Another 26 book project, in which 30 writers were asked to explore the way a certain neck of the woods has coloured the work of a literary great. Which prompted chapters on Dickens' Kent, the Rev W Awdry's Wiltshire, Thomas Hardy's Dorset, Paul Abbott's Burnley, and more.

At the eleventh hour, the writer who’d taken on the biggest name of all – William Shakespeare – dropped out. As a recent denizen of Warwickshire, the editors asked Jim to step into the breach with four weeks until deadline day. He came up with a piece of pure fantasy in which Shakespeare is shipwrecked the 21st century and lured back to his home town on the promise of a suggestive email message. This becomes the cue for a tour of the more tacky side of modern-day Stratford, and a tale of mistaken identity, love at first sight and bed-swapping

‘Common Ground — Around Britain in 30 Writers’
Edited by Tim Rich, John Simmons and Rob Williams
Cyan Books
£7.10 on Amazon