This is a very interesting social document. A Dozen Dopey Yarns is not easily pigeonholed – it consists of the ‘writings’ of the self-proclaimed publicist of the Australian Marijuana Party, J.J. McRoach, part comedian, part media aspirant, part evangelist for pot. As such, the reader can have a good laugh, and sociologists can read a gonzo journalist’s view of the drug culture.

Pot doesn’t interest me in the slightest, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book, so there you are. McRoach is (on paper) a very funny man. His prose style shifts between short clipped sentences and rambling descriptions. He isn’t afraid to use images, and his words can make music. His writing is fey and ironic, his stance that of the world-weary post 1960s anti-hero.

A Dozen Dopey Yarns contains ‘new journalist’ sorties into the Australian visit of Hunter S. Thompson; a lively piece called ‘Who Killed Don Mackay’ in which McRoach is a type of Dennis Hopper visiting the evils of racist Griffith; other entertainments and – the highlight – ‘Storming the Senate’, the story behind the Australian Marijuana Party campaign. Throughout, McRoach is centre stage – like Norman Mailer in Armies in the Night. Unlike Mailer he isn’t a bore – he is perhaps an intelligent nihilist heaping parody upon parody.