Armchair Demonology

About Fiddler’s Green Peculiar Parish

Fiddler’s Green Peculiar Parish Magazine was born of a languid afternoon of conversation on a sunny tavern lawn. Taking its name from the pleasant afterlife dreamed into being by sailors, cavalrymen, and other adventurous spirits, Fiddler’s Green gathers friends, good cheer, and a bit of magic to create a better world not someday, but now.

In ecclesiastical terms, the word “peculiar” refers to a district outside the jurisdiction of the Church. It’s also a good word for describing my own view of reality, and likely yours as well. And so here is a “peculiar parish magazine” for anyone who doesn’t feel the need to have their inner life directed by others. If it is peculiar that we wish to govern our bodies and souls ourselves, then let us be peculiar.

The conversation continues, and there is room for you in it. Each of us is on our own journey, both in this world and whatever lies beyond it. Sometimes the path is well lit; at other times it is obscured. Your wanderings have brought you here, and I hope you’ll stray for a while with me and the other souls gathered at Fiddler’s Green.

Clint Marsh [Publisher]

Description

A Fiddler's Green Leaflet by Clint Marsh & Gerhard.

Mystics and intellectuals have extolled the virtues of stimulants throughout all of human history, believing that the use of certain substances can bring them closer to the ineffable. Although arduous journeys along “the poison path” appeal to many psychonauts, there is also much magic to be found in the use of milder stimulants.

In this illustrated booklet, Clint Marsh recounts his own history with two such drugs—pipe tobacco and black tea—describing the ways they have brought about creative and philosophical insights that may have otherwise eluded him.

Clint Marsh uses elements of myth, magic, folklore, and humor to help people navigate everyday life. He is the editor of Fiddler’s Green Peculiar Parish Magazine and a winner of the Bookseller/Diagram Prize.

Gerhard worked for twenty years as background ­artist and cover colorist on the Cerebus graphic novel. Since then, he has done commissioned work through GerhardArt.com, and, most recently, illustrated the Grant ­Morrison story “The Smile of the Absent Cat” for Heavy Metal.