Christian group’s anger over GP Taylor’s new vampire story (From York Press)

Christian group’s anger over GP Taylor’s new vampire story

9:11am Saturday 25th September 2010 in News By Haydn Lewis , haydn.lewis@thepress.co.uk

A CHRISTIAN fundamentalist group is urging parents and children to boycott the latest book by North Yorkshire author GP Taylor.

Stephen Green, the national director of Christian Voice, has hit out at the Scarborough author’s latest book, Vampyre Labyrinth, a vampire tale set in Whitby and aimed at youngsters aged ten and over.

Christian Voice spearheaded the campaign to get the BBC to ban Jerry Springer: The Opera in 2005.

Mr Green claims Mr Taylor’s novel was attempting to involve young people in “the dangerous world of the occult”.

But Mr Taylor, a former vicar, said: “I find it absolutely ludicrous that Christian Voice has taken this view. I think that part of the problem is that adults generally find it very scary, but children don’t read the book in the same way as their minds aren’t as full of life’s baggage.”

Mr Green also hit out at schools who were taking part in the book tour.

He said: “Shame on any head teacher who invites GP Taylor into their school with this book. It is up to head teachers to behave more responsibly and if I was a parent at a school that allowed him in I’d be straight up to the school and demanding answers from the head teacher.”

His comments come ahead of a planned visit by the author to Barlby High School on Thursday as part of his national tour to promote reading and writing.

Barlby High head teacher Heather Scott said: “GP Taylor’s visit to the school has been carefully planned as a part of our literacy programme across the school, which sees us invite many authors in to talk about their latest books and the craft of writing. GP Taylor is a very popular author and he will be speaking to the children on the back of other works of fiction such as Dracula, the Twilight, and his own Shadowmancer.” The visit to Barlby will start Mr Taylor’s school tour where he will speak to more than 20,000 children and young people as part of a creative writing roadshow across the country called “Vampyres I have known”.

GP Taylor shot to fame with his first book, Shadowmancer, which has been translated into 48 languages and sold millions of books around the world.

The Vampyre Labyrinth: Red Eye is published by Faber, priced £6.99.