Endland

Tim Etchells, a Sheffield based artist and writer and leader of the Forced Entertainment performance group, is the author of this strange, day-glo pop art collection of stories.

Set in the dystopian tabloid nightmare that is “Endland”, Etchell's prose is like listening to someone tell you a drunken story in a Norther boozer, full of weird syntax and colloquialisms. A burnt out, fast food nation, a parade of failed reality stars, wannabes, misfits and drunks, this is the land that festers below the surface of the one we live in.

The first half of this collection is a set of stories first published in the 90s, the second longer half contains stories written since then. Echoes of Ballard, Milligan and Mark E Smith fill stories of a run down them-park Britain, seen through the prism of daytime TV, tabloid headlines and distant wars. It's a nation under surveillance, one both current and post-apocalyptic.

It's a wild ride and it's full of humour as well as horror and satire. Etchell's has created a unique vision that's like nothing else I've ever read. To be honest it gets a bit wearing towards the end, an overdose of bleakness perhaps. But it's well worth your time.