Rising Star: Jeremy Dyson, author

Although Jeremy Dyson's star has risen fast and far on screen, he has begun to shine brighter than ever as a writer of fiction. TV viewers will probably know that the Leeds-born co-creator of 'The League of Gentlemen' picked up a shelf-ful of awards for that show. He also co-wrote the comic drama 'Funland', and worked on the 'Armstrong and Miller Show'.

His portfolio of TV commissions currently includes a version of Kafka's 'The Trial' for the BBC. But this week sees the release of his second book of short stories; he has also published one novel, 'What Happens Now'.

'The Cranes That Build The Cranes' (from Little, Brown) has all the pitch-black comedy, aura of menace and unsettling lurches into the surreal we might expect. But, on the page, Dyson has a voice all his own: a fusion of horror and hilarity that somehow mates Saki with McEwan.