About the Author

Colin Stanley was born in Topsham, Devon, UK in 1952 and educated at Exmouth School.

Beginning in 1970, he worked for Devon Library Services, studying for two years in London, before moving to Bovey Tracey with his wife, Gail, and thence to Nottingham where he worked for the University of Nottingham until July 2005.

One of the founders and Managing Editor of Paupers Press, he now works part-time for the Nottingham Trent University and spends the rest at the cinema and theatre, listening to music, writing, editing, reading and watching cricket. One of his current projects involves writing a series of articles about Colin Wilsons non-fiction for an online literary encyclopedia administered by the University of East Anglia.

He is the author of two experimental novels, a slim volume of nonsense verse and several books and booklets about Colin Wilson and his work. He is the editor of Colin Wilson Studies , a series of books and extended essays, written by Wilson scholars worldwide and Around the Outsider , a volume of essays to celebrate Colin Wilsons 80 th birthday in 2011. His collection of Wilsons work now forms The Colin Wilson Collection at the University of Nottingham, an archive opened in the summer of 2011.

He now resides with Gail by the River Trent, close to Trent Bridge cricket ground. Their two children, Andrew and Katrina-Jane, have long-since moved on.

Around the Outsider

A major publishing event by O-Books marked Colin Wilsons 80th birthday in June 2011 the tribute Around the Outsider: Essays Presented to Colin Wilson on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday was published on May 27 in the UK and in the USA

Axis Mundi Books provide the most revealing and coherent explorations and investigations of the world of hidden or forbidden knowledge. Take a fascinating journey into the realm of Esoteric Mysteries, Magic, Mysticism, Angels, Cosmology, Alchemy, Gnosticism, Theosophy, Kabbalah, Secret Societies and Religions, Symbolism, Quantum Theory, Apocalyptic Mythology, Holy Grail and Alternative Views of Mainstream Religion.

Book 1: The Occult

The Occult was Colin Wilsons first commissioned book and he made no secret of the fact that, at first, it was not a subject that interested him greatly. When he sought the advice of Robert Graves on whether he should write it, he was told very firmly that he should not. However, with a young family to support, Wilson needed the money and fortunately went ahead with the project. During the course of his research, he found his attitude to the subject changing:

Although I have always been curious about the occult it has never been one of my major interests, like philosophy, or science, or even music. It was not until two years ago, when I began the systematic research for this book, that I realised the remarkable consistency of the evidence for such matters as life after death, out-of-body experiences (astral projection), reincarnation. In a basic sense my attitude remains unchanged; I still regard philosophythe pursuit of reality through intuition aided by intellectas being more relevant more important, than questions of the occult. But the weighing of the evidence has convinced me that the basic claims of occultism are true. (40-41*)

The completed book, dedicated to Graves, was published on October 4, 1971, by Hodder & Stoughton in the U.K. and Random House in the U.S. In his new Introduction to a 2003 reprint, published by Watkins Publishing, he wrote, The publication of this book had the effect of changing my life. Cyril Connolly and Philip Toynbee who, as critics, were instrumental in turning his