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Imprint: Triarchy Press
Published: 7th September 2018
Format: Paperback ~ Extent: 192pp. ~ Size: 20.3 x 12.7 cm
List Price: £12.50
SAVE 20%: Use code tpdirect at checkout and get the book for £10.
ISBN: 978-1-911193-49-4
Tags: drift, dérive, Milton Keynes, mythogeography, misguide, psychogeography, walking, Phil Smith
The MK Myth by Phil Smith & K

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The MK Myth
a walkable novel

Phil Smith & K

the world’s first walkable novel

Every place has its stories. But in some places those stories get forgotten and distorted, even tarmacked and concreted over. This is nowhere more true than in Milton Keynes, where the opinions of those who have never been to the place, or who have never ventured beyond its traffic grid, are repeatedly rolled out in the media: ‘it all looks the same’, ‘a dystopian urban sprawl’, ‘concrete cow culture’.

Writer, walker and mythogeographer Phil Smith has walked Milton Keynes to find some of its missing stories: stories of the old, even ancient, places that lie within the modern city; stories of the unusual geography of ritual spaces awaiting new processions and services; stories of the forest hidden within the houses. In The MK Myth he has used these rarely told stories and less well-known spaces as the backdrop to an original novel that gives Milton Keynes a new myth of itself.

The MK Myth is a novel for our decaying, digital times that will make sense to readers anywhere. Pursuing its central character, K, a marketing executive who falls out of the comforting ambition of her everyday life, The MK Myth takes us on a precarious journey through a city in transition, encountering its extraordinary characters as they navigate a returning past and daunting future.

Uniquely, readers can follow, not only from the comfort of their sofas, but also by taking the book out into the streets, alleys, paths and woods, walking or cycling the same journey as K and sharing in her uncovering of the hidden and emerging MK.

Make it your (mis)guide to a remarkable and unique city. Feel the stories under, in and through your feet. Become the myth.

Readership

The MK Myth is a book for anyone living in - or visiting - Milton Keynes who fancies and adventure, and a book for walkers, artists and students anywhere who are interested in writing about their experience of alternative, resistant and aesthetic walking.

Mythogeography ~ Counter-Tourism ~ Other Triarchy books on Walking

2 images from the book

The MK Myth can be read as a novel, walked or cycled as a route, read as you walk, read before walking, or read after walking. As a route, you can walk it or cycle it in stages and there are suggested starts and stops signalled in the text. These are only suggestions. If you are cycling, be prepared to carry or lift your bike, or leave it locked briefly, to access parts of the walk. If you are a very fit long-distance walker, you might just about walk the route all in one go, but it would be - literally - a marathon, and you would probably miss many of the things that slower, shorter walks will reveal.
The directions in the book are intended to be sufficient to get you around the route, but take an A-Z map with you if you feel happier that way, or use a GPS facility on your phone.
Some parts of the route go through very quiet, un-public places, and – although the likelihood of a threatening situation is very, very remote – not everyone feels confident in these spaces, so you might want to consider the option of walking with a companion or in a group.
Much of the route of The MK Myth is on accessible pavements and Redways, but not all of it. Short sections of the route are steep and uneven and there are some steps. At different times of year some of the ground will be wet and may be slippery. Take care, and if you are concerned about an incline or slipperiness, there are often alternatives that will keep you on the flat and allow you to pick up the route again a little further on. Remember that Milton Keynes is changing all the time; be alive to the possibility that some of the details of the directions might become out of date (a sign taken down or replaced, a gap mended) by new developments and you may need to keep your wits about you.