Description
**FEATURED ON COMEDY CENTRAL'S "TALES FROM THE TRIP" YOUTUBE SERIES** The Wild Kindness: A Psilocybin Odyssey is the lyrical, unforgettable memoir of Bett Williams's relationship with psilocybin mushrooms, otherwise known as magic mushrooms. In pursuit of self-healing, she begins experimenting with mushrooms in solitary ceremonies by the fire. Word soon gets out about her New Mexican desert mushroom farm, though, and people arrive in droves. Not long after, the police read her her Miranda Rights, her relationships fall out of whack, and her dog Rosie just might be CIA. On a quest to find help through the psychedelic community, Bett is led to Cleveland to meet Kai Wingo, an African American leader within a high-dose psilocybin community, and to Huautla de Jimenez, home of well-known, well-respected curandera Maria Sabina. Back home, Bett begins a solid ritual practice with the help of her partner and friends, bearing in mind the medicine's indigenous roots and power to transform one's life. Amidst the mainstream flood of New Age practices and products, The Wild Kindness: A Psilocybin Odyssey is a dreamlike reminder that psilocybin mushrooms are a medicine of the people, not to be neatly packaged, marketed, or appropriated. Bett Williams brings to the table one of the best overviews of contemporary psychedelic culture in a long time. -THE EROWID REVIEW In general, this is a balm. It is the polar opposite of that Michael Pollan book. -GOSSAMER Like any good memoirist, Williams performs surgery on herself and holds up each organ for inspection...This is a book that requires you to "go with the flow," but the flow is awfully inviting. -MOLLY YOUNG, Vulture
10-city author tour (Los Angeles, Tucson, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Bay Area, Portland, Cleveland, Dallas, Chicago, and others) Book launch at Telluride Mushroom Festival Pre-pub galley mailing Initial print run of 10,000 National online, radio, and print media campaign Collaboration with the Decriminalize Nature Movement Blurbs by Michelle Tea, Amanda Yates Garcia, and other high-profile authors Major social media outreach Promotional giveaway on Goodreads Promotion at National Women's Studies Association conference and Spirit Plant Medicine Conference in Vancouver Cross-promotion on bettwilliams.squarespace.com
About the Author
BETT WILLIAMS is the author of The Wild Kindness; A Psilocybin Odyssey (Dottir Press, Fall 2020), a memoir about growing mushrooms in the high desert of New Mexico. Her novel, Girl Walking Backwards (St. Martin's Press) was mentioned as one of the 10 Best Young Adult Queer Novels in Vogue magazine. Dennis Cooper said of her 2003 memoir, The Wrestling Party (Alyson Press), Fantastic. An absolute dream of a book. Bett Williams writing has brains, charisma beauty and wit. She was a featured speaker at Kai Wingo's 2015 Women and Entheogen's Conference and the Horizons Perspectives on Psychedelics Conference in 2018. She and her partner, Beth Hill, host No Cures, Only Alchemy, an event series and podcast centered around psychedelics and culture making. In 2018 they received the Kindle Project Maker's Muse Award. She has written for many publications, including DoubleBlind, OUT Magazine, Flaunt, Lucid News and Lenny Letter.
Reviews
A hot lesbian living in the American Southwest decides to grow her own psychoactive mushrooms. "You'll never guess what happens next!"...In general, this is a balm. It is the polar opposite of that Michael Pollan book. -GOSSAMER An exuberant endorsement of the use of psychedelics as an instrument of self-discovery. -KIRKUS Bett Williams brings to the table one of the best overviews of contemporary psychedelic culture in a long time. -THE EROWID REVIEW You don't need to be interested in doing psychedelic drugs to find yourself in deep with Williams' chronicle of finding meaning and healing through mycelium. You might start by merely appreciating the book's colorfully shroomy cover and compact, ride-along size before you dip a toe into the pleasant warmth of the free-flowing narrative. -SANTA FE REPORTER Like any good memoirist, Williams performs surgery on herself and holds up each organ for inspection...This is a book that requires you to "go with the flow," but the flow is awfully inviting. -MOLLY YOUNG, Vulture Like a trip, the book builds and plateaus but never settles down...Williams can be brainy, funny, wounded, macho, nurturing, self-absorbed, reverent, and absurd...For the sake of all those newbies seeking psychedelic transformation out there, I almost hope she becomes a guru. But she'd hate it, and that's why she's awesome. -ERIK DAVIS, The Burning Shore Bett Williams is a renegade...this book is a useful tool. -THE ROGUE LITERARY SOCIETY The Wild Kindness is absolutely electric. It's not only the subject matter, which is mystical and fascinating. Bett William's voice is untamed and inspired, full of gonzo humor, ambitious daring and high-vibrating heart. The personal, the political, the spiritual and the unknown come together into a mesmerizing read that is full-on literary fireworks. -MICHELLE TEA, author of Valencia, Black Wave, Astro Baby, and more On the surface, a book about mycology. Immediately beneath this, a safe trip facilitated by a guide who places herself between heaven and earth, between the fight for love and the fight itself; wholly engaged by both magic and the material plane. -KRISTIN HERSH, singer-songwriter Bett's writing has brains, charisma, beauty and wit. -DENNIS COOPER, author of the George Miles cycle
Awards
Winner of Kindle Project Maker's Muse Award 2018 (United States).
Book Information
ISBN 9781948340311
Author Bett Williams
Format Paperback
Page Count 280
Imprint Dottir Press
Publisher Dottir Press
10-city author tour (Los Angeles, Tucson, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Bay Area, Portland, Cleveland, Dallas, Chicago, and others) Book launch at Telluride Mushroom Festival Pre-pub galley mailing Initial print run of 10,000 National online, radio, and print media campaign Collaboration with the Decriminalize Nature Movement Blurbs by Michelle Tea, Amanda Yates Garcia, and other high-profile authors Major social media outreach Promotional giveaway on Goodreads Promotion at National Women's Studies Association conference and Spirit Plant Medicine Conference in Vancouver Cross-promotion on bettwilliams.squarespace.com
About the Author
BETT WILLIAMS is the author of The Wild Kindness; A Psilocybin Odyssey (Dottir Press, Fall 2020), a memoir about growing mushrooms in the high desert of New Mexico. Her novel, Girl Walking Backwards (St. Martin's Press) was mentioned as one of the 10 Best Young Adult Queer Novels in Vogue magazine. Dennis Cooper said of her 2003 memoir, The Wrestling Party (Alyson Press), Fantastic. An absolute dream of a book. Bett Williams writing has brains, charisma beauty and wit. She was a featured speaker at Kai Wingo's 2015 Women and Entheogen's Conference and the Horizons Perspectives on Psychedelics Conference in 2018. She and her partner, Beth Hill, host No Cures, Only Alchemy, an event series and podcast centered around psychedelics and culture making. In 2018 they received the Kindle Project Maker's Muse Award. She has written for many publications, including DoubleBlind, OUT Magazine, Flaunt, Lucid News and Lenny Letter.
Reviews
A hot lesbian living in the American Southwest decides to grow her own psychoactive mushrooms. "You'll never guess what happens next!"...In general, this is a balm. It is the polar opposite of that Michael Pollan book. -GOSSAMER An exuberant endorsement of the use of psychedelics as an instrument of self-discovery. -KIRKUS Bett Williams brings to the table one of the best overviews of contemporary psychedelic culture in a long time. -THE EROWID REVIEW You don't need to be interested in doing psychedelic drugs to find yourself in deep with Williams' chronicle of finding meaning and healing through mycelium. You might start by merely appreciating the book's colorfully shroomy cover and compact, ride-along size before you dip a toe into the pleasant warmth of the free-flowing narrative. -SANTA FE REPORTER Like any good memoirist, Williams performs surgery on herself and holds up each organ for inspection...This is a book that requires you to "go with the flow," but the flow is awfully inviting. -MOLLY YOUNG, Vulture Like a trip, the book builds and plateaus but never settles down...Williams can be brainy, funny, wounded, macho, nurturing, self-absorbed, reverent, and absurd...For the sake of all those newbies seeking psychedelic transformation out there, I almost hope she becomes a guru. But she'd hate it, and that's why she's awesome. -ERIK DAVIS, The Burning Shore Bett Williams is a renegade...this book is a useful tool. -THE ROGUE LITERARY SOCIETY The Wild Kindness is absolutely electric. It's not only the subject matter, which is mystical and fascinating. Bett William's voice is untamed and inspired, full of gonzo humor, ambitious daring and high-vibrating heart. The personal, the political, the spiritual and the unknown come together into a mesmerizing read that is full-on literary fireworks. -MICHELLE TEA, author of Valencia, Black Wave, Astro Baby, and more On the surface, a book about mycology. Immediately beneath this, a safe trip facilitated by a guide who places herself between heaven and earth, between the fight for love and the fight itself; wholly engaged by both magic and the material plane. -KRISTIN HERSH, singer-songwriter Bett's writing has brains, charisma, beauty and wit. -DENNIS COOPER, author of the George Miles cycle
Awards
Winner of Kindle Project Maker's Muse Award 2018 (United States).
Book Information
ISBN 9781948340311
Author Bett Williams
Format Paperback
Page Count 280
Imprint Dottir Press
Publisher Dottir Press
