OWPG: Media News Bulletin Spring 2019 | Page 18

Stan Abbott Novel experience S tan Abbott – who writes regularly on travel and current affairs for publications that include The New European and Flight Time (Flybe) – has just published his first novel, featuring a quite different subject: mental health. Back in 2010 Stan suffered a manic episode after what he had thought was just a minor bicycle accident. It resulted in him spending three weeks in psychiatric hospital, during which time he suffered, or perhaps enjoyed delusions, in which he had created a vast global business, whose associated charity was dedicated to doing ‘good works’ throughout the world. He decided to record his bizarre experience in a fictionalised account and the result is a 600-page adventure, in which his leading character’s descent into madness and subsequent recovery are interwoven into a romp featuring people who inhabit the delusional world he created. The Episode, by Stan L. Abbott, ISBN 978-1-912218-49-3 is published by Sixth Element and is also available in Amazon Kindle and Paperback, and direct from stanabbott.com. Image Stan at the launch of The Episode with the BBC’s Jeff Brown