The Return of the Black Magician - Richard Raftery

A merciless and malevolent megalomaniac, hell-bent on restoring feudal values, sets about establishing a quasi-medieval state in a small Lancashire town (Ormskirk) in which ignorance, bigotry and lack of running water are the required ramparts. Predictably the promised golden age fails to materialise. But is it too late?

Enter the insurgents! An aspirant singer-songwriter, an improbably parsimonious parson, an ‘avant-garde’ author, a mysterious one-legged labourer and a featherheaded astrologer are just some of the unconventional characters who fumble and blunder their meandering way through The Return of the Black Magician. 

With the Lancastrian landscape as a setting, this unusual and diverse assortment of participants, each with their own private agenda, find that their paths cross and opinions unavoidably clash in their declared intention to overthrow the tyrannical ruler and create a more functional and harmonious society.  Inevitably, ‘swash-bungling’ adventures, egotistical, long-winded discussions, financial irregularities and copious amounts of beer consumption are never far away.

Will they prove capable of overcoming their own character flaws in order to prevail against the forces of darkness? Their prospects do not look especially promising!