Winged Feet Productions is a small publishing imprint publishing very occasional books and journals in the new age or pagan markets. This project came about when I found myself trying to explain some complex ideas which really needed to be written to be understood. By the end of 1988, after nearly a year of research and writing, I found myself with a 23,000 word manuscript ready for publication.
In the past I would have been described as an essayist, however, this is a dying tradition so there is no longer a market for medium length works of writing. Books usually start at 60 to 70 thousand words and magazine articles rarely run to more than a few thousand. Not at all discouraged I started a small publishing imprint called Winged Feet Productions. (Productions might have been Publishing save for a slip of the tongue on the phone when registering the name. However, the name does allow room for branching out into other media at a later date.)
Satanic Viruses
In mid November 1989 Winged Feet published its first work ironically titled "Satanic Viruses, The Fall of the Roman Empire and How to Bring it About". This short book used everything from astrology and the occult to economics and politics to describe predicted changes in our philosophical outlook during the Nineties and onwards. The book successfully predicted the emergence of a backlash against the Eighties boom in selfishness and self reliance, suggested a rise in interdependence of people, and a growing rejection of scientific solutions and established religious perspectives. Great political change was predicted on a global scale, including a commentary on the developments in the Soviet block at the time. Three weeks after publication the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, although at the time of writing I didn't have the guts to make such a prediction.
The book was received with almost universal apathy, which is fair enough considering there were just a few hundred printed. However, with International Standard Book Numbering (ISBN) registration and an entry in Whittakers Books in Print, Satanic Viruses did manage to get into the catalogues and as a result Legal Deposit Copies are now in the major British university libraries and in the main British Library. Somehow, the work must have caught someone's attention as one copy was ordered by the British Council Department. The balance were sold at events such as occult symposiums, festivals and through mail order. There are no longer any copies available to buy, but there is now a much expanded electronic second edition, with a considerable millennium update, available from the Occult E Books web site for interesting alternative stuff.
The Philosopher's Stone
After the world-wide acclaim and success of Satanic Viruses, Winged Feet Productions was largely put on ice until the arrival of The Philosopher's Stone in 1994. During the Nineties there occurred something of an occult revival that continues to this day (predicted in the affore mentioned essay). As a result there appeared a whole raft of occult and pagan magazines to cater for the interests of this new scene. At the same time there was a great number or pub meets, moots, discussion groups and other meetings in the back rooms of pubs and the like.
The magazines that sprung up around this time were largely rubbish! They almost always lacked any real knowledge of the publishing industry, and certainly no real evidence of quality magazine layout and design. A typical example would be an article by someone calling themselves Morgan Le Fey or some other equally implausible pseudonym, which would go on for thousands of words, and say nothing substantial in the process. It would not be unusual to see a two page A4 spread of pure text with two columns per page and nothing at all to break it up visually.
There was clearly a need for a publication that would meet the needs of this market, have quality design and publishing standards, and accept writers who had something coherent to say. There was also a need to get right away from these pretentious and often ludicrous pseudonyms. No Arthur King of the Britons or crystal clutching Moonlight Sky-Singer was ever going to get their name in a magazine I was editing. Furthermore, there was also a need to publicise the many events, moots and pub meets that were taking place around the country. On analysis it became apparent that what was needed was a Time Out for the newly emerging pagan community.
The Philosopher's Stone was first published in Summer 1994 with a (very optimistic) projected quarterly schedule, established advertising rates, good articles and no Moondancers! The reaction was generally very good. People were glad to see quality desk top publishing (all mono produced on early versions of Page Plus by Serif). The Philosopher's Stone was registered with the International Standard Serial Numbering agency (ISSN) and it even had a properly registered bar code just in case it became an overnight success. However, after the first issue it became apparent that doing all this by myself was just too much. I really needed someone to sell the advertising (I managed to sell some myself but not enough to cover any real costs), do the distribution and sell the magazine around the country. I tried to enlist people as a sales force around the country, on the grounds that they would be able to keep their takings (the advertising was always intended to cover the production costs so the cover takings were really irrelevant to me) but no one came forward to be an agent.
After three intermittent issues The Philosopher's Stone ceased production due to overwork and lack of funding, but it wasn't through lack of interest from the readers. The problem was that the magazine lacked a proper supporting infrastructure. It may appear again as an occasional publication but I doubt it as I am now only really interested in work that is going to generate an income and not give me headaches. There are no longer any copies of The Philosopher's Stone available for sale.
I have now developed The Philosopher's Stone as a web site. In the true spirit of the original Philosopher's Stone the look and feel is intended to be a move away from the crystal clutching, fluffy bunny look of many pagan web sites. The intention is to carry paid advertising in the form of banners etc., and I have been experimenting with partnership programmes to this end. However, none have really suited my purposes yet but with the traffic increasing to 5000 to 6000 sessions a week it is high on my list to find the right programme. If you would like to advertise on The Stone then have a look at the site, read the advertising guidelines and get in touch with me. Perhaps we can sort a private arrangement out.
Following the original magazine's editorial stance the articles are thoughtful, coherent and often (but not at all times) rational. The intention is to show that an interest in paganism need not be perceived as the weird and alarmist subject that it is often portrayed to be, and that the people interested in paganism are usually very thoughtful, educated, informed and good to have as friends. That's not to say that such a fringe scene doesn't attract more than it's fair share of scary people, but then again so does the Conservative Party!
People interested in contributing to The Stone will be pleased to know that they will be paid fifty percent of the revenue from the adverts on the page where their article is shown. Please contact me for further details or visit the site here.
