Book 1
Mr Gorzug – Substitute Teacher
He came through a portal to conquer a world. He stayed to mark its homework.
The Mr. Gorzug series · and the wider Weird Britain
A nine-foot orc fell through a portal and became England’s favourite supply teacher.
Warm, dry, gently impossible comedy by Nole Moody — about monsters who turn out to be the most reasonable people in the room, and the small, strange magic still leaking into modern Britain.
New here? Start at the beginning
Mr Gorzug – Substitute Teacher
He came through a portal to conquer a world. He stayed to mark its homework.
A nine-foot orc war-chief falls through a portal into a Sussex school car park — and becomes its finest, fiercest substitute teacher. A gloriously funny, unexpectedly moving story about belonging, paperwork, and learning what is worth fighting for.
The series so far
Available now
A complete, self-contained comedy each time — but read in order and you get a love story, a found family, and a quiet argument about where “home” really is.
What readers say
Praise for the series
★★★★★
“It's heartwarming, funny and thought provoking. He may be an orc, but Mr Gorzug would have been very useful in my school.”
★★★★★
“Funny but heart-warming at the same time. Unusual premise for a book but it works exceptionally well.”
★★★★★
“The story is clever, funny, and heartwarming … a feel good story that had me smiling all the way through.”
★★★★★
“Hilarious in the so very English way! … should be required reading for all teachers in training, and for everyone who enjoys laughing at the bureaucracy we inflict on ourselves.”
The thread running through everything
Welcome to Weird Britain
Britain has always been a porous sort of place. Long before the motorways, there was another realm pressed up close against this one — the country of dragons, of Arthur, of the old strangeness our myths keep trying to explain. The two worlds were never properly separated. They leak.
Mr. Gorzug is one such leak who decided to stay. Most of these stories are about everywhere else it’s still getting through.
Explore Weird Britain