Dead Writers in Rehab - Couverture souple

Paul Bassett Davies (@thewritertype) has been writing for thirty years and he still hasn't finished. During that time he has also been a minicab driver, a DJ in a strip club, a welder's mate, and the vocalist in the band Shoes for Industry (two John Peel sessions).

His first book 'Utter Folly' ("A very funny novel" – Jack Dee) spent several weeks at the top of Amazon's Humorous Fiction chart when it was published at the end of 2012, and has been optioned for television.

In television and radio his credits include Smith and Jones; Spitting Image; Rory Bremner; Jasper Carrot and many more. He wrote a BBC radio sitcom with Jeremy Hardy, and produced the Sony Award winning radio show 'Do Go On', with Griff Rhys Jones and Graeme Garden. His own sitcom 'Reception' was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in 2013. His radio plays have starred Bill Nighy, David Hemmings, Alison Steadman and Martin Clunes. He has written and produced radio commercials, and music videos with Kate Bush and Ken Russell. He once worked with Spike Milligan – twice.

Paul wrote the screenplay for the feature animation film 'The Magic Roundabout' and has been working on a film about counter-culture comic book heroes 'The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers', with their creator, comics legend Gilbert Shelton. He has written and directed award-winning short films. Some of his published short stories have also won awards.

In April 2011 he was Creative Director of the London Comedy Writers Festival. He is also a director of Euroscript and runs workshops with them.

When literary reprobate Foster James wakes up in a strange country house, he assumes he's been consigned to rehab (yet again) by his dwindling band of friends and growing collection of ex-wives.

But he soon realises there's something a bit different about this place after he gets punched in the face by Ernest Hemingway.

Is Foster dead? Has his less-than-saintly existence finally caught up with him? After an acrimonious group therapy session with Hunter S Thompson, Colette, William Burroughs, and Coleridge, it seems pretty likely. But he still feels alive, especially after an up-close and personal one-on-one session with Dorothy Parker.

When he discovers that the two enigmatic doctors who run the institution are being torn apart by a thwarted love affair, he and the other writers must work together to save something that, for once, is bigger than their own gigantic egos.

This is a love story. It's for anyone who loves writing and writers. It's also a story about the strange and terrible love affair between creativity and addiction, told by a charming, selfish bastard who finally confronts his demons in a place that's part Priory, part Purgatory, and where the wildest fiction can tell the soberest truth.