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The Stranger Times by CK McDonnell; Radio Life by Derek B Miller; Hall of Smoke by HM Long; Inscape by Louise Carey; and Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
Standup comedian and writer Caimh McDonnell’s first novel as CK McDonnell, The Stranger Times (Bantam, £14.99), has already been optioned for TV, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a filmic romp with great characters, a jet-propelled plot, and a winning premise. The Stranger Times is a down-at-heel newspaper staffed by a gallery of lovable hacks and edited by a cynical, splenetic alcoholic. Based in a derelict Mancunian church, the paper covers wacky supernatural, occult and bizarre stories – think the Fortean Times run on a shoestring. Fleeing a failed marriage, university dropout Hannah Willis is taken on by the paper – and promoted to assistant editor within two hours of landing the job. After investigating a series of strange deaths, Hannah and her colleagues learn that the tall stories they trade in might have some basis in fact, and soon find themselves on the receiving end of malign forces. McDonnell combines gonzo humour and neat character studies in the first volume of an urban fantasy series. Continue reading...