The Part Time Shaman Handbook: An Introduction for Beginners

A collection of prose poetry, exercises, lists and visual art that both lampoons and fully embraces self-help techniques. Michael Gillan Maxwell has found a balance between the absurd, the beautifully profound and the crushing. The Part Time Shaman Handbook, is just that, a handbook for the person who doesn't take themselves too seriously, but who also likes to dance naked in the dark, make music, commune with crows, cats, loons, coyotes, packs of wolves and other power animals, spirit guides, passing trains, cars on the distant highway, stars in the heavens, waves crashing on the shore, thunder and lightning and all of the above. The mix of Maxwell's original artwork with pieces of writing are moving, but also gut-busting at times. Perhaps even a few tears will be shed by the aspiring part- time shamans who fall under the spell of this wonderful book. There's nothing like it.

Michael Gillan Maxwell is a writer and visual artist in the Finger Lakes Region of New York state. Maxwell writes short fiction, poetry, songs, essays, lists, recipes, hybrid weirdness and irate letters to his legislators. His work has been featured in a number of journals and anthologies. He has served as a flash fiction editor for JMWW quarterly journal and editor of MadHat's Drive-By Book Reviews. A teller of tales and singer of songs, he's prone to random outbursts and may spontaneously combust or break into song at any moment. Maxwell can be found ranting and raving on his website: Your Own Backyard http: //michaelgillanmaxwell.com