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Bernard Taylor, (born October 1934 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England) is a British author of horror, suspense and romantic fiction and of true-crime non-fiction. He has written several plays for the theatre, and has also written for television and radio. He has more recently written novels under the pseudonym Jess Foley.
Born in Swindon, Wiltshire, Taylor studied art at Swindon School of Art before moving to London to study at the Chelsea School of Art, where he was awarded the National Diploma in Design and the Chelsea Diploma. This was followed by a year Birmingham University where he underwent teacher-training. Following this he worked for several years as an illustrator and teacher before moving to the United States where he taught art and English and then went into the theatre, first as a designer, then as an actor. As an actor, he worked on Broadway and in various theatres across the country, later taking up writing as well, including several children's plays which were successfully produced.
Following his return to England, he continued with his acting career, appearing in numerous stage, film and television productions and numerous TV commercials, but concentrating on his writing. His first play, Daughter of the Apaches (which he directed and appeared in), was produced in 1975 at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch. It won Taylor Thames Television's Most Promising New Playwright award, and he was also seconded as Resident Playwright to the theatre for a year. During this time the theatre produced his second play, Mice on the First Floor, starring Frances Tomelty, and produced several children's plays which he wrote in partnership with Ginnie Hole.
Also in 1975, he wrote his first novel, The Godsend . Between 1976 and 2020 he published eleven novels, numerous short stories and four non-fiction works under his own name, and five novels under the pseudonym Jess Foley. Taylor's four non-fiction works were all shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction Award. Perfect Murder, written with the late Stephen Knight, won the award in 1987. Taylor currently lives in Blackheath, southeast London.
A film version of The Godsend was released in 1980. It was produced and directed by Gabrielle Beaumont, the screenplay written by her husband Olaf Pooley. The plot stayed relatively true to the novel, but the ending was changed completely. The film was not well received, however Cyd Hayman received an award for best actress at the Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival for her role as "Kate Marlowe".
In 1993, Yves Simoneau directed a film version of Mother's Boys which starred Jamie Lee Curtis. With the exception of character names, this film was little or nothing like the novel on which it was based. Many critics[ who? ] felt that Simoneau borrowed from numerous other stalker dramas and attempted to ratchet the action to a feverish pitch in the conclusion. Most critics[ who? ] found Mother's Boys an unconvincing, often over-the-top psychodrama. The film underperformed drastically at the box office, but is available on Region 1 DVD.
Bernard Taylor was commissioned to write a sitcom series for the BBC, entitled Maggie: It's Me . The plot revolved around a character named Allie who wanted to change her life, so she dumps her boyfriend to "teach him a lesson" and moves in with her friend Maggie. Frances de la Tour was cast as Maggie, and Rosemary Martin was cast as Allie. A half hour pilot was produced, and aired on 3 May 1977 but the series was never produced. [1] [2]
(published in various anthologies)
Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Christie's best-known characters and has been portrayed numerous times on screen. Her first appearance was in a short story published in The Royal Magazine in December 1927, "The Tuesday Night Club", which later became the first chapter of The Thirteen Problems (1932). Her first appearance in a full-length novel was in The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930, and her last appearance was in Sleeping Murder in 1976.
Vernon God Little (2003) is a novel by DBC Pierre. It was his debut novel and won the Man Booker Prize in 2003. It has twice been adapted as a stage play.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is a 1962 dark fantasy novel by Ray Bradbury. It is about two 13-year-old best friends, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, and their nightmarish experience with a traveling carnival that comes to their Midwestern home, Green Town, Illinois, on October 24th. In dealing with the creepy figures of this carnival, the boys learn how to combat fear. The carnival's leader is the mysterious "Mr. Dark", who seemingly wields the power to grant the townspeople's secret desires. In reality, Dark is a malevolent being who, like the carnival, lives off the life force of those they enslave. Mr. Dark's presence is countered by that of Will's father, Charles Halloway, the janitor of the town library, who harbors his own secret fear of growing older because he feels he is too old to be Will's dad.
Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian slasher film produced and directed by Bob Clark, and written by A. Roy Moore. It stars Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, Andrea Martin, Lynne Griffin and John Saxon. The story follows a group of sorority sisters who receive threatening phone calls and are eventually stalked and murdered by a deranged killer during the Christmas season.
Greg McGee is a New Zealand writer and playwright, who also writes crime fiction under the pseudonym Alix Bosco.
Jayne Anne Phillips is an American novelist and short story writer who was born in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia.
Roger Michell was a South African-born British theatre, television and film director. He was best known for directing films such as Notting Hill and Venus, as well as the 1995 made-for-television film Persuasion.
Bridge to Terabithia is a 2007 American fantasy drama film directed by Gábor Csupó from a screenplay by David L. Paterson and Jeff Stockwell. It is based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Katherine Paterson and stars Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia Robb, Bailee Madison, Zooey Deschanel, and Robert Patrick. In the film, Jesse Aarons (Hutcherson) and Leslie Burke (Robb) create "Terabithia", a fantasy world, which they use to cope with their troubled reality and spend their free time together.
The Green Lama is a fictional pulp magazine hero of the 1940s, created by American author Kendell Foster Crossen. He is commonly portrayed as a powerful Buddhist Lama, dressing in green robes with a red scarf and using his powerful skill set to fight crime. Slightly different versions of the same character also appeared in comic books and on the radio. Unlike many contemporary characters from smaller publishers, the Green Lama character is not in the public domain, as the author "wisely retained all rights to his creation".
Maggie: It's Me is a BBC television series pilot written by Bernard Taylor and produced by Graeme Muir. In Maggie: It's Me!, Allie leaves her boyfriend in order to 'teach him a lesson', and seeks solace with her friend Maggie. The pilot was aired on 3 May 1977, but BBC passed on the series.
Godsend may refer to:
Dennis Foon is a Canadian playwright, producer, screenwriter and novelist.
The Good Companions is a novel by the English author J. B. Priestley.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a tragedy, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. It tells the story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark—who takes revenge on the current king for killing the previous king and for marrying his father's widow —and it charts the course of his real or feigned madness. Hamlet is the longest play—and Hamlet is the largest part—in the entire Shakespeare canon. Critics say that Hamlet "offers the greatest exhibition of Shakespeare's powers".
You're a Sweetheart is a 1937 American musical film directed by David Butler and starring Alice Faye, George Murphy and Ken Murray. The film was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures who loaned Alice Faye from 20th Century Fox to headline the case. It was remade in 1943 under the title Cowboy in Manhattan.
The Godsend is a horror novel by British writer Bernard Taylor. It is his debut novel and was first published in 1976 by Souvenir Press.
Margaret Stiefvater is an American writer of young adult fiction, known mainly for her series of fantasy novels The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle. She currently lives in Virginia.
Joel Thomas Hynes is a Canadian writer, actor and director known for his irreverent, oftentimes dark and uproarious characters and a raw, unflinching vision of modern underground Canada.
The Godsend is a 1980 British horror film directed by Gabrielle Beaumont, written by Olaf Pooley, and starring Malcolm Stoddard, Cyd Hayman, Angela Pleasence, Patrick Barr, Wilhelmina Green, and Joanne Boorman. It follows a family who adopt an infant girl from a strange woman, only to find that, as they raise her, their other children begin to die in a series of mysterious accidents. It is based on the 1976 novel The Godsend by Bernard Taylor. The film was released in the United States on 11 January 1980 by The Cannon Group, Inc.
Home Before Dark is a 2020 thriller novel by pseudonymous author Riley Sager. The novel was first published on June 30, 2020 through Dutton. Sager references the 1977 Jay Anson book The Amityville Horror during the novel, which also served as part of Home Before Dark's inspiration.
