A Slough man who was previously homeless has found viral success after his newly published book was picked up by fans on TikTok.
The author of The Secrets of Silver Clouds, who refers to himself as Silent Silver, describes his journey to becoming a published author as being fraught with challenges, including homelessness and financial hardship.
He said "Despite these obstacles, I have poured my heart and soul into writing this book.
"The positive response has been overwhelming, with it making it onto Waterstones and WHSmiths website (it sold out on Waterstones at first), the Sun news showing interest and Gardners ordering a batch of 40 from an author with no representation a month before its official release."
Silent Silver describes The Secrets of Silver Clouds as having Harry Potter-like elements with a gangster twist.
He said he decided to write the book ten years ago when he was experiencing homelessness during which time he had to sofa-hop whilst borrowing wifi from people.
He was then in the hospital for a while. He described most of his ideas as just sticky notes at this time.
Silent Silver said "When I worked for a job for a little while and was subsequently made redundant. When this happened I was able to keep my laptop and write the book."
The Secrets of Silver Clouds took ten years to write and Silent Silver took inspiration from Marvel movies and anime.
He continued "The whole journey has been pretty crazy! It blew up on TikTok I think mostly because of the homeless to published author type of thing.
"I drew on my own life experiences to write the book also."
A popular TikToker called Heather Christine who regularly reviews books made a video about The Secrets of Silver Clouds which then gathered a lot of attention on the social media platform.
The video gained over 126,000 views with the number reaching new heights every day.
when asked if Silent Silver plans to write any other books, he said that The Secrets of Silver Clouds is going to be book one as part of a series.
"A lot of my fans are excited about my new book and I even included a page of the second book at the end of the first one," he said.
"Good morning Britain is interested in my story and mentioned a possible interview and Waterstones Birmingham has agreed to an event in their store."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here