Fortean Times reviews "The Daemon"

Today was for me a re-living of the day I walked to my school to pick up my "A" level results at Wirral Grammar School for Boys. In those days they were posted on the door of the headmaster's office. As you walked towards the notice that held your future life in its bland page you could see the reaction of others; delight or despair.

This was nearly 36 years ago but I had exactly the same sense of trepidation mixed with excitement as I entered W.H. Smiths at Lime Street Station in Liverpool. I knew that today was the day that the latest edition of Fortean Times would be found on the shelves. From a distance I spotted the new copies, picked one up, and held my breath.

I knew that on the review pages would be a review of my second book, "The Daemon, A Guide to Your Extraordinary Secret Self". This would be my first ever review in a major international magazine and I was scared. Would they hate it, or even worse, give it a really small review?

I turned to page 57 and my heart almost leapt out of my chest when I saw that not only was it the first (and therefore major) book for review but the review filled the whole page and part of the next. I ran my eyes down to the crucial score - FT always mark books out of 10. They really do not pull any punches, last edition there were two books given 1. There is was - a 9 out of 10. I have never seen a 10 out of 10 review (but they must exist) so this was much higher than I expected. As I approached the shop I had decided that I would be really pleased with a 7!

The coda underneath the 9 score read "(A) fascinating exploration of the Near-Death experience."

I then paid for the copy and jumped on the train. My joy turned to elation as I read what Founding Editor, and one of my all time heroes, the great Bob Rickard had to say about my work. The review, which runs to a page and a quarter, is a wonderful synopsis of the whole ITLAD/CTF theory. Indeed it is probably the best precis that has been written. But what was even better that Bob genuinely seemed to like what I had written. Like you guys here on the Blog (and on the FORUM) Bob was using the itladian terminology that we know and love. "Bohmian IMAX" got a mention. He had even managed to mention the itladian movies "Groundhog Day", "It's A Wonderful Life", "Vanilla Sky" and "Jacob's Ladder".

I sat back into my train seat with a smug smile on my face that must have looked very peculiar to my fellow commuters!

I would like to both thank and congratulate Bob Rickard for an excellent description of my work, a description that is bound to attract many more readers.

In the final section of the review Bob writes the following:

Despite the subtitle 'A guide to your extraordinary secret self', The Daemon is not a self-help book, at least not in the usual meaning of that term. It is something far more exciting; an intelligent and and imaginative thesis, a tentative step towards understanding what happens to us at the moment of death. In doing so, Peake seems to be shining a light on our equally mysterious inner life.

Copies of this magazine (number 248) appeared in the newsagents and bookshops this morning (3rd April). In the UK this is stocked by all the major multiples such as W H Smith, Borders, Martins etc as well as most medium and large newsagents. It is also available internationally via the large multiples. The UK cost is £4.25 and the review appears on page 57.

I would like to thank Bob for a great review and allowing me to re-experience the day of my "A" level results ..... even to the better than my wildest dreams outcome of both!!!