The Big Moment

Final Push Baby

I don’t remember a word of this

Audio of these words here:

I began the book Liturgies of the Wild three years ago. I’d had a dream that the words would gradually take care of themselves but the pattern – the template – of the book was really important. It needed to be a bridge of a book, not just a leap. In the end, each chapter has a particular subject: passion, death, envy, praise making, etc. and I’m rather proud of its simplicity. Simplicity often requires the most working on. I’ve had the final copy – the book itself – in my hand for about a week and I feel really good about it. I recorded the audio just before Christmas and it’s there, in the dark of the booth, that any slackness in the language becomes horribly apparent. Always, always read your stuff out loud. Anyway, it wasn’t too painful.

I only swore once, but then I really let fly.

This is a big moment for me, there’s no point denying it. I fantasied about being a Penguin author when I was ten years old at St. Gilbert’s primary school. Daydreaming away, my pen name was MJP Shaw (James Peter my middle names), and I drove a dark green MG sports car and moved endlessly between important literary events in London and some ivy-clad house near Oxford, down a long, distinguished drive. I probably smoked a pipe and there was definitely tweed involved. I was elusive and daring.

I want to write a wild book for interesting people who also want to wear capes, says the child

Well, I drive a green Subaru not, alas, an MG, and I’m in Devon, but I am indeed a Penguin author, with the kind of scope and possibilities that provides. Team Liturgies is a very real group of talented folk in New York and London. I’ve had a stunning editor who always kept that template in mind. Right now, on this stormy weekday I’m figuring out just what to squeeze in my suitcase – I only roll with carry-on when I’m taking a bunch of flights. Repeat to self: do not pack loads of books, you will not get a minute to read them.

I can’t wait to share Liturgies with you. I feel like I’ve managed to cram in most lively thoughts I’ve had over the last thirty years or so. It’s a litany of resistance and delight in the face of the impersonal claims of the worst of modernity. Ok, Shaw, get back to packing. I’m in America till mid-February, then lots of events will start showing up in dear Britain and maybe wider.

Three Months Stack!

So many of you have pre-ordered the book I’m incredibly grateful, and this is the last time I’m going to write about it till it’s out. If you haven’t got round to it, here’s the last incentive: 3 months subscription to this here Substack. The archive and full essays.

Just pre-order:

UK, pre-order Liturgies of the Wild

US, pre-order Liturgies of the Wild

Then sign up to the Stack form and we get your name and add you to the list. Simple. There’s also the hidden chapter on Job and the drawing to download, the cup runneth over. Here’s the Stack form:

Claim Substack subscription

And, as for the tour, I’ll be starting in the windy city. I have a proper Dr Zhivago type coat for these early moves in the tour. I will likely talk a little Tolkienese at these events, get a bit of Inklings energy moving.

Onwards!

Chicago

THREE events for Chicago:

Myth, Patterns & the Promise of a Quest

Tuesday, February 3
5:00pm - 7:15pm
Munster, Indiana

Mythopoetics and Faerie Stories: Theory and Practice of Mythmaking

Wednesday, February 4
5:00pm - 7:30pm
Gavin House (1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL 60637)

Mythmaking and the True Myth: A Conversation with Dr. Martin Shaw

Thursday, February 5
5:00pm - 7:15pm
The Graduate Hotel in Evanston (1625 Hinman Ave, Evanston, IL 60201)

Brand New Interview on Liturgies of the Wild: