| G.P. Taylor: Good Vs. Evil |
| Written by N Marion Hage | ||||||
 “The powers that be” predict that author G.P. Taylor will take the throne left by J.K. Rowling and his novels could become as popular as the now-ended Harry Potter series. Graham Taylor’s maiden novel, Shadowmancer, reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller’s List and headlines called his novel “Hotter than Potter.” His Mariah Mundi series is expected to eclipse all of his other novels.Rev. Taylor financed his first novel by selling his motorcycle, and his house became a cluttered mess of stacked boxes that filled every room. Worse, he had no guarantee these books wouldn’t wind up as cumbersome doorstops. There is great risk in self-publishing thousands of books without a built-in pre-existing audience. The chances of recouping such an investment are statistically astronomical. Yet his investment paid off. Shadowmancer flew off the shelves of local bookstores. His novel was soon picked up by Faber in the U.K. and Penguin in the U.S. This prototype Hollywood ending didn’t begin here. Taylor’s life was anything but typical. He was embittered, the kind of kid who hung classmates out of windows by their feet and lit his own desk on fire. Graham was expelled for various reasons and became a roadie for the punk rock group Sex Pistols. Connections led to a career with CBS records; and from CBS, he went to what became Virgin Records. His life would soon take a different course after a drunken Graham crashed Richard Branson’s- Of the Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic empire- yacht. At a young age, Graham grew dissatisfied with religion and became fascinated with the occult, wondering about life after death. But an insider’s view of what was actually an industry that often played upon people’s insecurities, telling them what they wanted to hear for a price, left him even more dissatisfied. He took stock of his life when he met his future wife and became a father, taking a more conventional job as a police officer. Graham began to feel a call upon his life, but pushed it aside. When sidelined after a brutal beating put him in the hospital, he began to reconsider his call. Graham reassessed his life, his values, what mattered most, and became an ordained Vicar in the Church of England. Oddly, his first assignment was to the very same St. Mary’s Church made famous by Braham Stoker’s Dracula, in which would-be vampires made yearly pilgrimages to his church. This minister, who once had a pet crow, was anything but typical. He looked for unique ways to speak into the lives of his unusual parishioners who came seeking real answers that they weren’t finding in conventional church settings. The local lore and the fact that a cemetery sat on the church grounds lent to ideas about writing a novel in which he could reach those searching for a good story with meaning. The Interview N Marion Hi, Graham. First let me say I’m thrilled to have the chance to interview you. I’m a true fan. Word on the street says that Mariah Mundi & the Midas Box will be as popular as Harry Potter. Can you tell us about this character and what audiences it will appeal to? G.P. Taylor The recipe is there, tried and tested. Young hero, girl sidekick, evil villain, perilous plot, and sting-in-the-tail ending. Nothing unusual. If you read Tolkien, Lewis, and Rowling, the same devices are in use. But like Harry Potter, there is something unforgettable about the boy, Mariah Mundi. Mundi lost his parents and it is not known if they are dead. He attended a boarding school in London, from where he was sent at the age of 15 to work in a large and mysterious hotel in the north of England. All fish-out-of-water stuff with plenty of spooky goings on to keep you turning the pages. With plenty of ‘whodunit’ thrown in. There is a killer at large, a strange box that has the power to turn everyday objects to gold, and a secret society called The Bureau of Antiquities. This book combines the big story of C.S. Lewis and the plot of an Indiana Jones movie, which is probably why Hollywood is already queuing to get its hands on the rights for the book. N Marion Some compare you to C.S. Lewis, probably because you are ordained and write about good vs. evil. I see far more Charles Dickens in your writings. Your books are set in a time when it’s dangerous to be an impoverished child in England. Tell us about the settings and choice of characters you used for Shadowmancer, Wormwood, Tersias, and The Curse of Salamander Street. G.P. Taylor The characters are really important. I love them to have a challenge. I also like my characters to be real—in the sense that they change their minds often without reason—which is the human condition. I read some books, especially edited by American publishers, where the characters aren’t allowed to be enigmatic; they have to be constant and their motives have to be clear. I have never met a person like that—show me someone like that in real life and it’ll be a corpse. My favorite character of all is Captain Jack Charity from Mariah Mundi. He’s quite a hard case but has a strong faith base and still can cut it in a fight. N Marion G.P., you are a wordsmith. Some names in Shadowmancer are cryptic. Do you purposely leave puzzles and riddles in your novels for fans to dig deeper? Can you break down how you developed some names of items or characters? G.P. Taylor It’s there for a reason, firstly to annoy my editor and secondly to intrigue the reader. I would suggest you Google all my titles and you will get an insight into the chapters. It might not appear to be relevant at first—but I can assure you it is. I get a lot of my names from folklore and legend or from myths and then I try to change them slightly to give them an inner meaning. Ergott in Salamander Street is from the disorder of ergotism—look that one up and you’ll find the reason for the Salem witch trials. N Marion It’s well-known you’re the Vicar who writes novels. Is there a reason you chose a jaded Vicar to be the villain in your first novel? G.P. Taylor I meet a lot of Christians—some in positions of immense leadership who are so legalistic that they are a hindrance to the faith. One particular group actively campaigned against my books, saying they led people into witchcraft. It was amazing. There I was getting thousands of emails from children and adults saying that my books had helped them find God and a group of so-called evangelicals were calling it dangerous. I had one email from an American Christian saying he wanted to kill me. I wrote back to him and he eventually calmed down. One man wrote that he had even put a bad review on Amazon and then repented of it because he hadn’t even read any of my books and did it out of jealousy. That’s why I made Demurral a jaded minister. He had lost his first love—Jesus; and he had forgotten the real reason why he had been called —not to have a mega ministry or a big church, a nice suit and flashy car—but to serve Jesus and see sinners saved. “Away from me you evil doers. I know you not. ” They are the words I also meditate on. My faith is the “be all” of my life - without it I would have and be nothing. I wanted to show the world that even Christians can forget why they are here and, like Darth Vader, can fall for the dark side. N Marion I look forward to your stories. Which ones do you consider finished and which will you continue to develop? G.P. Taylor SPOILER ALERT! Mariah Mundi will go on, as will Shadowmancer. I want to bring the heroes to America— in search of a stolen picture that contains the soul of Kate—a follow-on from Salamander Street. No story is ever finished until time is rolled up and we all stand before Riathamus. (one of Graham’s cryptic names) N Marion In your pre-Vicar life, you were a hell-raiser involved in the occult and tasting the various indulgences of the music industry. Which experiences have most seeped into your novels? G.P. Taylor …that drugs and the occult are dangerous and must be avoided at all costs. That there is a God and He is good and will redeem us if we want Him to. That no matter how far we fall from grace we can be put back on our feet. That life is to be lived and enjoyed and is a cosmic adventure regardless of how rich we are. N Marion Your novels depict the ongoing battle between good and evil and who is actually the puppet and puppeteer. Why do you think people are drawn to the supernatural and can you comment a bit on this ongoing war and how it plays out in your novels? G.P. Taylor I think that people are drawn to the occult because in many churches we depict a liberal, powerless God who can’t or won’t do anything in our world. People are searching for a God who listens and cares for them. The devil does a lot of advertising and is seen to be cool. He never names himself and always acts in disguise, but he is out there, sometimes speaking through the mouths of the good guys and never letting people see who he really is. The Bible says Satan will come as an angel of light—he won’t look scary like a demon from The Exorcist. He will look cool and walk the walk, and people get taken in by him. True evil mimics goodness to 90% and when you’re hooked, it then reveals itself for what it really is. My novels show people what the enemy is up to. They are designed for non-Christians to read and to bring them closer to God and show them that the power within the Christian is greater than the power within the world. I am currently writing a shocker for adults called Suburban Father. It is about a burbs family who buys a new house and the father starts to think he is going mad. Evil erupts in his life until... It is a story about the power of a Savior who can command the waves to be still and demons to cease speaking and has enough love in his heart for all the world and every man, woman, and child. Bookmark with:
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