The Stranger Times
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  • Published: 5 January 2022
  • ISBN: 9780552177344
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $24.00

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 publisher of Terry Pratchett and Good Omens comes the smart, knowing, outrageously fun and acclaimed supernatural romp by award-winning comic and hugely successful indy author Caimh McDonnell . . . now in paperback!

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

'Wonderfully dark, extremely funny' proclaimed ADAM KAY, author of the No.1 bestselling This is Going to Hurt

'A filmic romp with great characters, a jet-propelled plot, and a winning premise' said the GUARDIAN

JASON MANFORD thinks it's 'Hilarious. You'll never look at Manchester the same way again'

And The Chronicles of St Mary's series author JODI TAYLOR declared 'I loved this . . . great premise - great story - great characters . . . hugely enjoyable'

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

A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable.

At least that's their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and foul-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little of the publication he edits. His staff are a ragtag group of misfits. And as for the assistant editor . . . well, that job is a revolving door - and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who's got problems of her own.

When tragedy strikes in her first week on the job The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious investigating. What they discover leads to a shocking realisation: some of the stories they'd previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker forces than they could ever have imagined.

The Stranger Times is the first novel from C.K. McDonnell, the pen name of Caimh McDonnell. It combines his distinctive dark wit with his love of the weird and wonderful to deliver a joyous celebration of how truth really can be stranger than fiction.

Readers love The Stranger Times:
***** 'A delight from start to finish - laugh out loud funny yet with plenty of thrills.'
***** 'Full of wit and humour, and knows how to keep the reader hooked.'
***** 'You'll soon fall in love . . . fans of Pratchett, Gaiman, Aaronovich will be blown away.'

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: 5 January 2022
  • ISBN: 9780552177344
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $24.00
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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