AN author who embodies his stories’ main character when writing says it is “overwhelming” to have his latest publications stocked in a Colchester book shop.

Stephen M Davis, 62, of Copse Drive, Rowhedge, is the writer behind a series of highly reviewed books which chronicle a young girl’s fantastical time-travelling journey into the history of her parents’ Gothic manor house and beyond.

Originally only accessible online, Rebecca and The Spiral Staircase: I’ve Been Here Before and Rebecca: A Way Back, have now been made available from Red Lion Books in Colchester High Street, after the popular literacy store discovered Stephen’s unique and spiritual way of writing.

Stephen initially tackled sci-fi novels and became “lost in literary oblivion” until he was visited in a dream by the 15-year-old girl who would go on to be his stories’ main protagonist.

He then started to immerse himself in the character of Rebecca, to the point where she would help him write the books and dictate where the story would go next.

Stephen, a former Royal Mail employee who started writing 15 years ago, said: “I hid her away at first, I guess for fear of critics asking how a 62-year-old guy could write from the perspective of a 15-year-old girl. Her voice was so loud I would recognise her in a crowded room.

“I knew I had not only found Rebecca, or she’d found me, I also had my voice, a feminine one at that.”

After finally plucking up the courage to release Rebecca to the world five-star reviews and demands for a follow-up novel started to flood in.

His somewhat peculiar and supernatural ability to communicate so vividly and realistically with his character, led a spiritualist to conclude Stephen had brought Rebecca into existence following a near-death experience as a child that saw him pronounced dead for a few seconds.

“I believe Rebecca’s every word and therefore she trusts me to tell her story.

“Rebecca is flawed for sure, but she is tactile and recognises how her views impact on those around her and I believe she breaths, so hopefully, the public do also.”

Stephen M Davis’s first two Rebecca novels are available now from Red Lion Books or amazon.com.