The Techno-Pagan Octopus Messiah - Softcover

Winn, Ian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0953327515 ISBN 13: 9780953327515

Publisher: Independent Music Pr Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

Part bizarre quest, part travelogue, part fiction, this is a tale of Amazonian drugs, prophetic dreams and adventurous treks through Egypt, Rajastan and Northern India. Based on the author's own experiences it takes the reader on a kaleidoscope trip of crystals, free love and Nirvana.

About this title

From the Author

A SELF-INDULGENT AUTHOR'S NOTE INRE THE 3RD, 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE TECHNO PAGAN OCTOPUS MESSIAH, COMING MAY 31ST, 2018 HEY FOLKS,FIRST, GRATITUDESECOND, please buy the blue book, not the red one! (I have long since been spared the indignity of royalties)THIRD, HERE'S THE F***ING DEAL, OKAY?

IMHO, the book, as was published, is a mess. This is because...

1. The first draft was written in pen (google it), in fifteen run-on notebooks, which got mixed up because

2. I WAS SO HIGH ON INDIAN GOVERNMENT-ISSUE BHANG MY EYES WERE BLEEDING.

3. Upon acceptance for publication I was told:

     a) to alter certain events for legal reasons

     b) it must be less than 288 pages because books are bound in 12 page lots, we're on a limited budget and

     c) we don't have much time to edit so how 'bout you do that mostly yourself and on the quick, chop-chop. Therefore:

4. I MADE BAD CHOICES. I WAS 28. WHAT DO YOU WANT?

TPOM is, at heart, a memoir. It was published as a novel to avoid a lawsuit -- and in the Hunter S. Thompson spirit of "fiction being the truest form of journalism." Since then, I have learned that no-one owns the rights to your life story and anyone can sue you for any reason at any time.

WHICH IS WHY...

I've run a comb through TPOM, elaborating on what was glossed-over, condensing what was repetitive and hewing things closer to the truth -- while still not getting sued or writing outright fiction. To that end I have reinstated events from Varanasi, a favorite poem involving rocks, deeper conversations with Jimi Baba (a bonafide Hindu holy man?), and a potentially redemptive penultimate scene which somehow ended up on the cutting room floor.

Given all that I still stand by the first editions. They remain true to what I thought was best at the time and besides: TPOM was the what brought my beautiful wife and I together after she contacted me to replace a mutual friend's signed copy which she'd accidentally dropped off a canoe in southwest Thailand precipitating an 18-month long e-mail correspondence (no voice or photos) which culminated in us getting married in 2004 by a Sakalavan crocodile shaman in Morondava, Madagascar.

In short: the upcoming digital, paperback and soon to be audio editions will be a better telling of this whole ridiculous story.

And I truly hope you do enjoy it.

NAMASTE (forget the woo-woo New Age bs, the literal Sanskrit translation is: not me, you),

Ian

About the Author

Ian Winn has a degree in marine science from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He spent his twenties teaching kelp forest ecology to middle-schoolers on Catalina island as an outdoor educator until he spent a weekend with Terence McKenna and his life took another path. His intellectual fascination is with the confluence of mysticism and science.As a journalist he writes articles concerning travel, wildlife and environmental degradation for publications including Esquire and the Anchorage Press. His particular passion for coral reefs has led him to Egypt, the Maldives, Indonesia, Malaysia, Tobago, Tanzania, Hawaii, Madagascar, Mexico and Thailand. A dual citizen of the UK and USA, he currently lives in East London with his half-tattooed English wife and their Jack Russell terrier.Please see octopusmessiah.com for more information and contact details.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independent Music Pr Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0953327515
• ISBN 13: 9780953327515
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288