Das hat mir viel Spaß gemacht! ( )

You can tell right away that's this is a comedian's book.
As an avid reader of the Weekly World News in my youth, I thought the idea was really nice.
Apart from that, if you like humour (sometimes a bit too much even) AND the supernatural, you will be delighted. If not, console yourself with one of the best reading performances I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. The variety of accents and dialects is incredible.

An amusing enjoyable read with a cast of eccentric characters. Good escapism. 4.25/5 ( )

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of violence, death (including ritual death), and torture. There is a scene near the start of the book where a character claims to be suicidal, however, it is made clear that this is not serious suicide ideation. Despite this, the way the scene plays out may make some readers feel uncomfortable.

The theme of racism between supernatural races is ongoing throughout the book. There is also a scene with racism and homomisia which includes the slurs “chinky” and “poof”.

Desperate to escape the horror show of her former relationship, Hannah Willis moves to Manchester. Finding a new job on her own without any connections to her previous life isn’t easy, and eventually she finds employment as an editor for The Stranger Times. Hannah has no idea what she has let herself in for. From the weird stories the newspaper covers, to the rudest boss ever and a strange selection of staff who put up with him, Hannah’s not sure if she can do the job.

When tragedy strikes close to home during her first week, Hannah decides to investigate further and ends up going down a rabbit hole that uncovers the shocking truth; not all the stories the paper has covered are fictional. Hannah and her co-workers find themselves mixed up with supernatural forces that they only just found out exist, and they’re not the fun and friendly kind.

The Stranger Times is one of those books that is hard to explain. It is one of the most chaotic and random books that I have ever read. It’s very reminiscent of British comedies like Red Dwarf, complete with an awful character that if you ever met them in real life you would avoid at all costs. In this case, that’s Bancroft the editor of the paper who is one of the most repulsive characters I’ve ever come across without being pure evil. He’s a chain-smoking alcoholic, has been banned from cursing too often in the office by one of the staff as he does it so much, and throws insults around like they are candy. The question is why does everyone put up with him, and that’s something Hannah and readers have to discover.

For me personally, characters like Bancroft would normally have me running from a book, however, The Stranger Times is as much a comedy as it is an urban fantasy. This is a book that doesn’t take itself seriously, and it’s not for readers that get offended easily, especially by curse words. Fantastic world-building is mixed with mystery and perfect comedic timing to create a world and characters that you will fall in love with. I loved it so much I gobbled the second book up immediately afterwards!

To give you a feel of what to expect in the book check out The Stranger Times website. Between each chapter in The Stranger Times are stories like these from the fictional newspaper, and they’re fabulous. I really can’t recommend this book enough!

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{First of 2+ The Stranger Times series; fantasy, urban fantasy, dark, humorous}

Hilarious and somewhat inexplicable.

Well, alright; I’ll give it a go: ‘The Stranger Times’ is a weekly newspaper based in Manchester which reports stories that people believe are true, like UFO sightings, the Loch Ness monster’s disreputable behaviour after a few barrels of whisky fall into the loch or ‘Elvis is my boyfriend’ type stories. We join Hannah, currently in the throes of divorcing her rich husband but too proud to take his money and therefore in desperate need of a job, on her interview and initial week there as assistant editor. She is (and we along with her) rather thrown in at the deep end as the small team has to get the paper out on Friday. Grace, the office manager, keeps everything afloat - and so does Hannah as she comes to the end of her tether and stands up for herself, especially when she comes up against the editor. He is a wreck of a man whose bad language is kept under strict control by Grace (who can hear it and keeps count wherever in the office she is) but whose professionalism gets the paper out on time every week.

The narrative is interspersed with a selection of random (Truly, random) articles from The Stranger Times.

Meanwhile, an American with strange powers is casting forbidden spells in order to bring about certain events. His actions result in unfortunate deaths which in turn bring DI Sturgess of the Greater Manchester Police to investigate and, though conscientious, he doesn’t believe in magic. Right?

Somewhat dark but also really funny. And with several feisty ladies. You need to read this book.

Hannah turned to the reception desk for Grace, but she must have nipped off somewhere while the last gentlemen was explaining how he was haunted by the ghost of Macbeth, the fictional character.
'Ehm, sir,' said Hannah to the dreadlocked interloper, 'what are you doing?'
He lifted the mug in his hand and gave her a cheery smile. 'We just need milk for we cup of tea.'
'But, sir, you're not wearing any pants.'
He ambled into the kitchen just off reception, shouting back over his shoulder, 'S'alrite, chile. We don't need pants, we just need milk.
'But..'
The double doors opened and Grace walked through, carrying a folder. She stopped when she sensed the tension in the room. 'Now what?'
'Ehm,' said Hannah.
'Is everything all right?'
'Ehm,' said Hannah again, because her brain had decided it had had enough of all this, put up the 'gone fishing' sign and left for the day.
'Everyting alrite,' said the man, re-emerging from the kitchen, presumably with milk in his tea, if no more clothing on his body.
'Manny!' cried Grace. 'What have we talked about?'
The man who was apparently called Manny stopped to ponder this, as if he'd been asked a complex-question. 'We talk 'bout many tings. We like to talk. You a good woman, Grace.' He favoured her with a warm smile.
'Manny, we agreed you'd wear pants during work hours.'
'We not ..." Manny stopped and looked around at the people in the reception area as if seeing them for the first time. Some of them were averting their eyes, but one woman, who'd been halfway through a large bag of popcorn, was very focused on Manny, although Hannah doubted she'd be able to pick out his face in a line-up.
'Oh. We see. What time is it?'
'Three o'clock,' said Grace, before adding, 'in the afternoon.'
'Ah.' He nodded. 'What day?'
'Tuesday.'
He took a slurp of tea. 'Alrite. Sure nuff. We apologize. It's just the human body, man - natural thing. Nothing the peoples ain't seen before. Just what the good Lord gave us all.'
The popcorn woman spoke up. 'The good Lord was particularly generous to you.'
Manny gave her a smile and a wink. 'Thanking you. We appreciate your kindness.
And with that, he sauntered back down the stairs.

(August 2022)
5 stars ( )