Showing results by author "K C" in All Categories

Vampires do not exist. Everyone knows this. So it's particularly annoying when they start popping up around Manchester. Nobody is pleased about it. Not the Founders, the secret organisation for whom vampires were invented as an allegory, nor the Folk, the magical people hidden in plain sight who only want a quiet life. And definitely not the people of Manchester, because there is nothing more irksome than being murdered by an allegory run amok. Somebody needs to sort this out fast before all hell really breaks loose - step forward the staff of The Stranger Times.

Brought to you by Penguin. STOP PRESS! The Stranger Times wins the 2023 British Fantasy Award for Best Audio Work! Some comebacks can be murder . . . Stella is enjoying life as an almost student, or at least she is until a man falls from the sky right in front of her, leaving a big old hole in...

Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?

Brought to you by Penguin. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . . For most people, that means a time of celebration, relaxation and inebriation, but not for the staff of The Stranger Times. While a book club meeting ending in a triple murder isn’t unprecedented, it is at least...

A podcast featuring short stories and news from the world of The Stranger Times - a newspaper based in Manchester reporting the weird and wonderful from around the world. Based on the novel The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell - out Jan 14th 2021.

A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), The Stranger Times 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.

December 1930. After a year of bloodshed and scandal, the police officers of Craynebrook are hoping for a quiet Christmas. But when the bodies of an elderly couple are discovered in their home on Christmas morning, they realise there will be no peace this holiday season.

Remembrance of Things Past is one of the monuments of 20th century literature. Within a Budding Grove is the second of seven volumes. The young narrator, experiencing his youthful sexuality, falls under the spell of a group of adolescent girls, succumbs to the charms of the enchanting Gilberte, and visits a brothel where he meets Rachel. His impressions of life are also stimulated by the painter, Elstir, and his encounter with another girl, Albertine.

Captain of his team, the privileged son of a hockey legend, Connor Kennedy is the league’s golden boy. And the one player who can always get under my skin. Our rivalry has been building for years, and when we’re forced to room together as Olympic teammates, I can feel the tension between us reach boiling point. The world might see me as hockey’s most feared enforcer, Alaska’s angriest export, but in our room each night after practice, I can’t maintain my facade.

I’m straight. So, when a gay guy on the train asked me out on a date, why the hell did I say yes? And why am I excited about seeing him again? Okay, let’s start again.... I thought I was straight for all of my 26 years. I dated women. I slept with women. And yeah, occasionally I’d wondered what it would be like to experiment with a guy. We’ve all done it, right? A couple of times, at least? Only, I never did more than wonder.

Different backgrounds, different paths, but one thing remains solid, even eight years after they graduated—their friendship. Holidays, weddings, funerals, birthdays, parties—any chance they get to meet up, they take it. It’s an opportunity to share what’s going on in their lives, especially their love lives. Back in high school, they knew four of them were gay or bi, so maybe it was more than coincidence that they gravitated to one another.

1930. The tranquillity of suburban Craynebrook is disturbed when a lifeless and nameless body is found dumped on the local common. Enter newly promoted Detective Inspector Matthew Stannard, a policeman with a reputation that precedes him and which threatens to drag him down. As Matthew embarks on his investigation, an another, more sinister plot demands his attention. One by one, members of an esteemed social club are meeting an untimely demise, leaving their community in a state of panic that they might be next.

In an untouched corner of Craynebrook, the lifeless body of a local farmer is found, his blood mingling with the mud of Blackbird Farm. For Detective Inspector Matthew Stannard, still nursing wounds from a brutal assault, this grisly scene marks the beginning of an investigation unlike any he’s worked on before.

A bond that runs deeper than the Mississippi, my brothers and I might not have the same DNA but what we share is far more powerful. Our loyalty to one another and the man who made us a family is stronger than those bound by blood. The most sought out sharp shooters in the country, our paths were certain, before one woman changed my life and altered the relationship I have with my brothers.

I have all that money can buy. Power, sexy women, and toys. All kinds of toys. Everything is perfect...or, at least, it is until the exclusive Lesbian Billionaires Club I belong to gives me an ultimatum - stop the revolving door of women or leave the group. Insisting I settle down is crossing the line, and I want none of it. At least, until she comes into my life. Suddenly, I have someone I crave, a woman I can’t stop thinking about, that I must have for my own. I won’t take no for an answer.

Precious lives were saved when three brave Navy SEALs went against orders, embarking on a rescue mission of their own. A mission that will never be forgotten and changed the course of their lives forever. While they will never regret their decision, it came with heavy consequence. Now they must fight to protect the women they love while also battling the new and existing demons that torture their souls, from death, corruption, destruction, and war. These men are strong, honorable, and will do everything they can to overcome the past that continues to haunt them.

When Ingram is forced by overwhelming poverty and spiritual exhaustion to walk away from his home, he leaves behind a neglectful childhood on a dirt farm on a dead-end road. With no family, no resources, and no practical understanding of the world, Ingram’s only compass is the daily fight to survive and the narrow dream of one day owning a truck.

Dive into the wondrous world of The Stranger Times with this carefully curated selection of short stories from C.K. McDonnell. Drawn from the award-winning The Stranger Times podcast, they are collected in print for the first time, along with the new novella ‘The Raven’. Experience the magical underworld of Manchester (and beyond) with stories featuring lovelorn trolls, blood-thirsty books and a constipated dog who may’ve accidentally consumed a portal to another dimension.

Trained by the best, Christopher Walker has fought hard for his country and even harder to forget the only girl he's ever loved. He spent countless nights submerged in death and destruction only to find himself clinging to the memories of her when the darkness crept in. When her life is threatened, Christopher will stop at nothing to protect her. Even if it means having to confront his past.

They slept for hundreds of years, dreaming of a new home in the Andromeda galaxy. When finally they awake, their dreams of peace are shattered. These colonists - turian, salarian, asari, human, and more - face an uncharted galaxy and threats beyond understanding.