A FANTASY story that was hidden away for almost 40 years will finally see the light of day in time for Halloween.

Pensioner John Timmis started writing Deathling of Dorn when he was just 21.

The former Sale Grammar pupil finished the epic tale about the end game of wizards and fallen gods five years later but then it was forgotten about.

John said: "At the time I was reading a lot of fantasy books like Tolkien and I really liked them.

"I just thought I’d have a go at writing one. I always liked creative writing at school even though I’m a scientist.

"I finished it when I was about 26 and I did it originally on the Acorn Electron and saved it on to floppy disks.

"I got one hard copy published and it just got chucked in the loft."

There it stayed for 39 years until John dug it out when he became dissatisfied with the current crop of fantasy novels.

The 68-year-old, who grew up in Timperley, added: "I was sat in bed one night reading one when I thought: ‘I’m sure my story is better than this’.

"I got it out and read it and couldn’t put it down. Bearing in mind I hadn’t looked at it for almost 40 years I’d really forgotten it."

With time on his hands after retiring, John was inspired to have the novel published.

He secured the interest of Troubador Publishing but there was one snag – he could not access the disks the story was saved on.

So John and his wife Jacqueline spent a year painstakingly typing it up from the one original hard copy.

He said: "We found a lot of mistakes so I did a lot of corrections and made a few changes. I hope people get half of what I got out of it. I’d love to hear what people think."

So why does John, who is now working on a sequel to Deathling of Dorn, think fantasy stories continue to be so popular four decades on?

"Harry Potter has got something to do with that, along with the Lord of the Rings films," he added.

"The Hobbit films have recently brought it all back and they have a much greater audience to when they were just books.

"The film technology does it justice now. They did an animated Lord of the Rings back in the 80s but I thought it was pretty pathetic. Most people have forgotten it exists.

"I think my story would make a good film. There are a lot of visually emotive things in it because when I write I take myself there.

"I pretend I’m actually at that scene smelling and hearing and experiencing what is going on. That is why I like writing because it just spirits me away."

-*Deathling of Dorn is available from October 28 at bookshops and online from www.amazon.co.uk