G. P. Taylor: Sin, Salvation and Shadowmancer

Book excerpt: Booted out of school for trying to set fire to a teacher’s desk, Graham Taylor became a roadie for the Sex Pistols and other punk rock bands. It’s unlikely that someone savoring a life of sex, drugs, and rock music would end up on a police force, but it happened. After a decade on the force, Taylor was attacked and beaten, and his injuries forced him out of service. So Taylor topped one surprise twist in his life with another: he became an Anglican priest. Assigned to a church on the northeast coast of England, Taylor delved into the fascinating history of the region—tales of smugglers, storms at sea and people lost out on the moors. This curiosity would propel him in yet another new direction, as the landscape started to inspire him with ideas for settings and stories of his own. When he gave a speech about his concern over a growing occult presence in children’s literature, someone asked Taylor why he didn’t write a children’s book himself. The seed was planted, and soon Taylor was hard at work on Shadowmancer, a breathtaking tale of the battle between good and evil. It was a safe bet that when Taylor sold his motorcycle to print his first novel, the self-published book would sell only to friends and relatives. But once again, Taylor’s course roared away from the predictable. Shadowmancer rocketed to the top of the bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic. But then, what had been predictable about Taylor’s life? Laced with humor and filled with incredible twists and turns, the life story of G. P. Taylor is equal to the plot of any one of his bestselling novels. This entertaining, inspiring, and engaging autobiography is a book you won’t want to put down.