A CLOSET surrealist painter from Bradford-on-Tone has written a novel which he says “will do for capitalism what George Orwell’s Animal Farm did for communism.”

The Creator: On Earth As It Is In Heaven is Peter Edwards’ second published work, having written the first, horror novel Terminal Infatuation, aged 23 in the 1980s.

Over the last year, however, the former electrical engineer has crafted his complex spiritual-political work, which he describes as being “35% autobiographical”.

“Most of my art comes from my mind,”

says Peter, who adds that he draws his inspiration from Van Gogh.

“This book is extraordinary because it’s not entirely a work of fiction, yet it melds with a fictional story of heaven and hell, locked int perpetual confrontation.

“It also introduces a new political system which has all the advantages of capitalism, but a fairer version concentrating on equality.”

The book’s plot opens as protagonist Edwado inexplicably finds himself on an alien planet, realising there’s something wrong.

He meets Wowla, who knows all about him, informing him he’s on a planet called Earth, which has a reputation of mud throughout the universe, and that they need to leave right away… Edwado suddenly finds himself sharing a bizarre new world with her, existing in a state of flux where travel is a state of mind and nothing is impossible.

He discovers he’d been assassinated on his home planet One, but was this place of wonder Heaven?

You can buy a copy of The Creator online as a Kindle download or paperback at www.amazon.co.uk