AN Islamic scholar is a step closer to becoming the next big sci-fi writer now that his first book has been published.

After years of trying to secure a deal, community cohesion leader Nasrullah Anwar, 32, has had his novel The Changeling King printed.

The Building Bridges, Burnley, principal officer, from Great Harwood, has been crafting his 80,000 word manuscript for 15 years and would spend lunchtimes, evenings and any free time writing and trying to secure publishing deals.

Nasrullah, who writes under his pseudonym Noor A Jhangir, had been trying to secure a deal with an American publishing house after he was turned down by British publishers.

And now after three year Nasrullah’s fantasy novel has been published through online distribution service Smashwords.com.

The Changeling King has several main characters including a boy called Nathan and a group of his friends, as well as a Mogul prince, who are fighting to get back to Earth after they are transported to an alien world while aliens are on earth trying to stop Nathan’s brother Adam.

Nasrullah became interested in reading and writing fantasy fiction after reading from C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe aged seven.

He has been writing since the age of 14, whilst studying at an Islamic school. He said: “It has been my dream since I was seven to be a published writer and to inspire others to write “I would have loved to have been taken on by a traditional publisher but I’ve been rejected by every agent and publisher of young adult fiction.

“Last year, I was short listed out of 20,000 submissions for the Brit Writers Unpublished Award, so it made me wonder why I’m not good enough?

“Perhaps I need to prove myself to be commercially viable by first building a fan base through ebooks.”

The Changeling King ebook is available from Smashwords and the Kindle Store.