Graham Taylor (author)
Encyclopedia
Graham Peter Taylor pen-name G. P. Taylor, is the author of the best-selling novels Shadowmancer
, Wormwood and Tersias
. Before taking up writing full-time, he was an Anglican
vicar in the village of Cloughton
, North Yorkshire
.
His works reflect his faith, carrying Christian messages like The Chronicles of Narnia
of C.S. Lewis. He began to write his works to counter the increasing number of works, such as Harry Potter
and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that he believed were encouraging children to investigate the occult
. His works have also garnered some controversy however, because whilst Taylor has claimed to be "an authority on Wicca
and paganism
", his books have been considered offensive by some neopagans for describing them as being tricked by the Devil.
, Sex Pistols
, Elvis Costello
and Adam and the Ants
. He became involved in the occult
, and lived a life that was, in his own words "into all sorts of weird and wonderful things and wasn’t leading a godly life". It was then that he turned to Christianity
, and he later became a vicar
with the Church of England
.
When Taylor completed the manuscript of his first book, Shadowmancer, he opted to self-publish. Following its launch at Taylor's local bookshop, The Whitby Bookshop, the title proved a great success and quickly garnered a publishing deal with Faber and Faber
in the UK and G. P. Putnam's Sons
in the United States for a further six novels. At this time he resigned as parish priest and moved to a private home some 3 miles from his former parish. His books have since been translated into forty-eight languages and optioned for the movies.
His second novel, Wormwood, was nominated for the American book award known as The Quills. Tersias is his third novel and was published in the UK in 2005. In August 2006, Faber published a follow up to Shadowmancer entitled The Curse of Salamander Street.
In October 2006, Taylor's first ever 'illustronovella', The Tizzle Sisters & Erik was released by Markosia
. A mixture of prose and graphic novel, Taylor was joined on the book by fellow collaborators Tony Lee
, Dan Boultwood, and Harry Potter
artist Cliff Wright
.
He also contributed text to a book on the Yorkshire coast by photographer Mark Denton
.
He announced his retirement in October 2009 in order to care for his daughter, who suffers from Crohn's disease
.
In November 2009, in a column written for the Yorkshire Post
newspaper, he announced his dissatisfaction with the Church of England, noting that he might be better served spiritually in the Catholic Church. Describing the thought of becoming a Catholic as "heart-breaking" and an act of deserting a "sinking ship", he accused the Anglican Church of sinking "into a liberal
pit that was no earthly use and offered no hope, no love and no grace". He added that the "church I once loved has, on the whole, become the spiritual arm of New Labour." An editorial in the paper, followed by others including the Guardian, interpreted this as announcing that he had actually decided to convert. Taylor refuted this suggestion during an interview on the Sunday Breakfast show on Premier Christian Radio
on 8 November 2009, saying that the newspaper had got the wrong end of the stick.
In 2008 Taylor signed a deal with film production company Entertainment Motion Pictures (E-Motion) to make a big budget film of the first in the series - 'Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box'. This film is currently in development.
Taylor has three children and currently resides in Scalby, North Yorkshire
.
Shadowmancer
Shadowmancer is a fantasy novel by Graham Taylor , first published privately in 2002. It is a Christian allegory in the form of a fantasy adventure, akin to C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. Taylor wrote the book to counteract what he saw as a rise in atheist propaganda in children's books...
, Wormwood and Tersias
Tersias
Tersias is the second sequel to the fantasy novel Shadowmancer by Graham P. Taylor and direct sequel to Wormwood. Tersias was followed in 2006 by The Shadowmancer Returns: The Curse of Salamander Street...
. Before taking up writing full-time, he was an Anglican
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
vicar in the village of Cloughton
Cloughton
Cloughton is a small village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north of Scarborough town centre....
, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
.
His works reflect his faith, carrying Christian messages like The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages...
of C.S. Lewis. He began to write his works to counter the increasing number of works, such as Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that he believed were encouraging children to investigate the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
. His works have also garnered some controversy however, because whilst Taylor has claimed to be "an authority on Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
and paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
", his books have been considered offensive by some neopagans for describing them as being tricked by the Devil.
Biography
Taylor grew up in Yorkshire, but moved to London in the 1970s where he worked in the music industry with such bands as The StranglersThe Stranglers
The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
, Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
and Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...
. He became involved in the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
, and lived a life that was, in his own words "into all sorts of weird and wonderful things and wasn’t leading a godly life". It was then that he turned to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, and he later became a vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
with the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
.
When Taylor completed the manuscript of his first book, Shadowmancer, he opted to self-publish. Following its launch at Taylor's local bookshop, The Whitby Bookshop, the title proved a great success and quickly garnered a publishing deal with Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
in the UK and G. P. Putnam's Sons
G. P. Putnam's Sons
G. P. Putnam's Sons was a major United States book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.-History:...
in the United States for a further six novels. At this time he resigned as parish priest and moved to a private home some 3 miles from his former parish. His books have since been translated into forty-eight languages and optioned for the movies.
His second novel, Wormwood, was nominated for the American book award known as The Quills. Tersias is his third novel and was published in the UK in 2005. In August 2006, Faber published a follow up to Shadowmancer entitled The Curse of Salamander Street.
In October 2006, Taylor's first ever 'illustronovella', The Tizzle Sisters & Erik was released by Markosia
Markosia
-History:Markosia was founded by Harry Markos in 2005. Markos has already published Harry Gallan's The Lexian Chronicles and the initial plan was to produce comic adaptations of books, like The Lexian Chronicles and G.P. Taylor's Shadowmancer. They secured the license to adapt Starship Troopers,...
. A mixture of prose and graphic novel, Taylor was joined on the book by fellow collaborators Tony Lee
Tony Lee
Tony Lee is a British comics writer, screenwriter, audio playwright and novelist.-Early life:Lee was born in Hayes, Middlesex in England...
, Dan Boultwood, and Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
artist Cliff Wright
Cliff Wright
Cliff Wright is an artist, book illustrator and advertising artist.He has illustrated numerous books - specializing in illustrations of animals and children's books, most notably the second and third book in the Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the...
.
He also contributed text to a book on the Yorkshire coast by photographer Mark Denton
Mark Denton
Mark Denton is a British landscape photographer working mostly in the North of England. He is best known for using a Fujifilm panoramic film camera and producing images using the 6×17 film format....
.
He announced his retirement in October 2009 in order to care for his daughter, who suffers from Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease, also known as regional enteritis, is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms...
.
In November 2009, in a column written for the Yorkshire Post
Yorkshire Post
The Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...
newspaper, he announced his dissatisfaction with the Church of England, noting that he might be better served spiritually in the Catholic Church. Describing the thought of becoming a Catholic as "heart-breaking" and an act of deserting a "sinking ship", he accused the Anglican Church of sinking "into a liberal
Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
pit that was no earthly use and offered no hope, no love and no grace". He added that the "church I once loved has, on the whole, become the spiritual arm of New Labour." An editorial in the paper, followed by others including the Guardian, interpreted this as announcing that he had actually decided to convert. Taylor refuted this suggestion during an interview on the Sunday Breakfast show on Premier Christian Radio
Premier Christian Radio
Premier Christian Radio is a British Christian radio station wholly owned by the charity Premier Christian Media Trust.Premier Christian Radio broadcasts Christian programming including news, debate, teachings and Christian music to London and the surrounding areas.It operates on three frequencies...
on 8 November 2009, saying that the newspaper had got the wrong end of the stick.
The Mariah Mundi Series
Taylor has written a 3 book series on Mariah Mundi and his companions Captain Jack Charity and Sacha. Mariah becomes involved with the Bureau of Antiquities, an alleged secret part of the government that deals with all things supernatural. The first book in the series, Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box, involves a capturing plot on a box that has the power to turn things to gold, while the second, Mariah Mundi and the Ghost Diamonds, follows a sequel pattern about the mysterious Ghost Diamonds. The third, Mariah Mundi and the Ship of Fools, is different to the first because it makes few references to the previous but still contains the essential characters and motivating storyline with Mariah and Charity trapped aboard a doomed ship half way across the Atlantic Ocean with only a mad marquis, a dodgy inventor, and their odd families for company.In 2008 Taylor signed a deal with film production company Entertainment Motion Pictures (E-Motion) to make a big budget film of the first in the series - 'Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box'. This film is currently in development.
Taylor has three children and currently resides in Scalby, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
.
Shadowmancer
- ShadowmancerShadowmancerShadowmancer is a fantasy novel by Graham Taylor , first published privately in 2002. It is a Christian allegory in the form of a fantasy adventure, akin to C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. Taylor wrote the book to counteract what he saw as a rise in atheist propaganda in children's books...
(2003) - The Shadowmancer Returns: The Curse of Salamander StreetThe Shadowmancer Returns: The Curse of Salamander StreetThe Shadowmancer Returns is the fourth novel in Graham Taylor's Shadowmancer series, following Tersias, and a direct sequel to Shadowmancer.- Plot summary :...
(2006)
Mariah Mundi
- Mariah Mundi - The Midas Box (2007)
- Mariah Mundi and the Ghost Diamonds (2008)
- Mariah Mundi and the Ship of Fools (2009)
The Dopple Ganger Chronicles
- The First Escape (2008) (originally released as The Tizzle Sisters and Erik in 2006)
- The Secret of Indigo Moon (2009)
- The Great Mogul Diamond (2011)
Vampyre Labyrinth
- Redeye (September 2010)
- Dust Blood (January 2011)
- Oracle (July 2011)