The number of hits on this blog passed the 1 million mark today - thanks to 11000 yesterday so thank you to everyone who has ever had a look at The Antonine Itineraries. It gives me motivation to carry on posting.
Early one evening we visited Zennor to admire the mermaid carving in the church. For the local folklore see HERE. We also dined in the beer garden of The Tinners Arms a lovely old-fashioned pub with very friendly staff and great food.
While I was up at the bar ordering food I asked the young barman if it was true that DH Lawrence had drunk there. He confirmed that he had adding 'and you know Aleister Crowley lived up the hill?' I said I had read something about that and he went on to say that the site was a ruin now and that it was subject to mysterious fires - what's more the house stands on 'a gateway to the underworld.' This was fantastic! Just the kind of folklore I love that accrues round certain notorious sites and not something I'd come across before. The barman even abandoned his post to show us outside how to reach the house. Also a woman sitting at the end of the bar warned us not to go up there after dark and mentioned the numerous fires. Sadly, by the time we tried to approach the dreaded spot, darkness was descending and the path was not clear, although I'm sure we saw it on the horizon. Of course, it's extremely unlikely that Crowley ever stayed there.
On this trip we also paid a visit to the St Buryan's Church in St Buryan, where according to Denys Val Baker, AC performed 'dozens of black masses' (in his book A View from Land's End).
The 3rd edition of Netherwood: Last Resort of Aleister Crowley is at the printers (in Cornwall as it happens) and I'm hoping will be available to buy online in the next week or so. See HERE and HERE
There will also be an official launch at the Tadhg Mae Gallery on Sunday 4 October
I shall be busy around the autumn period with promotional events. See below.
I'm involved in this year's Hastings Book Festival. See HERE for events including some big names such as Roger McGough, David Olusoga and Kate Mosse. I hope to be selling books in person at Hastings Book Fair on Saturday 12 September. See HERE.
Also, as part of the festival, I shall be one of a group of 'Feral Writers' who will be giving short (15/20 minute) readings at various bars and cafes around Hastings New Town on the evening of Thursday 3 September in an event modelled on the highly successful Hastings Fat Tuesday (based in the Old Town in February). I shall be in the esteemed company of Jake Arnott, Cathryn Kemp and other local writers.
I'm booked to talk on the evening of Thursday 3 September at French's Bar (7.30pm) and Pissarro's (8.30pm). I'll probably be reading from Mansion of Gloom and Netherwood.
SEE HERE
Talking of Netherwood: Last Resort of Aleister Crowley I'm excited to announce that I'm working on bringing out a new third edition, through Accumulator Press, possibly in time for the Festival, if not then late September, October. The new edition will include extra material, postcard and facsimile enclosures like the second edition and will probably be in paperback format retailing for somewhere between £25 and £30. It's likely to be the last edition and will sell out quickly. I'm going back to the original green textured cover, which I prefer, with flaps and different endpapers - the original endpapers will be enclosed as a postcard.
If you think that's expensive you should look at prices people are asking online for the previous two editions HERE. So even if you don't like the book you can sell it later and make a profit!
Unfortunately postage abroad is very expensive these days and postage charged will reflect this. The edition will be limited to somewhere between 500 and 600 copies and most will be signed.
I will probably use The Big Cartel once more to sell through. There's already an Accumulator Press shop, see HERE and I'll make the Netherwood page live when I receive the new book. I don't want to take money in advance of publication in case any difficulties arise - I'm not Unbound!
I'll take details (email addresses) for priority advance orders at the walks and talks outlined above.
There should also be more events in October.
It's brilliant to be in such distinguished company as Iain Sinclair, David McGillivray (again), Robert Elms, Cathi Unsworth and Andrew Lownie. Upcoming events for Sohemian Society HERE.
There's an online talk about Whistler's Life and Art (with a section looking at his interest in Spiritualism) for Viktor Wynd and The Last Tuesday Society (hosted by Ed Parnell) on Thursday 18 June in the evening 8-9.30pm. BOOK HERE
A FREE in-person talk on Whistler's Life and Art at West End Arts Library (Formerly Westminster Reference Library) on Friday July 3 6.30 to 7.30pm. RESERVE A SPOT HERE
'Two doors down [from 10 Cobourg Place in the Old Town] stood Harpsicord House, where the writer, mystic, magician and "wickedest man in the world" Aleister Crowley had first lived when he moved to Hastings in advanced age, and where the occultist Rollo Ahmed later resided. Martyn was one of a number of musicians, notably Jimmy Page, but also David Bowie, who harboured a fascination with Crowley and his Thelemic ethical code: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law."'
It would be interesting to know more about Martyn's 'fascination' with AC. However, while Rollo Ahmed definitely lived at Harpsicord House, Crowley moved to the guesthouse Netherwood on The Ridge directly from The Bell Inn Aston Clinton on 1 February 1945. Which reminds me that I'm thinking of republishing Netherwood: Last Resort of Aleister Crowley in an affordable paperback edition, finances permitting. Watch this space .... see HERE for the second edition sold out for some time.
Here's another section from the Thomson biography about Hastings: [it] was not an environment where he could easily escape temptation. Numerous pubs were on his doorstep, and within them he was regarded as a local hero. "He was very loved in Hastings," says Wesley Kutner [his son with Beverley]. "He was like a god." "He would spend hours in the Hastings pubs telling stories to a bunch of piss artists, then bringing them all back home to party in our house," said Beverley Martin. "It was horrible ... it had become a non-stop party, with hangers-on banging on our door day and night." "The drug scene there was heavy [says Phill Brown]... Back then it was pretty seedy. There were a lot of musicians hanging around the Old Town, there was a good music scene going on [there still is] and it was cheaper. It was a definite decision for him and Beverley to move out and try to live a cleaner lifestyle."' [p.156]
An earlier post on John Martyn in Hastings HERE
Mansion of Gloom will be available for sale online afterwards at various places including the dedicated website HERE
I'm leading a walk around the vestiges of 1890s Decadent London on Saturday 11 July. Tickets are still available at time of post but selling fast.
Darren Coffield, the great contemporary chronicler of Soho/Fitzrovia (particularly the Colony Room) has written a biography of Henrietta Moraes, who modelled for Bacon and Freud, which he will be discussing at the West End Arts Library on Friday 19 June 6.30 to 7.30.
FREE talk can be booked to avoid disappointment through Eventbrite (NB this has the former name Westminster Reference Library, the same place) HERE
I'll be introducing.
In addition to Roger Luckhurst's glowing review of Mansion of Gloom in Fortean Times I've found another more recent review which you can read HERE.
Copies can be bought through the Big Cartel, Treadwell's and Watkins in London, Hare and Hawthorn in Hastings and Midian Books in the North, as well as eBay. It's a limited edition, around 150 copies remaining.
INCIDENTALLY: Every now and then I have a look at how much my previous Accumulator books are going for online. The latest prices for Netherwood: Last Resort of Aleister Crowley can be found HERE. If only I was making that kind of money from it! Secret Tunnels of England is also expensive to obtain now.
Also two walks I'll be leading for the Sohemian Society:
DECADENT LONDON (The capital in the 1890s) Saturday 11 July
HOGARTH'S LONDON Sunday 13 September
Details to follow.
There's a blockbuster retrospective of Whistler coming to Tate Britain. See HERE
I'm doing an online talk about his art and life with a section in his interest in spiritualism and seances for the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities. Details HERE Eventbrite booking HERE
