The Censor

It is the late 1960s and David Askelon, an American writer, has written a best-seller - a book that is popular for its graphic and violent sexual scenes.

And now an English publisher has paid a great deal to publish in the UK.

But they have decided they want to heavily censor the book.

Looking of the list of changes, Askelon puts his foot down.

The whole point of his novel was to portray the world realistically, in all its gritty, sordid and disturbing glory.

So he decides to head to London to put his point across in person.

He manages to persuade the publishers that the book needs to stay as it is, but how will the ‘powers that be’ react?

Could he - or his publishers - face a fine, or even prosecution?

As the publication date looms ever nearer he finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of publicity - not all of it good…

How will the English public react to the novel?

Will it receive critical acclaim - or should he have listened to The Censor?

Before coming an author of fiction in the early 1960’s John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist.

In all Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year.

He was also invited by Ian Fleming’s literary copyright holders to write a series of continuation James Bond novels, which proved to be so successful that instead of the contracted three books he went on to publish some fourteen titles, including Licence Renewed and Icebreaker.

Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.