The Christmas Love Bundle

The Christmas Love Bundle: A signed trio from Dr Martin Shaw   A special trio of love stories, each signed by the author, will mark the festive season at Cista Mystica this year. The Christmas Love Bundle, to include The Night Wages, Tristan & Isolde and the rarely glimpsed The Five Fathoms will make an ideal gift for romantics. Says Martin: "These three unearth my take on both the glories and despairs of Romantic love. They were rather hard-won books to write, but dipping in again I'm

The Christmas Love Bundle2023-11-26T14:42:56+00:00

The Hawk & the Holly: new audio + commentary

Gawain & the Green Knight Brand new audio and commentary An extra special audio telling and commentary of Gawain & the Green Knight has begun on Martin's online newsletter The House of Beasts & Vines, for paid subscribers only. The first of four episodes, which will run fortnightly up to Christmas, is now available, an ideal gift for the festive season at £6 ($7) per month. As well as full access to the latest writings, audio and drawings direct from Martin's desk, subscribers get exclusive access to everything

The Hawk & the Holly: new audio + commentary2022-11-22T13:30:17+00:00

Stag Cult: latest book out now

Stag Cult: Dr Martin Shaw's latest book out now Dr Martin Shaw's latest book Stag Cult, just released on Saturday, is already number one on the London Review Bookshop's best sellers list. Published by Hazel Press, this latest work is described as a 'shamanistic bricolage' that lifts a lantern to a kind of haunting we can’t quite exorcize. Read more from the publisher here. Martin says: "All writers love to see London Review of Books, their book and number one bestseller in the same sentence. "Good cheer and

Stag Cult: latest book out now2022-09-06T12:33:03+00:00

Book news, audio & upcoming events

Dr Martin Shaw: book news, audio and events Cista Mystica has just taken delivery of a new batch of Martin's books Smoke Hole: Looking to the Wild in the Time of the Spyglass and Courting the Wild Twin, published by Chelsea Green. All orders for the next three weeks from Cista Mystica (until Monday June 6) will be signed by Martin, who will be talking about Smoke Hole on May 26 when he is interviewed as part of the magazine The Idler's pub-style  'A Drink with the Idler'

Book news, audio & upcoming events2022-05-18T11:08:36+00:00

Martin Shaw in Conversation with Poet Malcolm Guite + New Gilgamesh & Inanna Audio

The latest addition to Martin Shaw's subscription newsletter The House of Beasts & Vines is a freely-available conversation with the poet Malcolm Guite, who recently turned up at Martin's door at the scrag end of a storm with a bottle of Jura in hand. Their 25-minute conversation covers C.S. Lewis, the Gods and the Nuance of Animism, and joins the fortnightly treasury of offerings which includes the audio 'Sunday Stories', recorded direct from Martin's desk, down by the river, and out on the moor. Some free tasters are

Martin Shaw in Conversation with Poet Malcolm Guite + New Gilgamesh & Inanna Audio2022-04-13T16:39:16+00:00

Martin Shaw Reads His Underworld Essay

As both a mythologist and wilderness rites-of-passage guide I am frequently asked to comment on climate change, collapsing stories, and what on earth to say to our kids about the future. I am no kind of pundit, so choose my words sparingly and carefully. What follows is a few thoughts. Climate change isn’t a case to be made, it’s a sound to be heard. From a mythic perspective, seeing is often a form of identifying, but hearing is the locating of a much more personal message. Hearing creates

Martin Shaw Reads His Underworld Essay2022-03-11T15:14:54+00:00

Tristan & Isolde: Valentine’s Day launch

  Hundreds of Dr Martin Shaw's latest book Tristan and Isolde were posted out on February 14th, all personally signed by the author. This first volume of a new major body of work that Shaw has been creating over the past few years, was officially launched from his writing den on the edge of Dartmoor on Valentine's Day. Based largely within the Celtic fringe of Britain, Tristan and Isolde is a dazzling exegesis of love, both disarmingly psychological and profoundly mythological. Shaw’s version heightens the latent Dionysian tensions and

Tristan & Isolde: Valentine’s Day launch2022-02-21T13:24:45+00:00

Sunday Stories: New Substack Audio

A brand new fortnightly audio entitled 'Sunday Stories' is to start this week at The House of Beasts & Vines, Martin Shaw's subscription newsletter. On February 6, the series will kick off with an old, Irish story. Says Martin: "It's a story with a lot of spook and gnostic information." Over the coming months, these audio recordings, which will be available only to paid subscribers, will come direct from Martin's desk, down by the river, or out on the moor. Also available now are the first two sections

Sunday Stories: New Substack Audio2022-02-12T19:27:43+00:00

The Voyage of Brendan: Substack sets sail

  The first section of The Voyage of Brendan is now published on Dr Martin Shaw's subscription newsletter - The House of Beasts & Vines. A free taster is available, but for the cost of a London pint (around £5), subscribers will get exclusive access to this first essay, along with everything in the vault as it builds up. Says Martin: "I’m delighted to start The House of Beasts & Vines with a story that is causing a stir in my dreaming. Bats are bopping in the belfry,

The Voyage of Brendan: Substack sets sail2022-01-24T16:46:17+00:00

The House of Beasts & Vines – Substack launch

A brand new subscription newsletter has just been launched by Dr Martin Shaw - The House of Beasts & Vines. There will be regular free tasters, but for just $7 per month (around £5), subscribers will get exclusive access to new material and everything in the vault as it builds up. The newsletter will be published on the platform Substack, with fortnightly offerings from Martin, including fresh essays and audio recordings. It promises to be part care package, part spiritual provocation. Says Martin: "Imagine we’re sitting in my

The House of Beasts & Vines – Substack launch2022-01-14T19:50:40+00:00

Title

The Cista Mystica was a secret casket used in the mystery cults of antiquity, particularly in the rites of Dionysus. Contained within on a bed of rushes was a snake, the living god itself, utterly untamable.

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