Fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones. Howard Sykes comes home from school one afternoon to find a strange man in the kitchen. The guy, who is nicknamed "The Goon," has been sent by an unknown person called Archer to strongarm Howard's father, writer Quentin Sykes, into continuing to write 2000 words for Archer, which it turns out Quentin has been doing quarterly for 13 years already. When Quentin stubbornly refuses, it leads into some really interesting times for the Sykes family, especially Howard and his little sister Awful who try to find out who exactly Archer is. Very amusing.