A novelist is setting his sights on the silver screen as his book is set to be snapped up by Hollywood.

Graphic designer Rico Gusman is waiting to hear if one of the big film companies is going to pledge the money to make the film of his book, Albatross.

It was published in 1989 and immediately sparked a lot of interest from film-makers keen to turn it into a big budget hit.

But after months of flying between cities Mr Gusman decided to take a break from promoting the novel after becoming ill.

"I did not want to carry on with it because I was in my 20s and it all got a bit much," said Mr Gusman, 36, whose graphic design company Rico Design is based in Westwood Park, Little Horkesley.

The book, a fantasy adventure about a little girl who finds a baby albatross, sold more than 3,000 copies when first published but has since gone out of print.

"I left it for a long while but then about two years ago I read it to my son and he really loved it and I decided to have another go," he added.

Now Mr Gusman, of Stoke-by-Nayland, who has helped design the storyboard and compose music for a possible soundtrack, is hopeful it will hit the big screen soon.

"A script already exists from last time I was trying to get it off the ground so I just got that looked at again and it is being read by a major film company at the moment," he added.

He has already written a sequel, called Phoenix, and hopes the story could turn into a series of films.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.