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Bernard Taylor is a British author and playwright who landed on the horror scene in 1976 with his debut novel The Godsend, published in the U.S. by St. Martins and then in mass market paperback by Avon in 1977. The novel arrived on the scene emblazoned with inevitable comparisons to Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Other, but actually (surprise) doesn’t bear much resemblance to those novels at all. The Godsend made a solid impact and was well received, blazing the trail for several more horror novels Taylor wrote through the mid 1990s. He quickly followed up with Sweetheart, Sweetheart (1977). His third novel The Reaping was published in 1980. Taylor wrote several thrillers and horror novels throughout the 1980s, but like many authors working in the genre at that time, hit a dead end in the mid 1990s. His ninth novel, Evil Intent, appeared in 1994, and represented the end of a respectable run in horror. He wrote romantic fiction in the early 2000s under the pseudonym Jess Foley.
Taylor was born in Wiltshire, England, went to college in London, and became a teacher for several years before moving to New York City. There he wrote plays and acted in several theater productions on Broadway. Upon his return to England, his first play was produced in 1975, the same year he wrote The Godsend. He briefly wrote teleplays for the BBC, and works of true-crime non-fiction. Two of his novels were adapted to screen: The Godsend in 1980 and Mother’s Boys in 1994 starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Taylor now lives in Blackheath, London.
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