A new Garth Marenghi book is to be published in October 2023.

Garth Marenghi's Incarcerat will continue to follow the adventures of Nick Steen, the horror novelist that the character - who is himself a horror novelist - writes about.

The book, by Matthew Holness, follows on from November 2022's Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome, in which Marenghi wrote about Steen being sucked into a cursed typewriter by the terrifying Type-Face, Dark Lord of the Prolix.

The plot for Incarcerat is described as follows: "Horror novelist Nick Steen is abducted and imprisoned at Nulltec, a shadowy technological research facility with excellent conference parking, concealed deep on the Stalkford Downs. There he is observed, tested and 'interfered with' (physically) by a team of scientific experts led by Dr Barbara Nullman, determined to probe and 'nullify' his escaping imagination..."

Garth Marenghi was created by Holness and Richard Ayoade. Joining up with Alice Lowe, they performed the Perrier Award-nominated Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight at the 2000 Edinburgh Festival. They returned to the Fringe in 2001 with Garth Marenghi's Netherhead, which won the Best Show award. The trio then took the character to television, collaborating with Matt Berry to produce cult Channel 4 sitcom Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. The TV show ran for one series in 2004, but continues to enjoy a strong cult following from its fans.

Holness has been touring a live show since November in which, in character, he reads chapters from TerrorTome and then answers questions from the audience.

The character is described as follows in the author notes to accompany the new book: "Garth Marenghi was born in the past, graduated from his local comprehensive (now bulldozed) with some O levels in subjects. He taught for nine years at his local library reading group before becoming a full-time horror writer. He has published numerous novels of terror (too numerous to list, nay count), over five hundred short stories, and has edited thirty anthologies of his own work, which have all received the Grand Master of Darkdom Award. He wrote, directed and starred in Garth Marenghi's Darkplace for the Peruvian market, which subsequently aired on Channel 4 and has not been repeated due to its radical and polemic content. He commenced work on TerrorTome during the late 1980s, continued on it alone and unaided by editors throughout the 1990s, and on into the early 2000s, then the mid-2000s, and has only now found a publisher brave enough to unleash its chilling portendings. He is an honorary fellow."

Publishers Coronet has also ordered another book from Holness, which is expected in 2024. Harriet Poland told The Bookseller magazine: "Not many people get to work with a true maestro of the dark creative arts. With Incarcerat we hope to take the triumph of TerrorTome to new, unimagined heights."

Garth Marenghi's Incarcerat will be published by in hardback, eBook and audiobook formats on Halloween 2023, 31st October. It is available to pre-order now.

A book tour has also been announced. Holness will appear in character between 30th October and 19th November in cities including Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London, Brighton, Southampton, Bournemouth, Bath and Cardiff.