Smoke Hole: Looking to the Wild in the Time of the Spyglass

'With potent, lyrical language and a profound knowledge of storytelling, Shaw encourages and illuminates the mythic in our own lives. He is a modern-day bard.' - Madeline Miller, author of Circe and The Song of Achilles

Through the Smoke Hole, we will find beauty in the wild. Through the Smoke Hole, we will escape the gaze of the Spyglass and find ourselves.

Assailed by seductive promises and controlled by social media, we are losing our sense of direction. We are losing ourselves. We have networks, not communities.

At a time when we are all confronted by not one, but many crossroads in our lives - identity, technology, trust, love, politics and global pandemic, celebrated mythologist and wilderness guide Martin Shaw delivers Smoke Hole three metaphors for the modern world - a commons of imagination. Let us journey together, and these stories be your ally - hold them in your pocket, breathe deeper, feel steadier and become acquainted with rapture.

Praise for Martin Shaw

'I can still remember the first time I heard Martin Shaw tell a story. The tale that emerged was like a living thing, bounding around, throwing itself at us there listening. I had never heard anything like it before.' - Paul Kingsnorth, Booker shortlisted author of The Wake

'Martin Shaw's work is so very beautiful. A new animal. His love of images is deep and contagious.' - Coleman Barks, author of The Essential Rumi

'Shaw has so much wisdom and knowledge about the old stories, it emanates from his pores.' - John Densmore, The Doors