28 August 2024

I don't tend to blog unless I have something to say. After clearing off old sale posts, it looks like quite a gap. Quite a lot can happen in five years.

I haven't been idle. Despite the usual juggle between film and writing, as well as fiction and occult books, I released a book in 2022 for young witches called Chaos Witch

This coincided with the Chaos Witch's Book of Shadows, a blank journal for those who wish to record their spells and progress.

In 2019, I released Echoes of Ganesha. A modern look at the Hindu god Ganesha and the ways in which he is employed in magic in Western culture.

While I did update the book pages here for each of these releases, I neglected to write a blog post. Ooopsie!

Things have progressed. I have two projects simmering at present that are appropriate for this website. One will be independently published, because it's the successor to Chaos Monkey, which has been out of print for a few years now. I'm not ready to release the title yet. I will do so when it's in pre-order, as someone already tried to steal one of my titles.

The other project concerns chaos witchcraft. It's not a clone of Chaos Witch, but will have much more practical information.

I intend to offer that one to my new publisher.

Which brings me to recent news. For the past year, I've been working with Crossed Crow Books on a new paperback edition of Elemental Spirits. I got my author copies a few days ago.



You can find the Ebook and all my books at Amazon or Smashwords, but if you're in the US and want paperback, have a look at Crossed Crow Books. They have a lot of interesting stuff!

16 February 2019

I've left this a bit long, haven't I?

Well, Elemental Spirits got released on time last July. Now that PaganCon in Preston has retired, one would think that putting a book out annually to coincide with the conference would have finished as well, but it isn't so.

The local Pagan Federation have taken up the baton and will now be holding a conference in Preston annually at the same venue previously used by PaganCon. This first year it will all be new and finding its feet, but it should be interesting. I've already committed to going.

What will I talk about? A subject close to my heart, with a book that I should have finished years ago but have now committed to having ready in time to take copies to the conference. Echoes of Ganesha is about the popularity of the Hindu god, Ganesha, in Western magic(k) as well as mainstream culture.

The book is to be released in July, to coincide with the conference on Saturday 13th July and will be available in both paperback and e-book forms.

In the meantime, my magical fiction is also getting more attention from me. Though I generally try to keep my fiction and non-fiction websites separate, there is some overlap on The Chase for Choronzon. Most people reading this blog will immmediately see why.

A story about two reincarnated magicians chasing the demon Choronzon through time and space to return him to his post as keeper of the gates between the worlds has obvious occult origins. The protagonists, Karl Spare and Alei-Cat, speak for themselves.

News of this project will be kept up to date at http://jaqdhawkins.com/speculative.html

An August 2019 release is anticipated.

9 July 2017

As promised, The Chaonomicon was officially released today. You can find it on Amazon.com as well as Amazon UK and all other Amazon outlets. Paperback distribution will reach Amazon in a few weeks, but you can get it now at Lulu.com.

So what comes next?

Actually, I've committed to having Elemental Spirits ready for release by this time next year. So, despite my fiction and film work, I'll be making steady progress on that.

What is Elemental Spirits? It's essentially an update of my Spirits of the Elements series collected in one volume and released on both e-book and paperback. People have been asking both for the single volume and for e-book versions of my work. It's about time I gave it to them.

5 June 2017

Despite my silence, I've been working. Too much of it on film, perhaps, but my writing continues. As a result, I am about to release, The Chaonomicon.

This is a project I had in mind before the turn of the century, but I've adapted it to incorporate much of the material that was in Understanding Chaos Magic, as well as some from Chaos Monkey.

My old publisher stopped communicating a few years ago, then the person who did most of the business end died. As I no longer receive royalties from them and only my first book had a written contract, my material is mine to do with as I please.

My fiction writing continues as well, but I wanted to get my esoteric writing back into print. According to Amazon's pages, my old books are selling for silly amounts of money second hand. I don't see any of that of course.

The new books update and expand what went before. They also sell for average book prices. You can pre-order The Chaonomicon on Kindle now.

Paperback will be released the same day, 9th July.

16 November 2015

My fiction and magic books often crossover, but never more than with the next release, The Chase For Choronzon.

This is a project I started years ago with a view towards couching magical lessons within a fictional story. I've added to it here and there, but recently decided it's time I finished it. I've also added a tribute to a magician of my acquaintance, who was lost to the world too suddely in 2014, Steve Ash.

I expect to have it available near the beginning of the new year.

It's a humorous book with a Douglas Adams sense of the irreverent, but there are serious magical elements woven within.

Progress has been slow on by books due to my film work, but I'm very close to releasing one of the films and will be able to balance the two sides of my creativity again while I finish the edit on the other film.

Several more books are planned or partially done, most notably Elemental Spirits, a book about Ganesha, and one last chaos magic book. There are others, but I will announce them here when I am at least actively working on them.

5 June 2015

If you have this website bookmarked and suddenly noticed it looks different, don't panic. I've separated my fiction writing from my occult books and this is now the home of all things chaos magic and related.

If you're looking for my Fantasy fiction, it is alive and well at jaqdhawkins.com This was my original domain name years ago and I've just activated it out of moth balls for the purpose.

So, what have I been doing? Mostly film work, but I'm actively working on a new book on nature spirits. It's just called Elemental Spirits, although there may be a subtitle by the time it gets released. This is in response to all those people who have repeatedly suggested that my writings on this subject should all be in one volume or that they should be available on ebooks. It's not a reprint of the old books, but a new tome with updated information and the benefit of more experience.

I've also got a scifi half done, but I really need to focus on one project at a time. Yes, there will be another chaos book. Again, it will be a new tome with material that has not been previously published. There are other projects in various stages of creation, but these are most likely to see the light of day first.

So, who's going to PaganCon in Preston in July? I've just got my train tickets and am looking forward to it, as usual. No I'm not doing a talk. I've had to remember that I retired from public speaking because of the need to get one of films out this year without fail. Final edit on 20 more scenes will do it.

But not to worry, I do get some writing done everyday. The above projects will be out soon.

21 May 2015

I've begun a process of redesigning my website. This was instigated by a change in my hosting and the subsequent activation of my jaqdhawkins.com domain name, which had been dormant for several years.

Having had ample time to think about how I wanted to organise my web presence, I decided to use jaqdhawkins.com for my fiction books, and dedicate jaqdhawkins.co.uk to my books on magic(k).

I intend to begin releasing new books in this subject matter this year. I have had many requests for the material in digital form and as I've developed experience in indie publishing with much of my fiction and my original publisher shows no sign of joining the digital age soon, I've settled on the solution that I would write new, updated books that cover similar subject matter, as well as finishing projects that have lain dormant for some time.

Some of these I will publish independently, others I've promised to an occult publisher whom I respect highly. To avoid conflict between publishers, new books on the material I've written about in the past will be 'indie' published. I'm hoping to finish the first of those in time for PaganCon in Preston, which occurs in July. It's a tall order, but not impossible.

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