YouCaxton are publishers of quality books. We also provide a full range of services to authors wishing to self-publish including, editorial, design, marketing and distribution. We work closely with authors to achieve critical and literary success focusing on good writing and careful research.
We are planning to hold a self-publishing workshop in Manchester later this year (cost £25). Please contact us for further details.
Can Christianity survive Darwin?
The fourth YouCaxton lecture is scheduled for Tuesday 8th January, 6.30 pm, at the YouCaxton Shop in Bishop’s Castle. The Reverend Adrian Bailey, a vicar and chaplain of Gobowen Orthopaedic Hospital, will be discussing the impact of Darwin’s thought on modern Christian belief.
Adrian Bailey will be considering how Darwin’s publication of The Origin of Species in 1859 challenged traditional belief in a perfect Earth created by God a few thousand years ago with Adam and Eve as its flawed human beneficiaries. If Christians accepted Darwin’s theories they were obliged to accept that God’s way of creating life and humanity was the harshest and most painful imaginable. This conflicted with their belief in a good and loving God.
Adrian Bailey will be examining Christian responses to this dilemma including how some Christians have been driven to prefer alternative ‘scientific’ explanations which question current theories in biology, cosmology and geology and attempt to put Adam and Eve back in the frame. He tackles these issues head on. Can Christianity survive Darwin? Yes, he says, but only if you radically re-think it …
Sir Michael Leighton’s On the Marches
Sir Michael Leighton’s latest book of poems, On the Marches, produced by YouCaxton and edited by Mike Willmott of Shrewsbury Words (descendent of the great John Wilmot Earl of Rochester and a poet himself ) was launched recently at Loton Park, the family home near the Breidden Hills in West Shropshire. The poems are in the form of a collection of responses to the Shropshire countryside which Sir Michael loves. The launch was fascinating and YouCaxton were there in full tog, chatting up the handmaids – or possibly the footmen.
Erotic Communities
Antony Lampert’s talk on Tuesday 20th November was fascinating. He talked in detail about the very real threats to life and harm to vulnerable individuals, particularly children, which result when religious prejudice takes precedence over medical duty, spelling out how frequently this prejudice is to do with sex or the control of it. There was less about historic witches than we advertised but, hopefully, we were forgiven because he described more than enough of modern witchcraft and superstition to fill the gap. He ended on a humorous note by producing his ‘Award’ from the ‘Erotic Community’, shown here to replace the poor witch shown previously. Many thanks to Antony.
Tracey Emin and her bed
Philip Woolley’s talk on Tuesday 2nd October on Tracey Emin and her bed and on conceptual art in general set off more hares than there were greyhounds to catch them: the spitting bile of traditional craft artists versus the slippery guile of the conceptualists with Philip’s informed voice to referee the discussion once the talk was over. He looked at the phenomenon of museum art and at the rise of the Young Brits, young no longer, pulling in ideas of gender and romanticism along the way. He was a cat among pigeons with silvery beards (mainly). A thoroughly enjoyable evening.
The next talk, ‘What is Lost’, broadly about the influence of religion on medical practice and how Dr Lempert arrived at his opinions through the experience of his family during the Holocaust and through other influences, will be by Dr. Anthony Lempert, chair of the Secular Medical Forum. It should be equally challenging and interesting. Literature and debate as sublimated cage boxing – discuss. More to follow.
Beat the Bullies
We’re very pleased to be involved in the publication of the Herman Homunculus Workbook Series, a clever and useful series of children’s books by Dr. Lynda Shaw, a specialist psychologist. The series is designed to help young people understand how their mental and physical well being is affected by their experiences.
Beat The Bullies Use Your Brain is the first book in the series and will be available shortly. It looks at how children can overcome the agony of bullying in the playground, using a fictional format and ‘brain box’ questions to reinforce its message.
The young reader embarks on a remarkable journey through the brain, encountering neurons and synapses and learning something of the complexities which make us feel sad or happy – a journey of self-discovery. Dr. Shaw’s intention in writing these books is to help children, their parents and teachers to recognise and cope with problems such as bullying before the problems develop into isolation and dangerous lowering of self esteem and self worth.
Bressbee the Ice king
Rebecca Walter’s novel Bressbee the Ice King is being launched at a stables in North Shropshire, 21 September. Rebecca came to us at the last minute having been let down by her printer and we managed to turn the book around in the space of two weeks (we were not involved in editorial or design). This makes us unpleasantly proud of our own efficiency but, smugness notwithstanding, Bob will be attending the launch and will read a short passage to the assembled multitude.
Shrewsbury Market
In line with our recent policy of combining literature with fruit and veg, Wednesdays from 17 September, Bob Fowke will be in attendance at the Pengwern Bookshop in Shrewsbury’s indoor market. Pengwern is an independent bookshop, Pengwern being the Brythonic name for a Romano-Caltic settlement somewhere on the site of central Shrewsbury and possibly a haunt of King Arthur. It probably meant ‘the hill of alders’. The name has nothing in particular to do with Penguin Books, although Susan Caroline, the proprietor, does sell some of them.
Do drop by, Bob will be happy to discuss your project.