Despite lying low for a number of years – an enforced wilderness, he says, brought on by craven publishers too scared to handle his work – to some the name Garth Marenghi still sends shivers up the proverbial, whilst to others he’s simply a two-bit hack with a hat to match. Whichever side of the fence on which you happen to be, this book is bound to confirm all of those long-held views, as Garth Marenghi’s Terrortome is gale-force Marenghi.

Consisting of three inter-connecting novellas, Terrortome details horror writer Nick Steen’s descent into literary madness. The first story, Type-Face (Dark Lord Of The Prolix), tells the tale of Steen’s illicit love affair with a demonically-possessed typewriter: When Harry Met Sally met Hellraiser, if you will. Arguably the strongest piece is the following tale, Bride Of Bone, in which we are introduced to Dr Nelson Strain, the deranged surgeon and literal bodybuilder, who has leaked out of Nick Steen’s mind and onto the very streets of his native Stalkford.

A new Garth Marenghi novel is like a new album by ZZ Top or Status Quo: you know what you’re going to get, but by heck you’ll love it… if you’re into that sort of thing.