CHILDREN and adults in Bolton can now enjoy the work of a local writer who hopes to be the town's answer to J K Rowling.

Unemployed Will Hadcroft, aged 32, who lives with wife Carol in a one-bedroomed flat on a Little Hulton council estate, has had his first novel, science fiction adventure "Anne Droyd and Century Lodge" published.

According to Will's publishers, CK Publishing, sales of the book, which appeals to both children and adults, have exceeded expectations.

Will said: "Children of family and friends who have read the book loved it. Adults seem to enjoy it to. I got a letter from a retired doctor of philosophy who said he thought it was wonderful. A friend of my 91-year-old grandmother also enjoyed it."

The book is set in a fictional place called Farnton Common, which, Will says, is a hybrid of local Bolton areas. The story is about three 11-year-olds who look after an android for a professor who is on the run from Nazi scientists.

With the help of the youngsters, the android is taken to school and helped to integrate into the community. Will, who grew up watching Dr Who, had the idea for the book a few years ago while he was walking his dog around local beauty spot, Century Lodge.

"I had been watching a TV interview with the playwright Dennis Potter, who said that if he were to succeed as a writer today he would have to think of things that were more formulaic.

"That set me thinking -- that's what I'll have to do. I began thinking of the things children like, and the things that I grew up with."

Will initially started working on the idea as a TV series, but he ended up shelving the project.

But in 2000, he heard that CK Publishing was inviting local authors to send in their ideas. They snapped up Will's idea and he wrote the 304-page book in just three months.

Will, who left school with one GCE "O" level and suffers from slight dyslexia, has been unemployed for 18 months since being made redundant from his job in quality control at Alpine Soft Drinks. He has enrolled on a course for self-employed authors and has been asked to think about penning a sequel.

A CK Publishing spokesman said: "Sales have been more than expected. The book is doing very well in the Bolton area and selling well at Amazon, the Internet bookshop. We are hoping to have a proper launch in October, and we will try to promote it for the Christmas market."

The book is on sale at Sweeten's in Deansgate, Bolton.