Audio podcast: 'Land of the Ever-Living Ones' author Anthony Murphy interviewed on LMFM radio

Help get Land of the Ever-Living Ones published

Self-publishing is not for the faint-hearted!! Writing a book is one thing. Editing it and proofing it and designing it for print and eBook formats is an entirely different thing! And then getting it printed and distributed is another matter also. You'd imagine a guy like me, who has been writing professionally for years, and who has been an editor of two different newspapers, would have no problems with all this. The truth is that I think I can write (I'll let you be the judge of that), and I think I can edit, and even design the book and get it ready for print. The one thing I seem unable to do is to raise the finance necessary to get it printed.

It won't cost me anything to upload the book to Amazon for the Kindle reader. Great. But it's a costly business trying to get a physical book printed. So I have come up with an idea. Why not ask my readers and followers and Facebook fans to donate towards this project? If you have a few dollars/euros/pounds (delete/add currency as required!) and would like to help me out, please hit the "donate" button. You can use PayPal or a Visa or credit card. I greatly appreciate anything you can do to help get this project completed.

More information about the book at the link below:
http://www.mythicalireland.com/landoftheeverlivingones/land-of-the-ever-living-ones.html

Coming soon - 'Land of the Ever-Living Ones'

A draft cover of my new novel.

I am glad to report significant progress on getting my next (third) book to print. It is my first foray into the world of fiction, and is a novella called 'Land of the Ever-Living Ones'. I am planning to release LOTELO (as I like to call it) as an eBook on Amazon Kindle, as well as a printed version, in November 2013.

Here is a synopsis of the book: Land of the Ever Living Ones is an extraordinary dialogue between an old man and a young boy that reaches into cosmic and spiritual realms. In one fireside conversation, they sweep the universe with discussion about many different things, including natural phenomena, the mysteries of life and the question of what happens to us when we die. The old man (sean-draoi) has gained much knowledge and wisdom during his life, and readily imparts it to the eager young boy, who is full of questions.

Tír na mBeo (Land of the Ever-Living Ones) was an ancient Irish name for the otherworld, the place to which the soul was believed to have gone after death. In this wide-ranging conversation, the man takes the boy on a journey into his own ancestral past, and through lesson, metaphor, story and dream, creates for him a stunning insight into his spiritual existence and his quest for eternity. The journey is a magical and powerful one, evoking both ecstasy and melancholy, for lost ancestors, for the frailties of mankind, and for the sometimes harsh lessons of worldly life. However, it is an optimistic tale, one that stirs up great hope for the eventual destiny of the boy, and for all his kin.

I will keep you posted about when the book is available to purchase.

Pictures from Newgrange book launch

Chris McClintock, author of The Craft and the Cross, with myself at the launch.

This is me signing some books at the launch of Newgrange: Monument to Immortality

See more photographs from the launch of Newgrange: Monument to Immortality on Mythical Ireland.

Newgrange: Monument to Immortality now in the bookshops

My new book, 'Newgrange: Monument to Immortality', has just been published by The Liffey Press and will be available in bookshops this week. I am thrilled to say that the book looks fantastic, and contains no less than 127 colour photographs, which include many shots from inside Newgrange on the winter solstice and some spectacular 'fisheye' images from the interior of the passage and chamber.

The book appeared on the home page
of IrishCentral.com

The book is already attracting some major publicity, and was featured on the home page of the Irish Central website. The book will be launched this Friday, November 9th, at The Barbican in Drogheda, at 7pm. All welcome.


Newgrange: Monument to Immortality goes deep into the mind and soul of our neolithic ancestors to better understand what led them to build this remarkable monument. In a deeply moving, poetic and philosophical exploration, I look beyond the archaeology and the astronomy to reveal a much more profound and sacred vision of a sophisticated people who were driven to create this marvelous testament to their time.

The cover of my new book, Newgrange:
Monument to Immortality

But more than this, Newgrange: Monument to Immortality has a message for our troubled times of economic crisis and spiritual upheaval  Irish mythology speaks of many invasions which happened over the course of history and prehistory. The original gods of Ireland, the Tuatha Dé Danann, are said to have handed over the running of the country to the invading Milesians, and in doing so they retreated into the mounds and raths of Ireland where they await re-emergence in times of crisis. Has the time come for Irish people to enter the stone mounds and retrieve that dormant aspect of their spirit which finds itself suppressed by political, economic and religious forces in a turbulent world?

The message of Newgrange is an eternal one, and survives across more than five millennia, to speak to us of our long forgotten ancestors of yesteryear. That message is as relevant today as it has ever been, throughout the long centuries of oppression and imperialism. The magic of the Tuatha Dé Danann, representing the uplifting aspects of the Irish spirit and the Irish psyche, is alive today, but perhaps hidden in the dark chamber of Newgrange, awaiting the coming of the light.

With the Winter Solstice only weeks away, this is the perfect time to reflect upon the true meaning of Newgrange and the forces that drove its creators to construct such a remarkable memorial to their time. Newgrange is a monument to immortality, the eternal quest of the human spirit.

The book is available on Amazon.co.uk and from The Liffey Press website.

New book on Newgrange by Anthony Murphy

I am currently working on a new book about Ireland's most famous monument. The book, called 'Newgrange - Monument to Immortality', will be published by The Liffey Press in the autumn.

This new work explores Newgrange and its mysteries from many aspects and disciplines, including archaeology, astronomy and spirituality, and encompasses a broad-sweeping and philosophical examination of the big questions about Ireland's most famous monument. The book will contain lots of new colour photographs - none of which have been published before in any other book or on any website. These include photos from inside the passage and chamber on the winter solstice, when the sun shines into the heart of the monument.

A new blog site has been set up about the Newgrange book which can be found here.