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The Stranger Times

The Stranger Times, Book 1

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The Stranger Times

By: C. K. McDonnell
Narrated by: Brendan McDonald
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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), 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.

©2020 C.K. McDonnell (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Fantasy Humorous Paranormal & Urban Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Urban
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Critics' reviews

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

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)
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)
All stars
Most relevant
I like the style. Quirky , interesting ideas . Characters a bit chlichée but enjoyable and very likeable.
A lot of potential to create great sequels but the sequel to this one was sooo disappointing . I returned the audiobook , a friend threw out the physical copy of the book to a bookshelf (donations) ....After a great start that was quite a downer.

But this one is worth your time.
Just don´t get overly excited to get more sequels out of this (as sadly I did ) . Then you´re fine.

I liked the narrator. Good job ! Even though I missed my favorite narrator from the Dublin trilogy (Morgan C. Jones ) for a few minutes before adjusting ....
As I liked most of the Dublin Trilogy / Bunny stuff - I knew what I was getting into more or less.

Sometimes if Mc Donnell tries to go super serious it´s tedious though. He´s a great comedian and I like his way with words (even though jokes can be quite basic sometimes, but I like that, haha ) - but has the tendency to get into lengthy monologues to show that he can be "deep and depressed " too :) I prefer his more ironic and quirky stance on stuff. Which can get political in a nice way.

Enjoy :) cheers

quirky , interesting, sometimes a bit pointless

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Am Anfang öfters abgebrochen weil etwas unzusammenhängend aber mit ein bisschen Geduld wird die Geschichte richtig gut

Anfang schwierig aber wer dranbleiben wird belohnt

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If you’re looking for a comical fantasy-crime novel, search no further! The speaker is brilliant too. I loved the variety of characters and dialects - and was able to follow easily even as a non-native english speaker.

Simply brilliant!

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Schon lange nicht mehr so bei einem Hörbuch gelacht. Der Sprecher lässt einen die Figuren geradezu sehen. Und er ist ausgezeichnet zu verstehen (Englische Version).

Herrlich schräge, lustige Story - fantastischer Sprecher

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Got it in both english and german and love both versions - McDonnell (aka the three chipmunks) and McDonald have both done an amazing job!

Love it!

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