'If I go back to New York, I may die'

THE entrance to the detached house on the quiet suburban estate is just like any other family home. By the door, three tennis rackets are propped up against the wall. A blue skateboard lies upside down on the path. In the driveway is a five-year-old Citroen Picasso people carrier and a new blue Audi A4 convertible.

Graham Taylor opens the door, all smiles and warmth, and leads the way to the kitchen. His wife, Kathy, is ironing and the family's terrier puppy, Ziggy, is scampering in and out of our legs.

Graham, 47, the former vicar of Cloughton, near Scarborough, signed deals worth £12m in his first year as an author, but there are few signs of a lavish lifestyle.

"I'm actually in denial," he says, taking a seat in his airy conservatory. "I still live on £1,000 a month. The only new thing we've bought is the Audi, which is because of the thousands of miles I travel every year and the wheels were literally falling off the old Vauxhall Cavalier."

But there is no denying Graham, who writes under the name GP Taylor, has come a long way since his Vauxhall Cavalier days. His life took an unexpected turn the moment he self-published his novel Shadowmancer, an 18th century tale of Christianity and dark magic, funded by selling his beloved Harley Davidson. It wasn't long before he attracted the attention of publishing house Faber and Faber.

Two years later, both Shadowmancer and his second novel Wormwood have topped the bestseller lists in Britain and New York. He has signed two film deals, a Japanese comic book serialisation of Shadowmancer and been nominated twice for Children's Book of the Year in the British Book Awards.

Yet, astonishingly, he still does not see his books as successful. Like any author, he says, he constantly seeks approval from others that he can write.

"I've convinced myself that they're not successful, because my standard is in regard to the success of Harry Potter," he says. "My publishers think I'm insane and they say 'when will you be happy?' I say only when I've sold as many as she has. I would say I've been a successful writer when I've sold ten million."

Graham's books have already sold one million copies in 12 months alone and have won him an army of fans. But they have also won him a handful of enemies. There are a number of Christian fundamentalists who have described his work as leading children into witchcraft. He has also received letters from witches and Satanists who believe he has denigrated paganism. Even Madonna has reportedly been upset over his references in Wormwood to the Kabbalah religion - of which she is an ardent follower.

But Graham remains unrepentant. His books deliver a Christian message, he says, before adding: "Madonna was really pissed off. But then she should stick to singing and leave the children's books alone."

Graham is not afraid of speaking his mind and adds for good measure that the "whole political correctness stuff" gets on his nerves too.

"Take the other day," he says. "I opened the door for a women who was in London and she refused to walk through it. I said 'Would you like to walk through?' and she said 'No, I'm quite capable of holding the door open myself'. So I let the door slam in her face. It is things like that which really annoy me."

His directness goes hand-in-hand with an earthy, schoolboy-like sense of humour. They are qualities which must stop him becoming awe-struck by the number of celebrities he now, inevitably, rubs shoulders with.

"You get two kinds of stars," he says, "the one's who are very secure in their celebrity, who are nice and normal, and the minor ones, like Big Brother-types who suddenly think they're incredibly famous - they're a pain in the arse."

He laughs, recalling one well-known conceited celebrity who had just stepped into the green room, where interviewees gather before their television appearances.

"I pretended I didn't recognise him and I went up to him and said 'Here, nip down to Starbucks will you and get us a hot chocolate' and I thrust a fiver at him. He said 'Do you know who I am?' I said, 'Yes, you're the PA aren't you?' He was mortified. I said 'I'm sorry I've never heard of you'."

But Graham, who lives in Scalby, near Scarborough, is something of a celebrity himself. He loves to go to the Ivy in London, because it's "like a transport caf, great atmosphere" and he's been known to frequent the odd B-list showbiz party, taking wife Kathy with him.

IN his self-deprecating way, he tells the story of how the couple were walking up the red carpet behind Poirot actor David Suchet when Kathy mistakenly began calling the actor Keith.

"She carried on calling him Keith until he said, 'Actually it's not Keith it's David'," he laughs. "Then she said 'You know you look just like Poirot'. I bumped into him about four weeks later in the toilets of The Ivy and he said 'Tell Kathy, Keith said hello'."

He will also be mixing soon with the stars of the new Shadowmancer movie. It has yet to be cast, but names being touted include Michael Caine, Sean Bean and Ewan McGregor. The famous Hollywood film producer behind the movie, whom he cannot name, came over recently.

"He's a really nice guy and we just hung out together," says Graham. "We took him to the theatre, to the Moors, and he was a huge fan of All Creatures Great and Small so we took him around all the locations where it was filmed and he loved it. I kept thinking here is this big Hollywood film producer who's getting a buzz out of being in Thirsk going 'Take me to Mr Wight's surgery'."

Is he not concerned he may soon start experiencing the negative aspects of fame?

"I've always been identifiable really," he answers. "I've either been a local policeman or the local vicar, you just get identified by more people. Already, I can go into a caf and people will recognise me and start to whisper 'It's him, it's that fat git'. Actually they don't really say that last bit. But I'm never going to change. I'm always going to be the same bloke."

But there are some habits he has changed because of his success. He can no longer go in book shops, he reveals, because he doesn't want to confront the fact that his books are in there.

"I'm actually quite frightened that one day I'll wake up and realise how successful my books have been," he admits.

On an average writing day, he takes the kids to school and picks them up, and slots his writing in-between. At night, he writes from 10.30pm to 1am, the words not so much pouring as "stuttering" out.

He also loves incorporating little jokes into his work, giving something for the adults to laugh at. His regular readers know to look out for certain phrases, lines from songs or veiled digs at various politicians or celebrities.

Tersias is his third and newly published novel, set once more in the 18th century. It tells the story of a blind beggar boy who can see the future and is exploited by those around him. It is a supernatural tale, and like his previous novels, his storytelling abilities shine through.

But he insists he is not fascinated by dark magic, more by the idea that we are not alone.

"I believe in a spirit world and in a supernatural dimension or rather a scientific one. I think it's to do with existing on different frequencies," he says.

Graham has, it turns out, also received a number of premonitions, messages he believes come from God. When pressed he cites the time he was a local policeman, when a voice in his head told him not to stop the car in front because the man inside was carrying a gun. It turned out later that the man did have a gun. He was also due to be in London on the day of the terrorist attacks on July 7, but Graham changed the day of his visit after a voice told him not to go.

By far the most disturbing premonition is the dream he had before his success. He dreamed about the publishing and film deals and the limousines and press interviews, which have since come true. But he also dreamed about getting shot dead during a book signing in New York.

While on a book signing in the city for Shadowmancer, he noticed it was the same book shop as in his dream and spent the whole time nervously looking at the nearest exit. He has since realised that the book signing in the dream was for his new novel, Tersias.

"I'm very concerned as all the rest of the dreams have come true," he admits. "Which is why I've decided I'm not going back at all to New York."

Graham gave up his ministry after a heart condition saw him hospitalised on several occasions. But he has recently discovered he has candida albicans, a yeast overgrowth in the gut, and says his heart problems have disappeared since he eradicated yeast and sugar from his diet.

"I've even lost a stone," he grins, patting his stomach.

His next novel, which he has just finished, is a departure from his recent work, a ghostly murder mystery called Mariah Mundi.

"It's about a young boy in Victorian times who's sent to a Northern seaside town to work in a big hotel run by a mad American," he says.

"It is the most enjoyable thing I've ever written. It is light, yet dark."

He is due to start work on a sequel to Shadowmancer, which should please his fans. He is also, he says, in the privileged position of being able to give some money back to charitable causes, including helping to create an orphanage for children in India.

But mostly his success has enabled him to spend more time with his "beautiful" family - Kathy and children Hannah, 17, Abigail, 14 and Lydia, six. This year, he is taking them on a cruise on the Queen Mary 2, so they can "see what all the fuss is about".

"I was on it twice last year for work and really didn't enjoy it because I was on my own," he says.

In the meantime, he's about to "pop into town" with Kathy and Lydia. He walks through to the kitchen where Kathy has almost finished her mammoth ironing pile. Outside, a For Sale sign is sited near the front door. Perhaps Graham is about to move into a millionaire's mansion?

"Nooooooo," he smiles. "We're wanting to buy an old Victorian house. I'm not going to run off on any flights of fancy and I've always got Kathy and three beautiful children to thank for that."

* Tersias by GP Taylor is published on August 4 (Faber and Faber, £9.99). See review on Books page tomorrow.