...So I've been an artist for a long, long time but I've always been happy writing various pieces from school onwards... Until last year that had primarily been a sort of e-mail limited thing. Occasionally I'd see something that I agreed/disagreed with and if I wrote anything at all about it then I'd fire off a thousand word email and that would be that. Occasionally I'd get involved in forum debates which, looking back on it, proved to be a useful tool of sharpening prose and ensuring that points were translated clearly. Again, there was no point but to participate in something that interested me, I had no illusions of being a writer.

Then, a couple of years ago, I was at a meeting and someone encouraged me to write up a little of what had happened to pass onto the kids in my youthgroup. I sort of, kind of said yes, but to be honest I saw no point to it. I wrote the events out and then looked at the result. And it made no sense... not in terms of content, but in terms of speaking to an audience. I knew what 'my kids' (as I sometimes get in trouble for calling them) were like and I knew that what I had written would make no sense. So I looked at the content and said to myself "maybe I could make this a short story in some way that would explain itself to the people I'll pass it on to."

A year later I accidentally had my first book, 'Dr Sylver and the Library of Everything'. I gave a copy to my wife and to one of the youth group kids who I thought I could trust the reaction of, and who would be kind to me with a response. Both came back to me with wonderful comments, which I took some notice of, and the copies went to a new set of eyes to read. Soon after the kids in the youth group were nagging me to send it to a publisher and in the end I gave in, sort of. I sent it to a couple of publishing houses thinking it would get rejected instantly. It was, but in a way that made me cross with the comments that I received back (there's no market for fiction with a message in it, that sort of thing) so I sent it to a couple more, almost solely to prove people wrong. I sent the samplers to six publishing houses and all came back with the same sort of thing. The seventh... Well, I'd sort of given up by that point, but the seventh asked me what would happen to the kids next, after the end of book 1. So I made something up and then Highland surprised me by signing me up for three books...

Since then I've had some lovely comments about book 1 from a wide variety of sources:

((Praise for ‘Dr Sylver and the Library of Everything’:

LICC:
Brilliantly inventive and original storytelling…

Tré Sheppard of OneHundredHours:
Paul Kercal is the real thing. He’s an artist, quirky and authentic, and a gifted writer to boot. Paul’s book is tremendous and deserves as wide a release as possible.

Christian Herald:
A novel drawn from sharply observed reality', 'first class earthy characterisation', 'the foibles of growing up with disability are skilfully slipped into the normal narrative rhythm of the story and pleasingly not a kind of Trojan horse of political correctness', 'It is good to know that there is a quality alternative'... (to Harry Potter and the works of Phillip Pullman)... 'with an intelligent Christian conscience informing the story’.

Xt3.com:
Library of Everything is one of those books that irritates your friends as you block out your diary to read it in one sitting. Roll on book two.

Youthwork magazine:
Wow, what a page turner this book is…! I just couldn’t put it down and became more and more intrigued as I read. I look forward to the second instalment.

Matt, reader-reviewer, Amazon.de:
Moving, funny and deep. Some passages made me laugh out loud, some brought tears to my eyes. The climactic resolution did both.

Lord Ron Dearing:
In both senses of the words this book is a good read.

Talking Hands Fellowship (London based church for the deaf):
The young deaf girl is quite exceptional. I liked the balance you were able to achieve when you actually showed her being mocked by her class mates, excluded, persecuted and rejected by the teacher who refused to face her to talk to her. This frustration is experienced a lot by many deaf people"...

Phil Groom, London School of Theology Books and Resources, www.christianbookshops.org:
This is a book which takes hold of you and won’t let you go… a stunning fiction debut.

Kay Morgan Gurr (conference speaker on bullying issues):
I loved the book - a great story well written! You covered many aspects and feelings that some so called experts on childhood bullying miss out - and for that I am thankful."

Mike Rimmer, journalist and broadcaster:
Paul Kercal’s gripping tale of spiritual warfare will have you turning the pages quicker than lightning.

‘Library of Everything’ is one of five books, and the only fiction title, that gained a Diamond Pledge endorsement from the National Deaf Children’s Society. ))

and I now make... well, a part of my living writing for various newspapers, magazines, websites and the like in between stints of freelance artwork, youthwork and teaching... I split what time is left between being the manager of a youth arts centre and a college art tutor.

Book 2, 'Dr Sylver and the Repository of the Past' cames out in May 2006, again to very positive and encouraging reviews...

Now I'm writing book 3 in the Dr Sylver series (tentatively dated for release in September 2007), have completed a new manuscript which utilises a very unusual and distinctive style of delivery, scripted/pencilled a four issue graphic novel and started work on the two projects that will appear post Sylver. Busy, then.