FORMER Kesgrave High School pupil James Howlett's biggest dream is to give other people nightmares.And now the 32-year-old is set to realise his dark ambitions after an American firm agreed to publish his first horror novel, entitled Bane of the Demons.

FORMER Kesgrave High School pupil James Howlett's biggest dream is to give other people nightmares.

And now the 32-year-old is set to realise his dark ambitions after an American firm agreed to publish his first horror novel, entitled Bane of the Demons.

The electrical estimator, of Levington Lane, Bucklesham, has temporarily swapped amps for frights after Publish America snapped up his spooky debut manuscript.

James said: “Bane of the Demons will eventually be the first book of a series of three and I'm already half way through the second novel.

“I don't think I will be making much money out of publishing the book, but it's just great to have my novel in print. Writing is something I have enjoyed ever since I was at school.

“The story is about alien hand syndrome, a real illness, which causes your hand to start behaving by itself. It's a new twist on an old theme, but I have taken it one stage further.”

James revealed that the book, which will be stocked in Waterstone's in Ipswich, is frightening but not too gory.

He said it took around a year to complete, squeezing his writing into evenings and weekends.

He added: “I started working on the book in my spare time and then submitted it to a few agents, but I got nowhere.

“I posted some information about the book on a website message board and about a year later I got an e-mail from someone who said he was putting together a book and he wanted me to send him a short story.

“He loved it and so I sent him the actual novel. He came back to me and said that it was a bit rough but was quite interesting and offered to edit it for me.

“It's very hard to get a story published, especially in horror because it is dominated by the likes of Stephen King and at first I had little interest. But then Publish America came forward offered to publish it for me.

“I was thrilled and now I can't wait to get my hands on the finished book.”

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