"Hypnotic!"
                             George Anthony, By George


                                  "An appealing read for all ages!"
                                      Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter, U.K. Critic



                                                  
About The Strange

Fourteen-year-old Ned Arnheim's father has been murdered, leaving him orphaned and penniless in the Paris of 1899.  He is taken in by a mysterious, enigmatic international confidence woman named Mrs. Nevermore who may or may not be a sorcière – a witch.

Ned believes he is blessed – or cursed – with a curious power called the Strange. If he concentrates hard enough, he can levitate, and move objects around This “power of the Strange” allows him to see into the Other World where lurk strange creatures known as gargoyles and, much to his irritation, a falcon named Peregrine who insists on talking to him.

When Mrs. Nevermore stumbles upon Ned’s sketches of the Eiffel Tower, they provide the inspiration for an audacious confidence scam that will make them rich – sell the Eiffel Tower!

Ned is appalled.  He must somehow stop her. That sets off a cat-and-mouse game between Mrs. Nevermore and her unwilling protégée that leads from Paris, to London, to Vienna, and brings them into conflict with Mrs. Nevermore’s sworn enemies, a one-eyed beauty named Natalia Boyer, and her husband, the murderous Edmond Corbeau.

Ned must finally confront his demons atop the world’s highest tower following a series of adventures filled with magic and mystery, chases through rat-infested sewers, attacks by winged creatures out of a boy’s worst nightmares, not to mention that talking falcon. It’s all set against the glamorous, dangerous backdrop that is Paris on the verge of a new century. 

The Strange is now an e-book. Click on the cover to learn more.

Praise For

Few writers know Hollywood better than Ron Base. As a reporter, film critic, magazine writer, screenwriter and novelist, he has explored the magic of the movies in many ways.

But Base knows his history too and his new novel, “The Strange,” published by West End Books, combines the mystery and marvel of grand cinematic adventures with a taste for the glamour and mystique of 19th century Vienna, London and most especially Paris.

Like the best storytellers, Base in “The Strange” leads you to somewhere you thought you knew, in this case Paris, and reveals it to be even more magical and enchanting than you could possibly have imagined.

It’s a tale of cunning and deception with intrigue, high adventure and vivid characters including a future King of England and the man who built the Eiffel Tower with a plot as tasty and satisfying as dinner at the Ritz.

His tale is of a 14-year-old Parisian orphan named Ned who has the strange gift of kinetic powers. Lost and alone, he becomes ensnared in the machinations of a fascinating woman named Mrs. Nevermore, who has mysterious powers of her own along with a penchant for larceny on a big scale.

Base takes time to draw a colourful ensemble of weird and wonderful characters as he slowly reveals a gambit by Mrs. Nevermore that involves an attempt to sell the Eiffel Tower to England’s Prince of Wales. There is much mischief and mayhem along the way leading to an explosive and highly entertaining climax.

As he showed in his splendid Hollywood novel “Magic Man,” Base has the considerable gift of writing about magical things with a childlike sense of wonder. It’s a great relief from the forced hardboiled approach of many popular authors and makes “The Strange,” as intelligent and eldritch as it is, an appealing read for all ages.