterstones (a big chain in the UK) ordered 1,500 copies of the book.

Eventually, Graham's self-published volumes found their way into the hands of an agent and were sold to Faber and Faber (UK). The publishing house was so confident about Shadowmancer's appeal that they published it on June 21, 2003, the same day that the fifth installment of Harry Potter was set to hit the shelves. Immediately, Shadowmancer soared to the top of the bestseller list right next to Harry Potter.

Since then "Shadowmania" has swept the UK. The Reverend Graham Taylor has been interviewed by every major media outlet and has become a bona fide celebrity.

G.P. Taylor is the Vicar of Ravenscar, and currently divides his time between writing and his clergy. He lives in Cloughton, a village near Scarborough in Yorkshire, UK with his wife and three daughters.

G.P. Taylor on writing:

1. Did you always know that you would be a writer?

In the back of my mind I always knew that I would be a storyteller and that something was going to happen. I was just reluctant to get the ball rolling. Eventually a voice kept telling me that this was the time and I had to do it. If something is right, it is worth waiting for.

2. You name Eminem and as inspiring you to write. Please comment.

Marshall Mathers is a very good poet - even though I don't like his cussing, I admire his use of language and his ability to communicate with so many people. As a teenager I was heavily influenced by David Bowie and know of the effect it had on my life - dyed hair - strange clothes and some odd looking girlfriends. He is still a hero and his music is a great influence on my writing especially his latest album. It was Marshall Mathers and One Shot from Eight Mile that really made me want to get the book to a larger audience - you only get one shot…

3. When did you first dream up the ideas for a fantasy novel for children?

I first came up with an idea for a fantasy novel for children during a church meeting. I was speaking to my parishioners and saying that I felt that Harry Potter was marketed to an age group that was too young to understand the subtlety of what JK Rowling was writing about. She said in one book that there is no such thing as good and evil, only power. I feel that she leaves the balance of power in the hands of negative forces. So a parishioner challenged me to write my own children's book. I wanted to write one that was uncompromising in values, yet fun to read.

I wanted to bring back the adventure into literature for kids and give them something that they would read throughout their lives. The trouble with Shadowmancer is that the parents buy the book and end up reading it themselves. The kids have to wait until they are finished. One girl wrote to me asking if I would send her another copy as she couldn't get it away from her mother. When her mother was finished, her father grabbed it.

4. How has sign language influenced your writing?

As a child, there was very little verbal English spoken in my home. My father was profoundly deaf and my mother was hard of hearing. My mom was constantly communicating with my dad in sign language and sometimes she would speak to us kids in English. Because of my mom's hearing, the TV was on all day up at full volume. You could hear my house around the corner due to the constant noise from the TV. We were surrounded by the deafening noise of the TV, even when we went to bed.

I came from a working class background and we did not have any books in the house—so I didn't read books. I read comics, watched films and TV so all of my stimulus was visual. As a result before I sit down to write a chapter, I have to play it like a video in my mind.

At age 14 my mind was blown away by the movie, Dirty Harry. Again, so much of growing up was visual. Sometimes I think that I see myself more as a movie maker than a writer.

5. You have said that you think that villains in children's books are not scary enough. Do you really believe that?

Children like to be frightened and need to learn to deal with fear. Fear also brings an excitement which then brings them on to learn and read and keep turning the pages. That's all that I wanted to do, write a book where kids turned the pages.

Shadowmancer is aimed at older children. Yes it is frightening, but it's also a feel-good story.

6. Do your surroundings inspire you to write? Describe them.

I live in a seculuded churchyard near an old quarry and a wood. Most people think that it is a spooky place, but I just love it. There is nothing more peaceful than to wander through the graves as darkness falls and the mist rises from the marsh, the moonlight bounces from the old gravestones, I just need to look out of the window and I get all of the inspiration that I need.

I can be inspired by anything - my new book is inspired by the dark alleys of London. The rugged cliffs and fierce storms in Ravenscar added something to Shadowmancer.

7. Do you feel that Shadowmancer owes a debt to Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis, and historical adventures by J. Meade Falkner, Russle Thorndike, and Leon Garfield?

If I knew who they were I would say yes, but I didn't start to read until I was sixteen and got into George Orwell. Girls were reading books, so I started reading the books that they were reading to not appear thick. I started with Lord of the Flies, then 1984 and Animal Farm, then Ted Hughes poetry and Sylvia Plath. I was really flattered when one reviewer called Shadowmancer a cross between Roald Dahl and Charles Dickens.

My influences come from films especially seventies American cult films like Taxi Driver and Dirty Harry.

8. Why is there so much evil and violence in your writing?

There may be evil, but darkness makes the light so much brighter. A single ray of sunshine can be blinding when it follows a dark storm. If we look around the world we can see so much evil and violence that kids need to know some hope. They have to be reminded that goodness will always prevail. Evil only conquers when good people sit back and do nothing…

9. You have been called a Christian answer to J.K. Rowling and Phillip Pullman. How do you respond?

Shadowmancer is not a just for Christians, it is a book about good and evil and appeals to Jews and Muslims as well as atheists. I was ordained after youthful experiments with punk rock, druidism, the occult, and transcendental meditation. I read the Qu'ran before reading the Bible and I am just as happy to talk about the Talmud. My writing is informed as much by Judaism and Islam as it the by the Christian tradition. It is the account of an eternal truth.

G.P. Taylor on his eclectic past:

10. How does a high-school drop-out become a best-selling author?

By waiting a long time and studying life. Every experience we have in life is never wasted. Without those experiences, I wouldn't be a best-selling author. It's been a long and hard road shared with a really good companion.

11. You will be coming to America on the Queen Mary II, why is this special for you?

My grandfather left Ireland to come to England and find work. His brother sailed to America for the same reason and they never saw each other again. It will be good to follow in my uncle's footsteps and see the New York skyline come into view. I am an Americaphile and would love Britain to become the 51st state. It's like having a big brother who you know is on your side. People knock America but the world would be a far more dangerous place without them. That is a common view held amongst ordinary people here in the UK. I am so excited to have my book released in the States because it was primarily written for the American market. The ones who have read the import version have really enjoyed it. I hear George W Bush is interested in ghosts - I lecture on the paranormal and would love to tell him some of my encounters.

12. You have three pre-teen daughters, what will you tell them when they ask about your rebel teenage years and later your time in the London Punk Rock scene living in the fast-lane with the Sex Pistols and Johnny Rotten?

I am very open about my early life - all my skeletons are on the outside of the cupboard. My children often ask what was it like to be a weird kid so I tell them, now it's like talking about another person because I have been transformed so much. I do not regret anything, but I do not want my daughters to experiment they way I did.

13. You were brutally attacked while on the police force, what did that teach you about fear?

It taught me that life can be over very quickly and that you have to make the most of every second and always be prepared to meet the Boss. Fear is a very destructive thing and it can be conquered. When I thought I was going to be killed all I could think about was my wife and how cross she would be that I was going to be late home again. Strange what comes into your mind at times like that.

14. You said that it was love at first sight with your wife and you have been together for over 20 years. What did she think when you first began writing Shadowmancer?

When I met Kathy, I knew that I would marry her right away. We went out once, and two weeks later I proposed. When I started writing Shadowmancer, she was pleased that I had actually started to do something she knew I should have done twenty years before. Kathy is very supportive, but also always tells me if she thinks I am being too risqué or near to the bone with what I write.

G.P. Taylor on Faith, Religion, and the Occult:

15. At 16 a voice told you to become a vicar. At 21 it called again. What made your finally listen to the voice inside?

You can only run so far away from G-d before he grabs you by the scruff of the neck and pulls you back. As I grew up he let me grow through the rebellion and just kept waiting for me. He was there on every street corner picking me up dusting me off and then waited until I fell off the road again. Eventually I had to listen to Him, He has a very loud voice and you can't get away.

16. Why did your calling from God scare you so much? Or why did the prospect of becoming a minister scare you so much?

I was from the wrong side of the tracks, kids like me didn't get ordained. It's like Eminem becoming the right hand man to Pat Robertson - an awesome task and not to be treated lightly. After all, we have to answer to Him as ministers for everything we get up to in His Name.

17. How did your years working on the violent streets as a police officer strengthen your faith?

It made you realize that everyone is created for a purpose and that death wasn't the end of life. I have seen death in every shape and form. From kids to oldies in peace and violence. It made sense of all the things I had learned in church - life is tough, wrongdoing has consequences but that everyone is capable of being pulled out of the gutter and redeemed. It also made me understand fully that we are all created equally regardless of race, color or religious belief.

18. What are some of the best things about being a vicar?

Being trusted by people and being allowed to share with them in good times and bad. Being with the lonely and the dying sharing the joys of new life and seeing people grow in their faith.

19. Have you found that teens are becoming more interested in religion? You have said that the occult is the fastest growing faith system among 14-17 year olds. Please discuss.

Teens are not becoming more interested in the Church per se, but there are other faiths that appear more exciting to them. Unfortunately, in some cases the Church of England has gotten rid of the supernatural element of faith and this that what attracts many people to G-d. That is why they get involved in the occult because if you tell people that G-d can't help them then who do they turn to? I believe in a powerful G-d who can change people's lives.

20. How is it that you are an authority on witchcraft and the occult, but are also a vicar? Where does your fascination with the occult come from?

I became interested in the occult at the age of 13 and read everything that I could. At that time, the idea of being a Christian was abhorrent to me. My parents had no time for religion, mainly because they worked so hard.

Before becoming a Christian, I was desperate to find out who God was… a lot of my research into the occult over the years happened with the hopes of discovering God. In the end, I only found him in Christianity.

After all of the research, I was left with the legacy of all of this knowledge. I was fascinated by the scientific value of ghosts. I was asked to pass along this knowledge to other groups. People wanted to know what exactly witchcraft and magic are, what ghosts are, and what are the powers behind these forces. I gained a lot of my experience through talking with people who had experienced these things, visiting sites where these things took place, and leafing through many old volumes.

21. A newspaper article mentions that you have been lecturing on esoteric subjects for 20 year. Like what?

I most often talk about poltergeists, ghosts, witchcraft, and folklore.

22. You have had all types of experience with vampires, Goths, witches, and ghosts. Is that par for the course in Yorkshire?

No, not really - I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and these things tend to find you. I am not frightened by the occult or spirits so it was me that was always getting involved. Plus being the vicar in a small town that has hundreds, if not thousands, of vampires visit each year, it falls to me to deal with these matters.

23. What statement are you making by making the anti-hero in Shadowmancer, Obadiah Demurral, a sorcerer, murderer, rapacious mine-owner, and ghoul, but also a priest? Who is he based on?

I may be making a few statements:

The ministry in the eighteenth century was too often peopled by third sons of the gentry who had nothing better to do. They weren't particularly spiritual, let alone pleasant. Many were local tyrants who exploited their congregation via the tithing system. I am making a point about the abuse of religious power.

Today there are people in the Church who preach hell and damnation. And there is not much Christian love behind it. They say 'This is evil, that is evil,' but they are not keen on looking at themselves.

Or one another way to look at Obadiah is that maybe he is the person that I could have become-- a shadow self that we all have and are too afraid to talk about.

G.P. Taylor on the reactions to Shadowmancer:

24. Were any of your parishioners surprised when they first read Shadowmancer?

No, they liked it so much that they told me to go home and write another one.

25. Do you think that your parishioners could be more accepting of the occult themes because Whitby is in Dracula country?

I don't think they see the dark themes, they just see the exciting story and adventure. The book is read on many different levels and we bring to it our own agenda. To a child it is a classic adventure for an adult it is a classic gothic novel.

26. Have you had any negative reactions?

I have had the odd letter threatening me with the fires of hell for promoting witchcraft. This is nonsense of course. The book is about good winning over evil. Most evangelicals would not know a witch if one sat next to them on the subway.

Otherwise, the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive.

27. Do you think that people feel that Shadowmancer is a Christian story?

Certainly not. I get letters from people of all faiths claiming it is about their particular way of belief. It's amazing…everyone is claiming it as their own.

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Read more about the book, Shadowmancer.