Books published by CFZ Press

Richard Muirhead is probably the best researcher that I know. He has, what I am sure Charlie Fort would have called, a 'Wild Talent' in that you can let him loose in any library or archive, and with the innate powers of a truffle-hound he will extract all sorts of pieces of arcane knowledge that one would never have suspected to be there.For example, about a decade ago, he phoned me telling me he was going to look in the archive of the Hong Kong Yacht Club. "Whatever for?" I asked and received a completely non-committal reply. That evening, he telephoned me to tell me that he had found a hitherto unsuspected sea-serpent report. That's just the kind of guy he is.Some years ago, he started his own magazine, Flying Snake, which has proven to be a wildly eclectic and thematically diverse publication that, every few months, continues to delight and amuse. Here, in book form, is the first volume of the collected editions.Enjoy,Jon Downes (Director, Centre for Fortean Zoology)

Have you ever wondered what lurks out there in the deep, dark woods of the North? This book presents a choice selection of monstrous beings and fabulous creatures from Greenland, across the North Atlantic to Scandinavia, and the Baltic States. Meet the Giant Gull of Greenland, the terrifying Skrimsl of the Icelandic wilderness, the trolls that stomp through the impenetrable Nordic woods, and the puk-dragons guarding the houses on the Baltic Coast. This is the book where zoologist Lars Thomas tries to make sense of all the very strange beings that live in these Curious Countries.

The stuff in this book is not dated.It is not annotated - and there has been no attempt to put it into any historical or socio-political context.Why?Precisely because the vast majority of this stuff is lightweight, hopefully easy to read, and hopefully entertaining. It is a mixture of editorials, some book reviews, and a few feature articles, which have been taken almost at random from stuff that I wrote between 2013 - 2016 in a magazine called Gonzo Weekly, of which I am the founding editor.If I may quote, somewhat out of context, Mark Twain:"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted;persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished;persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR per G.G., CHIEF OF ORDNANCE".To which I shall only add that I hope that it affords you some little amusement.Hail Eris.Love and peace.Jon Downes.