The Octopus Speaks!

By: Ian Winn

Narrated by: Ian Winn, Josephine Buchan

Length: 1 hr and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Spoken Word at its sparkling, hilarious best. Featuring excerpts from Mercury in Retrograde, a show critics describe as “cancelled due to clinical psychosis”, and The Scotsman called "Strangely gripping."

God: tackled! Vegetarians: slain! Cults: joined! Drugs: differentiated! America: explained!

“Headlining performance artist Ian Winn, a California marine-biology graduate turned expatriate spoken-word sensation took top honors at several major poetry slams in England (and) opened for superstar rave DJ’s such as Paul Oakenfold at London nightspots. Winn’s live shows are an alloy of satirical, politically-tinged, stand-up comedy...and memorized, hyperkinetic readings of the poems in his novel.” (Denver Westword)

“Strangely gripping.” (The Scotsman)

“Sharp writing, amusing vignettes” (The Telegraph)

“Get on a Winn-ing streak. With his energetic performance poetry, Ian Winn is a leading star on the spoken word circuit.” (The Guardian)

“Witty, perceptive, ridiculous!” (The List, Edinburgh Fringe Review)

“Rockin’ the world of verse, slam poet Ian Winn drives ‘em wild.” (Phoenix New Times)

©2019 Ian Winn (P)2019 Ian Winn

Hilarious and engaging

Listened to this on the way to Burning Man and it was a great way to prep my psyche for the experience. Whimsical, hilarious, suprising, and a great voice performance. I got this and my boyfriend wasn't so sure when I read the description... he said he would give it a try, Well, we wound up listening to almost the entire thing on the drive down, laughing so hard we shed occasional tears.

Highly recommended.

Love love loved it

Spoken word at its finest! Ian takes you on an amazing journey that will make you ponder then laugh out loud. I sat down to listen to a couple of chapters and ended up enjoying the entire book in one sitting. Highly recommended!

Vividly imaginitive

Wow. Incredibly fun to listen to. Full artistry of composition and performance. Listener, enjoy. The texts intersperse narrative poems from Techno Pagan Octopus Messiah with poems in the voice of Mercury, which the author uses to deliver sharp and funny social commentary. Winn's voice, sometimes accompanied by the voice of a British actress, is marvelously expressive, now sounding like an elderly Jewish American guy, now like a conniving divinity, now like Eminem. The poems are sculpted, shaped, crafted, for maximum comprehension, wit, and listening pleasure. Bravo, Merc. Give us more.

A Brilliantly Twisted Journey

These tales of Ian Winn's journeys thru Egypt, India and Burning Man is a helluva ride! Channelling the god Mercury thru much of these performance poetry pieces, he weaves deeply timely and revelatory expressions of mankind's fixations, fuckups and follies, with darkly sardonic wit and a huge heart.

Yellow Sapphires, Pyramids, Gods & Planets - A Quest to Savor

LOVE this traveler’s tale on a sojourn that weaves like a dream catcher ornamented with shells and deserts, camels and oils from places requiring passports and a hunger for depths and love. You won’t be disappointed and in fact, will be delighted. Download for your next road trip or train commute and prepare to be transported. Am looking forward to more from Ian Winn...this is a stellar beginning...

wonderfully entertaining!

Ian Winn has lived a life of adventure and wonder. I strongly recommend his other work as well

Although the first section

Might seem a bit harsh
You’ll find that it’s worth
A muck through the marsh

There aren’t many poems
Inscribed in this age
That can pull you along
For page after page

And so I am behooved
Required in fact
Because I was moved
Even booty smacked

So not even close
Not down to the wire
Another five stars
To the techno pagan octopus Messiah.

(although he could’ve picked a title with less syllables).