A VICAR'S spine-chilling tale of witchcraft and Christianity is about to cast a spell on American readers thanks to a six-figure publishing deal.

The Reverend Graham Taylor, vicar of Cloughton, near Scarborough, has received a $500,000 (£314,000) advance for his novel Shadowmancer after originally self-publishing it in Britain.

Rights to the book are also in the process of being sold to publishers in Japan, Germany and Spain.

"I'm still in shock, never did I think it would ever come to this, I'm absolutely over the moon," said the 43-year-old clergyman.

The deal comes almost a year after Mr Taylor started his own company to publish Shadowmancer at the cost of £3,500.

The firm was financed by selling his cherished "Hell's Angel" motorcycle.

The novel has since been re-published in the UK by Faber and now stands sixth in the children's fiction best-seller list after selling 80,000 copies in the first four weeks of release.

The vicar, who writes as GP Taylor, believes the book's success is down to the lack of traditional thrillers on the market.

"It is a historical thriller, gritty and exciting, and there aren't many of them like it out there," he said.

Set in the 18th Century village of Ravenscar, near Scarborough, Shadowmancer's anti-hero is the Reverend Obadian Demurral, who practises his evil on the rugged coastline of North Yorkshire.

Mr Taylor is now halfway through his second novel, Wormwood, to be released by Faber in June next year