ENGINEER Arnold Arnold has a funny streak.

But having published his first novel, the 49-year-old is expecting a backlash for his controversial views on religion.

Arnold, of Westrop, Highworth, said it was easy to write his 336-page book Hey.

He said: "What really inspired me more than anything was people leaving the church of England because they didn't like the ordination or women vicars.

"And I thought, what if Jesus had been a girl?

"I don't really like to tell people what the book's about, but it is kind of based on the New Testament - but funny."

He added: "I think there are people out there who are going to be offended by it. But if you are easily offended don't read it.

"I gave the first chapter to a friend to read and they brought it back in horror."

Arnold describes his story of sex, religion and politics in a remote Iron Age village as "irreligious, irreverent and irrelevant".

Arnold, who is currently working on a couple more books and engineering at the same time, decided to have the book self-published.

He said: "A friend of mine came to me and asked had I thought about self-publishing?

"If the writing is good then you have still got the same chance of it becoming a best seller.

"I thought I'd rather do that that than spending two years writing to publishers and getting rejection letters.

"I have always enjoyed writing humorous stuff. It seems like a massive leap from engineer to author, and maybe my sense of humour wasn't best suited to technical specifications, but it is something I have always done from time to time.

"I have to be pre-occupied to write.

"If I sit down and try and write something it is impossible, but sometimes you'll be doing something totally different and a funny thought tickles you, then it writes itself."

Arnold has already started work on his next book and is still hoping to get Hey into bookshops. It has been available online since December.

"I think the first copy arrived on December 27, so everyone has told me I just missed out on the opportunity to give it to everyone I know as a Christmas present," said Arnold.

"People always ask how it felt to see my name on the cover of a book for the first time, but it didn't really feel like anything.

"I just thought Oh my God, what have I done?' "I'll be happy if it sells or if people come up to me and say they think it is fantastic, but just having your name on it is a bit meaningless. Now I just need to get it out there and get people reading it."

Hey, published by Author House, is available at Amazon, other online booksellers and www.author house.co.uk