The older half-brother of Hollywood heart-throb Johnny Depp has just launched his debut novel, Loser's Town, following a bidding war among publishers and accepts there will be cries of nepotism.

Appearances, too, are bound to be compared. Daniel (55) who is short, bearded, bespectacled and balding (but in a well-groomed sort of way), doesn't vaguely resemble his sexy, film-star half-sibling. However, Daniel, a screenwriter, shouldn't worry because his novel, a darkly comic thriller set in Tinseltown, is a rattling good read and has already received great reviews.

It introduces David Spandau, a stuntman-turned-private eye, who becomes involved in a case in which a famous actor is blackmailed by a gangster who tries to coerce him to appear in a film the mobster wants to make.

The novel paints a dark, atmospheric picture of Los Angeles and all its sleaze, an insider's insight into the workings of La La Land, with observations as entertaining as the plot itself.

It's clear that the lesser-known Depp has an artistic talent all of his own and he says there are at least two more Spandau novels to come.

There have been bites from the movie industry and suggestions that Johnny might play the leading role, but so far Daniel isn't budging.

"I'm being cranky about it. Somebody offers you a gazillion dollars for your book, then some shocking movie comes out and your artistic sensibilities are offended. No, I want to do the screenplay and I want to be associated with the production."

He dedicates the book to Johnny, who in turn has provided gushing praise: "To say that I am proud is a monumental understatement. I've been proud for a long, long time, having been well aware of my brother's great talent for the majority of my life. That he and his work are finally being recognised by readers and serious book-heads alike is, of course, spectacular, but not all that surprising."

Today, dressed in khaki shirt and chinos, it's evident that Daniel's not used to all the media attention and confesses to being shy, blushing whenever I pose a question he doesn't want to answer.

Is there sibling rivalry? "We're veering off in the wrong direction here," he says, his cheeks reddening under that Californian tan.

"John [Depp] was wonderfully supportive about me writing the book. I'd written a lot before that he's read that nobody else has ever seen. I never felt compelled to publish. When I decided to go ahead, he was ecstatic."

The rights to the book were bought by Simon and Schuster in Britain as well as being snapped up in Canada, Hungary and France, with more foreign rights currently being sold.

"I'm pleased that people like the book and I hope they are buying it for all the right reasons," he says.

Daniel concedes that had he not been a Depp, his debut novel would probably not have been as instantly successful.

"In the beginning I was pretty keen on not publishing under my own name. Using a pseudonym wouldn't have sold so many copies but it would have probably done okay. But the name gave the book a certain veracity. But then you open yourself up to the idea that everybody's going to say you're riding on the name."

In some ways, being related to Johnny has been a disadvantage to his career, he admits.

"For the longest time, I'd go into producers' offices to pitch a script. I'd fly 300 miles to do it and they'd go, 'Oh, that's really nice, by the way we've got a lovely project for your brother. . ."'

doors

But it has also opened doors. "I wouldn't have gone to Hollywood if it hadn't been for John and I wouldn't have done anything remotely to do with producing if it hadn't been for John.

"I was in Maine writing a novel when he called me to come out and work with him. I remember locking myself in the bathroom and drinking half a bottle of vodka, flying out and it being exactly what I was afraid it was going to be."

They formed a production company, Scaramanga, in the early 1990s and co-wrote the screenplay to Johnny Depp's directorial debut, The Brave, co-starring Marlon Brando, in 1997.

"I love working with him. I've had numerous offers to work with other writers but I've always turned them down. He's the only one I'd work with because he's got the best instincts."

Born in Kentucky to a coal mining family, he had what he calls a 'Truman Capote' childhood.

"My mother and father divorced fairly early on and my mother went out to work while my sister and I lived with our great grandmother and grandmother.

"It was very much about running around barefoot, climbing trees and riding mules."

His mother later met Johnny's father, who adopted Daniel.

"I don't like to talk about my family very much, if you don't mind," he says guardedly.

The brothers remain "remarkably close", he reflects.

"We see each other all the time and he's great to work with, but the fact is that he's just a little busy."

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dreams

Daniel lives in northern California with his wife and 19-year-old son, whom he doesn't want to discuss. Those cheeks go red again.

He also spends much time in France and England, writing and working on new scriptwriting projects.

Daniel, who has variously worked as a journalist, bookseller, photographer and teacher before becoming a screenwriter when his higher-profile brother urged him to move to Los Angeles, says that there is a dark side to Tinseltown.

"It is a very dangerous, frightening place in a lot of ways.

"I don't think anyone ever goes out to Hollywood without a dream or preconception of what they are going to get out of it.

"The problem is that you could be little Jodie Smith from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, who won the local beauty pageant and is told she should go to Hollywood to make it in the movies, and she comes out believing how beautiful and how talented she is -- and they eat her alive. She ends up waiting on tables and eventually goes back with her tail between her legs.

"The fact is, Hollywood is a place you go to with your dreams and your dreams make you vulnerable. Dreams are something that people will use to manipulate you, to get what they want, not what you want.

"To achieve a dream you can compromise yourself into the black hole of Calcutta, which is what happens to a lot of people."

That's a pretty hard analogy, considering how both Depp brothers have come out of Tinseltown smelling of roses.

"On the other hand there is some beautiful stuff that comes out of it and lots of lovely people you get to work with.

"For all the schemers and money-grabbers there are, you meet some of the most talented people in the world -- and you eat remarkably well. There's a reason all those restaurants are in Hollywood."

- Hannah Stephenson