BOOKSHOP assistant Ian Graham could be forgiven for being a little biased the next time a customer asks him to recommend a riveting read.

The Waterstones employee, of Bolton Road West, Ramsbottom, is enjoying his own place on the sales shelf with a debut fantasy novel Monument.

Thirty-one-year-old Ian's book is the culmination of an 18-month effort, and features the story of drunken vagrant Ballas.

Set in the fictional land of Druine, it follows the character as he flees the powerful forces of the "Pilgrim Church" after stealing a valuable artefact from them.

The writing of the book was painstaking at times, with many hours spent alone at a word processor.

Ian said: "I spent a lot of time locked away in my flat writing but it's hard to feel enlivened about things when you're secluded, so I had to start getting out more.

"The plot evolved from a very small idea of this character on the run and brought in a whole lot of other ideas about who he was running from and where he was going.

"What was enjoyable was that, although the character is not likable, he is interesting and unusual."

Former Tottington High pupil Ian has been signed up to write three books for publishers Orbit, and is now working on his second.

A former literature student at Bolton Institute, Ian has harboured literary ambitions for the last ten years.

He said: "It's taken this long but I think that persistence is what's needed."

Monument is available from Waterstones at the special introductory price of £10.