SHALLA CHATS with editor Taylor Ellwood

"Acquiring Esoteric Nonfiction”

by Shalla DeGuzman

First of all, who ’s Taylor?

Taylor Ellwood is a co-author of Creating Magickal Entities (from Egregore Publishing) and the solo author of Pop Culture Magick, Space/Time Magic, and Inner Alchemy (From Immanion Press/Megalithica Books). He’s also the editor of Magick on the Edge: An Anthology of Experimental Occultism (From Immanion Press/Megalithica Books). Taylor is currently writing his next solo book Multi-Media Magic, and co-writing with his wife Lupa Kink Magic: Sex Magic Beyond Vanilla.

Taylor is also the Acquisitions and Managing Non-Fiction Editor of Immanion Press (http://www.immanion-press.com) and a co-host of the pagan and occult author Resource page, which along with more information about him, can be found at http://www.thegreenwolf.com. You can also read his blog at teriel.livejournal.com

Shalla: Hello Taylor, I’m glad to hear you’re doing very well. Congratulations on your latest books. And now you’re the Acquisitions Editor at Immanion Press/Megalithica too, how fun is that?

Taylor: Actually the acquisitions and Managing Editor. It’s a lot of fun, a position that’s challenging, but also a great opportunity to really direct a line of books and help authors get published.

Shalla: Please tell us about the type of books you are looking for. Mostly nonfiction, right?

Taylor: Yes we look for esoteric non-fiction or what I really think of as edgy, non-conventional writing on magic, spirituality, and subcultures. We look for writers who are willing to take a risk and write material that isn’t a rehash of a lot of the available writing already out there.

For example, my book Inner Alchemy explores the spirituality of the body, right down to treating your neurotransmitters as entities that you can talk with and work with to help your body heal and understand it better.

We also look for writing which reconstructs the spiritual traditions of past cultures. Graeco-Egyptian Magick by Tony Mierzwicki is a book that reconstructs the hermetic spiritual tradition of the Graeco-Egyptian cultures, and then shares those traditions with readers. We really look for books that provide a new perspective, which will get people thinking about their spirituality and how the incorporate it into their daily lives.

Shalla: What kind of credentials do writers of these books must have? At least a PhD in Wicca? Must be a veteran psychic who’s been solving crimes successfully these past twenty years?

Taylor: Nothing as obvious as that (Laughs)! I don’t actually think there is anyone out there with a PhD in Wicca. Generally speaking the kind of credentials I look for is based more on the demonstration of practical experience as opposed to a degree in the subject. Just about everyone who’s published a book with us has been practicing some form of magic for over a decade.

Shalla: Magic on the Edge features experimental essays about time magic, body dynamics, working with neural circuits, evoking specific persons, etc. but how do you know if they work? Do you try out the exercises yourself before publishing them?

Taylor: Yes, I actually do a lot of testing of magical techniques. I’m also an experimenter with magic, so I develop my own techniques. That and extensive reading up on various magical paths has helped give me a good idea of when someone is the real deal or isn’t. In the case of MOTE, I had already tested some of the concepts, because some of the people prior or did related work. With the rest of the techniques, I tried them out as I was editing the book and this helped me get a better since of where the writer was coming from.

Shalla: Should interested authors send you a proposal? A query letter? What are your submission guidelines?

Taylor: A proposal and some chapters are what I like to see. Send them to taylor @spiralnature.com as for guidelines, we’re temporarily revamping the immanion press website, so for a short time you can find the guidelines at http://lupabitch.livejournal.com/1139146.html#cutid1.

The immanion press website (http://www.immanion-press.com) will be updated in the near future with the current guidelines.

Shalla: Also, and this may be a little off topic but I just got to know, what is the difference between “magic” and “magick”? They seem to be used interchangeably.

Taylor: There’s not much of a difference. Aleister Crowley, an early twentieth century magician coined the term magick as a way of differentiating magic used to later reality from stage magic or illusionist work.

I think though that many people just use the word variations interchangeably. I prefer to use magic since it’s the original word.

Shalla: Lastly, would you happen to have any magical spells or mantra that will make SHALLA Magazine and this interview of ours a great success (popular, fun to read, fascinating, etc)?

Taylor: I have a few for your readers actually: I find happiness and wealth in helping others live happier, healthier lives (this means that it’s important to help each grow as individuals and a community.

By helping each other we will grow our internal wealth and manifest it as external wealth).

Also: Work smart, not hard (It’s easy to work hard, but working smart is finding ways to make your job and life easier, not harder).

Finally a question: Can you risk being happy?

Thanks for interviewing me, Shalla.

Shalla: Thanks so much Taylor.

For more on Taylor Ellwood and Immanion
Press/Megalithica Books, please visit http://www.thegreenwolf.com and http://www.immanion-press.com/