Newgrange: Monument to Immortality being reprinted

I have received good news from The Liffey Press. Newgrange: Monument to Immortality is currently being reprinted, following its recent selling out. The first edition was published in 2012 and is now sold out. The new print run should arrive at the distributor on 16th November, and so should be available in the shops shortly afterwards.

This is the second of my non-fiction books to sell out. Island of the Setting Sun - In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers was first published in 2006 and sold out in 13 months. It was republished as a second edition in 2008 and has since sold out again, but regrettably is not being republished at this time. I would like to see Island being republished as I think it will continue to sell for years to come.

'Newgrange - Monument to Immortality' is out of print, but the good news is it's being reprinted for November

Newgrange Monument to Immortality.

Some very significant news (and opportunities hopefully) on the publications front. My book Newgrange: Monument to Immortality has sold out. This is very positive news and shows how popular this work has been as an alternative avenue into exploring Ireland's most precious ancient treasure. The even better news is that I've just spoken to The Liffey Press and they're going to do a second print run, which should hopefully be available some time in November.

This is the second time one of my books went out of print. Island of the Setting Sun (with co-author Richard Moore) sold out in just 12 months after its initial publication in 2006, and was revised and expanded and republished in early 2008. HOWEVER, Island of the Setting Sun also recently sold out (again), and in this case it is not being republished by The Liffey Press. So I will be seeking an alternative publisher as I believe this book will continue to sell for years to come.

On the fiction front, my novella Land of the Ever-Living Ones is almost out of print and although it is available for Amazon Kindle, I would like to have it reprinted in hard copy format. This simple story of a lovely dialogue between a young boy and a wise sean-draoi (old druid) set in ancient Ireland has proven very popular and has received some very positive reviews. Here's one from Amazon.com:

Having read Anthony's excellent non-fiction titles, I was enthusiastic about his foray into fiction. What a treasure! I smiled, laughed, thoughtfully let tears run down my cheeks and didn't want it to end! Sometimes I felt myself telling the story of the seandroi, others I was the young, rapt listener and throughout felt that this is how history is supposed to be conveyed. My wife and I rarely like to read the same genre but I had to share this with her and she loved it too! Anthony, please publish in hardcover so this wonderful gift can be passed on and on!

Anthony Murphy's books - non-fiction (left) and fiction (right).

Further to all this, my first full novel, The Cry of the Sebac, has not yet been published in hard copy format, although it is available on Amazon Kindle. I would LOVE to see this book in print and believe it has a very strong message for today's world from the myths and megaliths of ancient Ireland. Here's a brief summary of The Cry of the Sebac:

One boy can be more powerful than an army.

A boy meets a mysterious talking bird, a floating hawk who claims to have lived forever. Guided by the bird, he glimpses his own destiny. He alone must save mankind from rushing over the precipice to his doom. The boy will have to prevent an apocalypse. But how? The bird, who calls himself the Sebac Gaoth (Hawk on the Wind), takes him on an extraordinary journey through mind and space to meet the Tuatha Dé Danann, those who are foretold to come to the aid of man for a battle to save the world. In the process of revelation, the boy helps the Sebac to realise something of his own origins and destiny.

On top of all of the above, I am continuing research into another work of non-fiction, which will be based on some of the most ancient myths of Ireland, offering new insights and tracing the creation and origin myths of this ancient island. I'm hoping to make progress on this book during the coming winter, all going well.

Click on the video below so see footage from the launch of Land of the Ever-Living Ones in 2013:

Links:
Newgrange: Monument to Immortality - Amazon reviews
Land of the Ever-Living Ones: Amazon reviews
Island of the Setting Sun: Amazon reviews

'Above Below' - a documentary about Newgrange author Anthony Murphy and his fascination with the monuments

This is a segment from a half hour documentary about Newgrange Monument to Immortality author Anthony Murphy and his journey from being a newspaper journalist into writing books about the ancient monuments of the Boyne Valley.

The film was made by local film maker Martin O'Donoghue. In this segment, Anthony talks about his many visits to Newgrange and discusses some of his personal insights into this ancient wonder. He talks in particular about how he wanted to write a book devoted to Newgrange, having included the monument as part of a wider look at the ancient landscape in his first work, Island of the Setting Sun.

The project is a precursor to a much  larger, full-length documentary film on the subject, exploring the meaning of Newgrange to people today. Planning for that larger film has begun.

A screen shot from Above Below with Anthony Murphy.

Positive review of Newgrange book in Archaeology Ireland

Archaeology Ireland magazine has featured a very positive review of my latest book, 'Newgrange: Monument to Immortality. Here is the text of their review:

Newgrange – Monument to Immortality (The Liffey Press, pb, €24.95) is the title of a new book by journalist, writer, photographer and amateur astronomer Anthony Murphy. Inspired by the scale and symbolism of Newgrange, Murphy expresses his Newgrange story in an engaging text throughout the book. He states, ‘As long as we have questions about Newgrange, we will continue to explore it, and we will carry on trying to quench our thirst for knowledge’.

Readable and interesting, this publication on Newgrange takes us beyond archaeology into some of the more interesting characteristics of the mound that provoke a whole range of reactions from those who get caught in its web of mystique.

Murphy examines the background to the construction of the great mound and passage tomb, with particular emphasis on the community effort and technical skills that would have been required in its construction.

The importance of the celestial movements and the annual cycle of the sun are of particular significance, and several chapters are devoted to this aspect of the tomb’s construction. In subsequent chapters the author explores the ‘womb or tomb?’ theme, drawing attention to the questions concerning the function of such tombs that go beyond burial and disposal of the dead.

Newgrange is still a meaningful place for modern people, who are attracted to its sense of spirituality. Murphy develops this theme further in discussing the accounts of people who have described their own ‘near death experiences’, where lights at the end of tunnels are commonly reported (the metaphor for death is a strong one when seen in this context!).

Subsequent chapters on cave myths and the author’s own experience in the tomb at solstice provide an intriguing juxtaposition of ancient accounts from the past and the modern-day reality of visiting the interior of Newgrange. The book itself is beautifully produced and illustrated throughout with high-quality colour images.

Following my Newgrange ancestors at Rathcor beach

This is a short video I made back in August while visiting Rathcor beach on the Cooley peninsula, said by geologists to have been the place where the builders of Newgrange sourced the granite cobble stones which are interspersed with white quartz on the front of the monument.

Over 5,000 years ago, our ancestors came to this spot to carefully select water-rolled granite cobbles which can still be found scattered about this remarkable rock beach in large numbers. Archaeologists believe they transported stones to Newgrange by boat, down the Irish Sea and up the Boyne River.

Rathcor is a most incredible beach. it is little visited by humans - precisely because all the stones there make it difficult to walk about, and dangerous for children. There is a sense of something untouched down there - something that has remained the same for five millennia.

Ironically, the granite at Cooley is not native. It originates further north, in the Mourne Mountains. How it got to the southern shore of the Cooley Peninsula is another question.

A journey to Rathcor, to see one of the sites from which the Newgrange builders got their stone, will send shivers up the spine and give you goosebumps. You can almost imagine meeting one of your ancestors there, picking up stones . . .

First copy of 'Newgrange: Monument to Immortality'

I am delighted to report that I have just received the first copy of 'Newgrange: Monument to Immortality' from The Liffey Press. I received a call this morning to say the first two copies had been received at the publisher's office in Raheny, Dublin, from the printer. (The rest will follow next week).

Publisher David Givens presenting me with the first copy of 'Newgrange:
Monument to Immortality' in The Liffey Press offices today.

It is a long-standing tradition, although not widely upheld today apparently, that the author receives the first copy of his or her work. Thankfully, The Liffey Press publisher David Givens still believes in this old mantra! And so, just after midday, myself and my wife Ann were on the M1 motorway heading for Dublin. I have to say that I felt like a child waiting to see what Santa had left . . . I couldn't wait.

The book is beautifully printed and finished, and feels quite weighty in the hand. I am thrilled that so many colour photographs have been used in the book. It is a top quality production - and I wouldn't expect anything less after the tremendous job that was done with 'Island of the Setting Sun'.

The book should be available in the bookshops by the end of the month, and the first official launch will take place in The Barbican, Drogheda, on Friday, November 9th.

The new Newgrange book alongside Island of the Setting Sun.

Newgrange: Monument to Immortality - publication date October 25th

Many people who visit the ancient and magnificent Newgrange monument in the Boyne Valley are driven by some deep longing to connect with their most distant roots. The giant 5,000-year-old megalithic construction evokes awe and wonderment, and often a sense of melancholy for the community of people who created it from stone and earth in the remote past, a people now lost to time.

The cover of the new book

For the past three centuries, archaeologists, antiquarians, and researchers have been probing Newgrange in the hope of revealing something about its purpose, and something about the mysterious people of the New Stone Age who created giant structures using primitive technology. In this fascinating book, Anthony Murphy shows that Newgrange is not only a uniquely special place, but that its construction was carried out not by a grizzly mob of grunting barbarians, but rather by an advanced agrarian community who had developed keen skills in the sciences of astronomy, engineering and architecture.

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, Murphy looks 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 marvellous testament to their time.

The book has gone to the printer and, all going well, should be available to purchase in late October. To pre-order your copy, visit The Liffey Press website.

New blog site on forthcoming Newgrange book

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.