Alternative Hero

Tim Thornton was born in 1973. Despite a boarding-school education and a degree in drama, his adulthood has largely been spent playing the drums, most recently for indie/folk artist Fink. Along the way he has delivered daily newspapers in Copenhagen, changed light bulbs at Shepherd's Bush Empire, and pulled one of the first rickshaws in London. The Alternative Hero is his first novel.

"Thornton explores the gentle complexities of this odd couple with wit and warmth" Independent "Tim Thornton's portrait of a pop culture obsession is so convincing that one can't help wishing that his fictional alt rock band actually existed, or suspecting that they did. The Alternative Hero is a weirdly compelling portrait of fanatic fandom which reads like High Fidelity at high volume" -- Jay McInerney "The indiest book of all time" Guardian "Brilliant depictions of the era...nails it so precisely" -- Stuart Evers The Word "With The Alternative Hero, Tim Thornton has gone through the looking glass of obsessive fandom and brought back a hilarious, memorable, and hard-rocking tale" -- Madison Smartt Bell, author of 'All Souls' Rising'