'A comic odyssey, a crime thriller and a nuts-and-bolts account of making art. Not bad for one book!' PAUL KELLY

It's 1991, and Australian singer-songwriters Mick Woods and Drew Lovelock - 'tall and skinny, rock-star-wrecked handsome' - haven't yet managed to crack the big-time. But that's soon to be the least of their problems.

On tour in Central Queensland, what seems like a minor marijuana bust turns ugly, and they're incarcerated in a low-security institution in the middle of nowhere. With help from a couple of prisoners, they escape - but now what? They're songwriters on the run, desperately evading the long arm of the law and trying to clear their names. On the upside, they might get a good song out of all the drama. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, a major film star takes a liking to their music.

Songwriters on the Run, Robert Forster's debut novel, is a joyride. Burrowing into the netherworld of Australian independent music just as Nirvana's grunge is about to swamp the planet, the former Go-Betweens vocalist and accomplished solo performer has crafted a hectic, sometimes hilarious tale that is as silly, profound and grand as the music it celebrates.