Wrexham Author Publishes New Novel Tomorrow

Local author Philip Gilliver is about to release his new young adult novel, Projector. Wrexham.com caught up with him to ask him a bit about it before it’s published on 1st December.

Philip describes Projector as “a young adult, science-fiction tale told through a teenager called Leon Black who has a special mental power – the ability to project images into other people’s heads so vividly that they would believe that something is really happening to them.” He went on to give us a few more details about the novel, saying “The only trouble is it could be both a gift and a curse, as the results could be fatal as well as helpful. Leon is a quiet boy who loves nature. His hero is David Attenborough and he tries to emulate him by making observations of creatures in the natural world. Leon has a shock when just after his father dies he is moved to a house in North Wales where he is bullied by his mother’s new boyfriend’s son Carl. It isn’t long before Leon is pushed over the edge and things start to spiral out of control. There are many themes in the book but the most prominent I think are the themes of bullying and nature versus nurture. People have remarked that I have made Leon slightly autistic and I think I probably have. I have a son with autism with Asperger’s traits.”

The book is sure to be of interest to people in the Wrexham area, due to its local setting. Philip told us “I’ve set the story around Wrexham and Chester although the names are slightly different. Wrexham is called ‘Wersham’ and Chester is ‘Loncaster.'”

In addition to being an author and holding down a day job working in Yale College, Philip is also a bass player in rock band Green Eyed Monsterz. When asked how on earth he found the time for all of this, he’s extremely modest. “It sounds like I am busier than I am. The band doesn’t take up as much of my time as the others do, although that doesn’t make it any less important. As for work I sometimes write during my lunch break and when I get home I rush to my laptop to carry on with my story. I am always writing ideas down of what might happen next whether it is on peices of rough paper or on the notepad on my mobile phone.”

Projector was previously self-published on Kindle, but Phil says that he had difficulty drawing people’s attention to it. “You need to do a lot of sales work in order to sell one copy and it can be quite exhausting. The book will still be there as an ebook but this time through the publisher.”

While Philip is considering writing a follow-up to Projector, he’s currently busy with a rather different project. “I am waiting to see how well Projector does. I have ideas for sequels, I have started another which picks up where the first one left off. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing the book and would love to find more situations for Leon Black to find himself in. I am very close to completing on something completely different at present, something called ‘Born To Potter‘ which I am going to script for radio or TV. It is a cross between Life On Mars, Adrian Mole and One Foot In The Grave. I am going to send it to the BBC and cross my fingers.

Anybody who wants to buy Projector will be able to order it through Waterstones, WH Smith and other book stores, as well as online through Amazon or The Book Depository and also download it to their Kindle