"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

At a time when we are all confronted by not one, but many crossroads in our modern lives--identity, technology, trust, politics, and a global pandemic--celebrated mythologist and wilderness guide Martin Shaw delivers Smoke Hole three metaphors to help us understand our world, one that is assailed by the seductive promises of social media and shadowed by a health crisis that has brought loneliness and isolation to an all-time high.

Smoke Hole is a passionate call to arms and an invitation to use these stories to face the complexities of contemporary life, from fake news, parenthood, climate crises, addictive technology and more. Shaw urges us to reclaim our imagination and untangle ourselves from modern menace, letting these tales be our guide.

More Praise:

"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

"Through feral tales and poetic exegesis, Martin Shaw makes you re-see the world, as a place of adventure, and of initiation, as perfect home, and as perfectly other. What a gift." - David Keenan, author of Xstabeth

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

Shaw, Martin

Dr Martin Shaw is an acclaimed teacher of myth. Author of the award-winning Mythteller trilogy (A Branch from the Lightning Tree, Snowy Tower, Scatterlings), he founded the Oral Tradition and Mythic Life courses at Stanford University, and is director of the Westcountry School of Myth in the UK.

He has introduced thousands of people to mythology and how it penetrates modern life. For twenty years Shaw has been a wilderness rites of passage guide, working with at-risk youth, those who are unwell, returning veterans as well as many women and men seeking a deeper life.

His translations of Gaelic poetry and folklore (with Tony Hoagland) have been published in Orion magazine, Poetry International, Kenyon Review, Poetry magazine and Mississippi Review. Shaw's most recent books include The Night Wages, Cinderbiter, Wolf Milk, Courting the Wild Twin and his Lorca translations, Courting the Dawn (with Stephan Harding).

His essay and conversation with Ai Weiwei on myth and migration was released by the Marciano Art Foundation.