Astra and Sebastian: An Epic Love Story

ASTRA AND SEBASTIAN is an epic adventure in the tradition of an ancient hero myth, but brought up to date by having two heroes, a man and a woman, thus presenting the story from both perspectives and also showing how perceived earthly opposites are reconciled by the universe. Astra and Sebastian deals specifically with the change from child to adult but – as with any hero myth – this journey is applicable to any transitional moment in life. Hero myths throughout history articulate the symbolic journey of self discovery or individuation using archetypal motifs that we find in the unconscious. Cultures would build this psychological profile into their stories to aid the physical journey through life. Even today in a secular society, without help from any formal mythology, we undertake the journey of a hero unconsciously, every time we fall in love, face a crisis, or change, and any time we embark on a project. L. W. ILLSLEY, originally from Trewellard on the west cliffs of Cornwall, now lives in East London where he writes and performs music as well as writing poetry. An avid reader since a boy, it was through music that he first discovered writing. He began, aged sixteen, by writing lyrics on receipt rolls when he worked on a supermarket checkout in Cornwall. Seven years later, and in a London supermarket, he wrote the two thousand line draft of his first epic poem also on receipt rolls. His entry to the Proverse Prize is his second completed epic poem. "Illsley's Astra and Sebastian is a poetic saga that strives towards timeless spectacle, through a textual feast for the senses. This is imaginative, phantasmagoric verse on a grand scale; in which heroic myth, punctuated by motifs of the dream-work and the unconscious, draws the reader into the human quest for love, self-knowledge, adventure and transcendence."— Mary-Jane Newton, author of the poetry collection, Of Symbols Misused "What a massive grand opera L.W Illsley has maestroed with ?clat here. A mighty epic poem replete with myth, legend and myth-legend. A veritable concantenation of events and creatures and eventful creatures. A vital panorama of goodies and baddies grappling and battling. Archetypes, typecasts, symbols, synecdoches in a brave brew of brouhaha. A cornucopia of humour and wit flashing their lashings via Mr Rhyme and his cousin Half. Dive in and delight. Plunge in and plunder. There's more than enough here to whet your appetite and whip up your acumen. The tale Astra and Sebastian partake in is our own if I'm not mistaken. In their resilience is our consilience. Demi-dream deliverance on a platter: "creating a future through mythology" indeed!"– Vaughan Rapatahana, author of the poetry collection, Home, Away, Elsewhere.