The Stranger Times
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  • Published: 14 January 2021
  • ISBN: 9781473591035
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $24.99

The Stranger Times

(The Stranger Times 1)

Formats & editions
Paperback
5 Jan 2022
EBook
14 Jan 2021
Audiobook
14 Jan 2021
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From the publishers of Terry Pratchett and Good Omens comes a smart, knowing, outrageously fun (and occasionally rather rude) supernatural romp by an award-winning comic and hugely successful indy author . . .

STOP PRESS! The Stranger Times wins the 2023 British Fantasy Award for Best Audio Work!

There are Dark Forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular) and so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them.

A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but more often the weird) of modern life, it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable . . .

At least that's their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. The editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and -mouthed husk of a man who thinks little (and believes less) of the publication he edits, his staff are a ragtag bunch of misfits, each with their own secrets to hide and axes to grind. And as for the assistant editor . . . well, that job's a revolving door, and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who's got her own set of problems.

It's when tragedy strikes in Hannah's first week on the job that The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious, proper, actual investigative journalism. What they discover leads them to a shocking realisation: that some of the stories they'd previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly, gruesomely real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker foes than they could ever have imagined . . .

It's one thing reporting on the unexplained and paranormal but it's quite another being dragged into the battle between the forces of Good and Evil!

The Stranger Times and This Charming Man shortlisted for a 'Dead Good Reader Award' - the 'The New Kid on the Block Award for Best New Series'!
  • Published: 14 January 2021
  • ISBN: 9781473591035
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $24.99
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About the author

C.K.McDonnell

Born in Limerick and raised in Dublin, C K (Caimh) McDonnell is a former stand-up comedian and TV writer. He performed all around the world, had several well-received Edinburgh shows and supported acts such as Sarah Millican on tour before hanging up his clowning shoes to concentrate on writing. He has also written for numerous TV shows and been nominated for a Kid’s TV BAFTA.
His debut novel, A Man With One of Those Faces – a comic crime novel – was published in 2016 and spawned The Dublin Trilogy books and the spin-off McGarry Stateside series. They have been Amazon bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic.
C. K. McDonnell lives in Manchester. To find out more, visit whitehairedirishman.com

portrait photo of C.K.McDonnell

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Praise for The Stranger Times

Wonderfully dark, extremely funny, and evocative of Terry Pratchett - which I think is the highest compliment I can give.

ADAM KAY, author of the No.1 bestselling This is Going to Hurt

McDonnell packs jokes into every layer of his writing - narration, description, dialogue - and they always propel, rather than hold up, the business of storytelling, which is the real test of a comic author. He's also got an enjoyable sense of the macabre; these dark forces are not messing around . . . The Stranger Times is ripping entertainment from start to finish.

THE TIMES

I tore through The Stranger Times. Like an entertaining collision between the worlds of Mick Herron and Charlie Stross, it's a novel that proves ancient eldritch horror is no match for old-school journalism.

CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE, bestselling author of Fallen Angel

Hilarious. You'll never look at Manchester the same way again.

JASON MANFORD

There are weird happenings in Manchester; good job the drunk and dysfunctional journalists of The Stranger Times, a newspaper dedicated to paranormal and the unexplained, are on hand . . . terrific, easygoing fun.

Robert Millen, THE TIMES

A cracker . . . brace yourself for murder, monsters, mesmerism - and merriment. Wonderfully wacky.

SAGA

A filmic romp with great characters, a jet-propelled plot, and a winning premise.

Eric Brown, GUARDIAN

Darkly witty.

i-NEWSPAPER

Darkly comedic . . . alternating between sinister and silly, McDonnell's writing is intelligently witty.

THE HERALD

I loved this . . . great premise - great story - great characters . . . hugely enjoyable.

JODI TAYLOR, bestselling author of The Chronicles of St Mary's series

Fresh and genuinely funny.

SFX magazine

The one-liners zing, the dialogue is a tennis match of witty banter.

FINANCIAL TIMES

McDonnell loves creating characters and loves the characters he creates, and soon we are rooting for this quirky and eccentric multicultural bunch . . . a real generosity of spirit permeates the book. It is strangely feelgood but not in a schmaltzy way . . . a very funny book.

IRISH TIMES

Weird, wacky and wonderfully funny

IRISH EXAMINER
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