Stephen Lewis reports on local author Mark Lamb's first novel.

GRAHAM TAYLOR has really started something. When the former Vicar of Cloughton's self-published first magical fantasy, Shadowmancer, was snapped up by Faber to become an instant bestseller, it was inevitable others would attempt to follow in his footsteps.

First there was Whitby author James David with his four-part, self-published Aqua Crysta series - a children's fantasy set in a magical kingdom beneath the North York Moors.

Now Mark Lamb, a computer expert from Graham Taylor's former parish of Cloughton, has followed suit.

Farperoo is the first volume of what promises to be a massive fantasy epic. At nearly 550 pages, it's not exactly slimline itself. But this, warns Mark, is only the first of what could be up to 30 books in his planned Dark Inventions series.

"I'd be a fool to claim I've got 30 books mapped out in my head, but I have got a really good conceptual overview of where the books are going," the 49-year-old IT consultant admits.

It may have been his local vicar who inspired Mark to go down the self-publishing route, but Mark's fantasy epic itself is inspired more by Philip Pullman.

It follows the adventures of 13-year-old Lucy Blake, a compulsive liar whose tall stories have the unfortunate habit of coming true.

Lucy lives in a world similar to but not the same as our own. Her adventures begin in Grimston-on-Sea, a thinly-disguised but rather depressing version of Scarborough. Lucy's mum vanished from a locked room years ago. Her stepmother wants the family's boarding house for herself - and is prepared to have her lying stepdaughter committed to an insane asylum to get it. Lucy is forced to flee into a dark and sinister world dominated by the mysterious Sisters of Perpetual Mercy where, with her friend Toby, she encounters talking maps, mythical cities, truth cabinets and ritual magicians.

By the end of Farperoo's 547 pages you'll have more questions unanswered and more plotlines unfinished than when you picked it up. But what would you expect from the first volume of a 30 volume series, asks Mark? By the end of the series, he promises, it will all come together.

The writing is vivid, the main characters interesting. What really makes Farperoo stand out, however, is the sheer beauty of the book. It is a heavy, hard-backed volume printed on lovely, creamy paper and featuring astonishing, wildly-imaginative illustrations by US illustrator Matthew Armstrong. The book itself is almost a work of art. It retails for £20 (although a special, collectors edition reputedly fetched £3,000) and already Mark says his first print run of 3,000 copies has sold out.

The second run is now going well and there is also a top agent said to be interested.

So one day maybe Mark will be giving the former Vicar of Cloughton a run for his money.

Farperoo by Mark Lamb is published by Mark Lamb and The Madriax Press, price £20. It is available from Waterstone's in Scarborough, Harrods, Hatchards, Foyles in London or online at www.sqwubbsybooks.co.uk

Updated: 08:57 Saturday, May 21, 2005