FURNITURE maker Malcolm Hogarth is carving out a new career as a science fiction author.

The prize-winning short story writer saw his first novel published this week, when the paperback Dark Harvest reached the bookshops.

Malcolm spent two years writing the book, which has been published by Minerva Press, of London.

He said: "I must have tried seven or eight before I was successful, but I was determined not to give up.

"I have had it in my head for years. I am thinking all the time even when I am working and have sometimes stopped the car to jot down a few notes."

Before he started writing, Malcolm, who lives in Rose Terrace, Stanhope, and works with his brother Maurice, even stopped reading other science fiction books in case he was influenced by other authors