[The following is a guest post from CJ Stone<\/a> on the newly revised Kindle edition of his book, \u201cThe Trials of Arthur,\u201d<\/a> which explores the life and work of British Druid activist Arthur Pendragon<\/a>.\u00a0CJ Stone is an author, columnist, and feature writer. He has written four books: \u201cFierce Dancing: Adventures in the Underground\u201d<\/a> (Faber & Faber 1996); \u201cThe Last of the Hippies\u201d<\/a> (Faber & Faber 1999); \u201cHousing Benefit Hill & Other Places\u201d<\/a> (AK Press 2001); and \u201cThe Trials of Arthur\u201d<\/a> (Thorsons\/Element 2003). He is currently working on his fifth.]<\/p>\n \u201cThe new Druids and especially those involved in direct action such as Arthur, are therefore not fringe figures with ideals and preoccupations detached from those of a wider national community, but some of the more colourful contributors to a set of arguments and activities which involves a large part of that community.\u201d <\/em>\u2013 Ronald Hutton, from the\u00a0forward of \u201cThe Trials of Arthur: Revised Edition\u201d<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It was just over three years ago that Arthur Pendragon asked me if I could get our\u00a0book re-printed. It had originally been published by Thorsons\/Element, an imprint of\u00a0HarperCollins<\/a>, in 2003, but had since gone out of print.<\/p>\n I contacted a friend on the off-chance: John Higgs<\/a>, the writer of \u201cI Have America\u00a0Surrounded,\u201d<\/a> a biography of Timothy Leary. John had written a film script based\u00a0upon our book, so I knew that he\u2019d be interested.<\/p>\n This is where the magic kicks in, as it often does in Arthur\u2019s life.<\/p>\n It just so happened that John had recently set up a publishing company in order to\u00a0publish a book by a friend of his, and he had some ISBN numbers spare.<\/p>\n I have to say that I was never very pleased with the old book. I\u2019d had a lot of\u00a0difficulty writing it, and had had to deal with a fairly serious depression in the middle\u00a0of it. I was about six months into it, and struggling, when 9\/11 happened. After that I\u00a0couldn\u2019t see what relevance a book about road protests and Paganism in the 90s had\u00a0any more. The world had suddenly turned apocalyptic in front of our eyes.<\/p>\n But I struggled on with it, very slowly, and, in the end, did the best job I could. It\u00a0came out in 2003.<\/p>\n The second half was always much better than the first half, being as much about the\u00a0protest scene in the UK in the 90s as it was about Arthur. And I rushed the first and\u00a0last chapters in order to beat the deadline. I always knew they would ask me to re-write these chapters.<\/p>\n Except they never did. They asked me to re-write the last chapter, but the first chapter\u00a0stayed the same, with all of its faults. It was clumsy, turgid, awkward and it entirely\u00a0failed to do what any decent opening chapter should do: it failed to draw you into the\u00a0story.<\/p>\n Thus, when Arthur asked me to get the book republished, I decided to re-write that\u00a0first chapter.<\/p>\n Only now something magical happened again. I wrote two chapters to replace the\u00a0original first chapter, but then I just couldn\u2019t stop writing. I wrote chapter after\u00a0chapter, much to Arthur\u2019s annoyance, who wanted to get the book out quickly. And\u00a0I have to say, in Arthur\u2019s defence, that he had a point. My struggles with the earlier\u00a0book had meant that we\u2019d missed deadline after deadline, and the book had been\u00a0seriously delayed.<\/p>\n httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=itx2ZuG2Ulk<\/p>\n Thus it was that we decided on a compromise. We republished the book as it had\u00a0originally appeared, and I carried on writing what I thought was a brand new book.<\/p>\n Only it didn\u2019t turn out like that either.<\/p>\n After a while I just found I was rewriting the old book again, and the whole project\u00a0got shelved, while I waited for new material.<\/p>\n No new material turned up.<\/p>\n It\u2019s funny how long it can take to spot the obvious at times. I had half a book I liked,\u00a0and a published book I didn\u2019t like. I was thinking of releasing some of my old books\u00a0on Kindle, and spoke to John Higgs again. This was only a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n \u201cShall we put the Arthur book out on Kindle\u201d<\/em> I asked?<\/p>\n \u201cSure, why not?\u201d<\/em> said John. \u201cOnly why don\u2019t you put those two chapters back in?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Those were the two chapters that had turned into seven chapters and which we had\u00a0jettisoned in favour of bringing out the book in its original form. So I looked at the\u00a0two chapters and then at the seven chapters, then at more material I had, plus two\u00a0more chapters that Arthur had written, and it all just slotted into place.<\/p>\n We had a brand new book on our hands.<\/p>\n And I have to say that, unlike the original book, this is one that I am genuinely proud\u00a0of. It\u2019s not only that it reads better \u2013 that it is faster paced and more compelling, or\u00a0that the first chapter draws you right into a magical scene and then doesn\u2019t let you go\u00a0\u2013 it\u2019s also that it all suddenly makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n I can clearly see the relevance at last.<\/p>\n Yes, it\u2019s mainly about long-forgotten battles for the soul of Britain \u2013 about road\u00a0protests and protests around access to the Stonehenge monument on solstice night \u2013\u00a0but it also brings up important issues about identity, about freedom, about culture,\u00a0about our place on this planet, and about who we think we are.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the point about Arthur. People say he\u2019s crazy. It takes not knowing him to\u00a0think that. Once you meet him you know how gloriously sane he actually is. It\u2019s the\u00a0rest of the world that seems crazy by comparison.<\/p>\n Whatever you think the mechanism of his claims might be \u2013 is he the reincarnation of\u00a0a historical Arthur, or just the current representation of a mythological spirit? Did he\u00a0become Arthur by living the part, or did he evoke something that was already there?\u00a0Is \u2018Arthur\u2019 a title, or a name? Could anyone be Arthur if they chose? \u2013 However you\u00a0think the process has evolved, the fact is that by his very presence he challenges much\u00a0of what we take for granted in our 21st century world.<\/p>\n He takes us back to a magical time when our souls were our own and we were free to\u00a0make decisions based upon the needs of the Earth and of our fellow creatures, rather\u00a0than the hypnotism and propaganda of the global elites. He asks us to be heroes: to\u00a0have adventures, to be bold and upfront in our lives, and gives us some hilarious and\u00a0compelling examples of how he went about achieving the role for himself.<\/p>\n This is the true glory of Arthur\u2019s achievement, that he makes Paganism an adventure\u00a0again, rather than a learned squabble between rival factions. He brings it out of the\u00a0library and onto the field of battle. He turns it into a battle cry for the Earth and for the\u00a0dispossessed of the Earth. He makes it fun to be alive.<\/p>\n To buy the book: Amazon<\/a> \/ Amazon UK<\/a> [The following is a guest post from CJ Stone on the newly revised Kindle edition of his book, \u201cThe Trials of Arthur,\u201d which explores the life and work of British Druid activist Arthur Pendragon.\u00a0CJ Stone is an author, columnist, and feature writer. He has written four books: \u201cFierce Dancing: Adventures in the Underground\u201d (Faber & […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[285,446,658,662,3013,1261,3439,2537],"class_list":["post-9841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paganism","category-religion","tag-books","tag-cj-stone","tag-druid","tag-druids","tag-ebooks","tag-king-arthur","tag-the-trials-of-arthur","tag-uk"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nFor more information about Arthur Pendragon: http:\/\/www.warband.org.uk\/<\/a>
\nFor more information about CJ Stone: http:\/\/cjstone.hubpages.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"