Comedian turned author Caimh McDonnell has signed a deal for three more novels in his comic fantasy series, The Stranger Times.

The new deal will start with  Relight My Fire, being published on Transworld’s Bantam imprint in January.

McDonnell has already published three novels based around the goings-on at a Manchester-based weekly newspaper dedicated to investigating the weird, the unexplained and the inexplicable.

Transworld’s  Simon Taylor calls the series ‘the Fortean Times reading love-child of Ben Aaronovitch and Terry Pratchett’, adding: ‘It’s smart, irreverent and, frankly, bloody funny, and the same could be said about its author. Caimh is not only a terrific talent but also one of the most engaged, committed, hard-working and fun authors a publisher could wish for’.

The prolific Irish author has also penned the Dublin ‘trilogy’ that now runs to eight stories, three books about US detective Bunny McGarry as well as three short stories collection and a couple of other novels.

He released the first Stranger Times novel under his initials CK  McDonnell in 2021, followed by This Charming Man last year and Love Will Tear Us Apart in 2023.

It has also spawned a spin-off podcast series, featuring stories narrated by comics including  Jason Manford, Angela Barnes and Phil Nichol.

McDonnell  said: ‘I’m delighted to be teaming up with the lovely people at Transworld to bring more of The Stranger Times to an unsuspecting world. Three books in and it feels like I’ve barely scratched the surface. Plus, it’s either keep doing this or get a real job, and my dogs don’t like it when I leave the house.’

And his literary agent Ed Wilson from Johnson & Alcock added: ‘In these turbulent times for print media, we’re delighted that Transworld are supporting the spunky northern newspaper The Stranger Times for another three outings. 

‘Whether you know him as Caimh or CK McDonnell, he is one of the funniest writers around and his fans (readers and listeners) cannot get enough of his books. Relight My Fire is a stunning fourth instalment in the series, and we’re hopeful he can get books 5 and 6 out before the coming apocalypse.’