Simon Proudman is an Australian-based travel writer. After numerous newspaper and magazine articles, and researching and publishing two bestselling guidebooks he has written his first book of travel stories. The stories takes you around the world to some of the more off-the-beaten-track destinations. From standing at the edge of the burning ‘Gates of Hell’ in Turkmenistan, to taking part in the ancient Torajan ceremony of partying with their recently dug-up ancestors, and drinking copious amounts of vodka with Russians on a train through Central Asia, you will travel to places that do not feature in any travel agents window. “Whether it is spending time with a cargo cult, going in search of dead leaders, or avoiding burglars in paradise, Simon seems to be a one-man magnet for near disasters with a side order of happiness thrown in to keep the crowds entertained. So what are you waiting for? Grab yourself a copy and get ready to enjoy.” Stan Cullimore. Travel writer and musician.
This book demonstrates how Homeric poetry manages to confer significance on persons and actions, interpreting the world and the lives of the people who inhabit it. Taking central themes like characterization, death, and the gods, the author argues that current ideas of the limitations of "oral poetry" are unreal, and that Homer embodies a view of the world both unique and profound.
"Either you believe in possession or you do not. It is that simple, or at least that is how it often seems. However, the existence of the possession state in the human condition is not a matter of faith, it is a phenomenon that demands exploration." So begins the introduction of this psycho-spiritual exploration of involuntary (or demonic) possession. Avoiding the pitfalls of many such works, here is presented the inarguable fact that the possession state does occur and must be taken seriously if those who are afflicted are to be helped. The only argument that remains is the attributed cause of the state. Covering a comprehensive array of topics from the history of demonic possession to a present understanding of the phenomenology and intrapsychic dynamics of the possession state, the book also provides a depth of understanding with respect to the various forms of possession encountered throughout the world. Readers will also gain an understanding of the various cultural and psychological explanations for possession, including neuropsychological, hypnosis, and psychodynamic theories. It concludes with the examination of three cases of demonic possession and the presentation of diagnostic criteria to assist in differentiating possession from common forms of psychopathology.
What makes a novel cult?: drink and drugs; sex and rock 'n' roll?; a window on subcultures?; the ability to tap into the zeitgeist? This book provides an insight into the cult canon assessing 250 authors who have pioneered experiments in style and content, from Kathy Acker and Nelson Algren via Burroughs and Bukowski to Tom Wolfe and Irvine Welsh.
On Christmas Eve 1951, Santa Claus was hanged and then publicly burned outside of the Cathedral of Dijon in France. That same decade, ethnologists began to study the indigenous cultures of central New Guinea, and found men and women affectionately consuming the flesh of the ones they loved. "Everyone calls what is not their own custom barbarism," said Montaigne. In these essays, Claude Lévi-Strauss shows us behavior that is bizarre, shocking, and even revolting to outsiders but consistent with a people's culture and context. These essays relate meat eating to cannibalism, female circumcision to medically assisted reproduction, and mythic thought to scientific thought. They explore practices of incest and patriarchy, nature worship versus man-made material obsessions, the perceived threat of art in various cultures, and the innovations and limitations of secular thought. Lévi-Strauss measures the short distance between "complex" and "primitive" societies and finds a shared madness in the ways we enact myth, ritual, and custom. Yet he also locates a pure and persistent ethics that connects the center of Western civilization to far-flung societies and forces a reckoning with outmoded ideas of morality and reason.
Are you ready to take the next step in your author journey? Art for the sake of art is important. Writing for the love of it, or to create something beautiful on the page, is absolutely worthwhile and critical to expand the sum of human expression. But I’m not here to talk about creativity or the craft of writing in this book. My aim is to take the result of your creativity into the realm of actually paying the bills. To take you from being an author to running a business as an author. I was a business consultant for 13 years before I gave up my job in September 2011 to become a full-time author-entrepreneur. I worked for large corporates and small businesses, implementing financial systems across Europe and Asia Pacific. I’ve also started a number of my own businesses ”" a scuba dive charter boat in New Zealand, a customized travel website, a property investment portfolio in Australia as well as my freelance consultancy. I’ve failed a lot and learned many lessons in my entrepreneurial life and I share them all in this book. In the last six years of being an author, through tempestuous changes in the publishing world, I've learned the business side of being a writer and I now earn a good living as an author-entrepreneur. I’m an author because it's my passion and my joy but also because it's a viable business in this age of global and digital opportunity. In the book, you will learn: Part 1: From Author To Entrepreneur The arc of the author’s journey, definition of an author-entrepreneur, deciding on your definition of success. Plus/ should you start a company? Part 2: Products and Services How you can turn one manuscript into multiple streams of income by exploiting all the different rights, various business models for authors and how to evaluate them, information on contracts, copyright and piracy. Plus/ putting together a production plan. Part 3: Employees, Suppliers and Contractors The team you need to run your business. Your role as author and what you’re committing to, as well as co-writing. Editors, agents and publishers, translators, book designers and formatters, audiobook narrators, book-keeping and accounting, virtual assistants. Plus/ how to manage your team. Part 4: Customers In-depth questions to help you understand who your customers are and what they want, as well as customer service options for authors. Part 5: Sales and Distribution How to sell through distributors and your options, plus all the information you need to sell direct. ISBNs and publishing imprints ”" do you need them? Plus/ your options for pricing. Part 6: Marketing Key overarching marketing concepts. Book-based marketing including cover, back copy and sales pages on the distributors. Author-based marketing around building your platform, and customer-based marketing around your niche audience and targeted media. Part 7: Financials Revenues of the author business and how to increase that revenue. Costs of the author business and funding your startup. Banking, PayPal, accounting, reporting, tax and estate planning. Part 8: Strategy and Planning Developing your strategy and business plan. Managing your time and developing professional habits. The long-term view and the process for becoming a full-time author. Plus/ looking after yourself. Part 9: Next Steps Questions from the book to help you work out everything to do with your business, plus encouragement for your next steps. Appendices, Workbook and Bonus Downloads including a workbook and business plan template. If you want to go from being an author to running a business as an author, download a sample or buy now.
"The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket", a story by Edgar Allan Poe, recounts the adventure of Pym, who embarks clandestinely on a whaler. After a mutiny and various adversities, including cannibalism and natural disasters, the story culminates in a mysterious and inconclusive encounter at the South Pole.
A searing new collection from the inimitable Amelia Gray. A woman creeps through the ductwork of a quiet home. A medical procedure reveals an object of worship. A carnivorous reptile divides and cauterizes a town. Amelia Gray's curio cabinet expands in Gutshot, where isolation and coupling are pushed to their dark and outrageous edges. These singular stories live and breathe on their own, pulsating with energy and humanness and a glorious sense of humor. Hers are stories that you will read and reread—raw gems that burrow into your brain, reminders of just how strange and beautiful our world is. These collected stories come to us like a vivisected body, the whole that is all the more elegant and breathtaking for exploring its most grotesque and intimate lightless viscera.
