Music critic and mauvais vivant John Doran is turning his popular and long running MENK column for VICE into a book. Jolly Lad concerns the author's attempts to deal with his life as a recovering alcoholic, to calm his enthusiasm for narcotics, to take control of his wildly fluctuating mental health issues and to curb a tendency toward bleakness in order to become a better father to his young son and less of a meff'. It will also be accompanied by an album of spoken word and music, featuring Manic Street Preachers, British Sea Power and more.'

This groundbreaking book from the UK's leading spokesman on nutrition looks at why millions of people have cravings for substances such as coffee, sugar and alcohol, as well to drugs such as sleeping pills, antidepressants, marijuana and cocaine. It uncovers how the brain becomes addicted and how it can be 'unaddicted' through a combination of diet, supplements and lifestyle factors. The book is written in association with Dr David Miller, who has worked in the addiction field for 25 years and is an expert in relapse prevention. It looks at each of the most common substances that people become addicted to and offers specific advice on how to tackle that particular substance safely and effectively yourself. In-depth yet practical and accessible, HOW TO QUIT WITHOUT FEELING S**T, will allow you to understand why you feel the way you do, whether you have a dependency or have already given up but still feel lousy. The book provides a 12-week action plan for becoming addiction free - without suffering the deeply unpleasant symptoms of withdrawal that most addicts believe they must go through.

"We were sitting in a coffee shop talking, looking at the view of downtown Charlottesville, Virginia. This was ten years ago, and we had both been off alcohol for more than a decade. We were disagree-ing about the best way to stay sober when my mother said, 'I think we should write a book about alcoholism.'
"I sat back. 'We?'
"'Both of us. Two points of view.'" --from the Foreword
Double Double is a unique, dual memoir of alcoholism, a disease that affects nearly 45 million Americans each year. People who suffer from alcoholism as well as their families and friends know that while it is possible to get sober, there is no one "right" way to do this.
Now, award-winning mystery writer Martha Grimes and her son, Ken Grimes, offer two points of view on their struggles with alcoholism. In alternating chapters, they share their stories--stories of drinking, recovery, relapse, friendship, travel, work, success, and failure.
For Martha, it was about drinking martinis at home, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. For Ken, it was partying in bars and clubs. Each hit bottom. Martha spent time doing outpatient reha-bilitation, once in 1990 and again two years later. Ken began twelve-step recovery. This candid memoir describes how different both the disease and the recovery can look in two different people--even two people who are mother and son.
Double Double is an intensely personal and illuminating book, filled with insights, humor, a little self-deprecation, and a lot of self-evaluation. Anyone who has faced alcoholism will identify with parts of this book. All readers will find these pages revealing, moving, and compelling.