Identify Your Escape Routes

Escapology is the art of getting out of things. And New Escapologist is the journal of the art of getting out of things.

Primarily a small-perss magazine but also a newsletter and blog, we talk about escaping the overbearing world of work, consumerism, and anxiety. We see this system as a trap complete with bait and locking mechanisms, and worthy of our efforts to escape. We tend to describe the alternative as the good life.

80% of us are dissatisfied with our jobs; what with them being pointless, boring, deskilled, anxiety-producing, humiliating drudgery and all.

We reluctantly spend 87,000 hours at work before dying. Some of us even die at work. We also spend 5,000 hours sitting in trains and buses and traffic jams, getting to and from work. Despite all this toil, most of us are in debt because we’re so desperate to reclaim our dignity by participating as consumers.

But at New Escapologist we say: goodbye to all that! Instead, we look at the exit strategies from those demeaning day jobs, and celebrate the ‘flight’ part of ‘fight or flight’. We don’t think it’s shameful to want enough time in life to read library books, laze around, throw parties, go for walks, pursue our own creative projects or (heaven forbid) better ourselves. We refute the notion that being a successful worker-consumer is the height of it all.

Our operation is run by Robert Wringham and friends. As well as the current edition, you can still buy all thirteen glorious issues of the original magazine too, along with the well-received books, Escape Everything! and The Good Life for Wage Slaves.

Over the years, we’ve had some top-drawer contributors including Alain de Botton, Will Self, Richard Herring, Judith Levine, Luke Rhinehart, Leo Babauta, Mr Money Moustache, Ewan Morrison, Caitlin Doughty and many others. We’ve also featured great writing from working stiffs looking for ways to leave it all behind.

As well as our printed and online productions, we sometimes like to host ‘escapades’. These have included New Escapologist launch parties at famous venues such as The Arches and the CCA in Glasgow; a Zine Fair at the student-occupied Free Hetherington; a night of thought-provoking entertainment with Tom Hodgkinson of The Idler; and an evening of last-minute cabaret at the Edinburgh Festival. We also sell our products and host talks at ink-on-paper conventions like Montreal’s Expozine and the London Anarchist Bookfair.

Escapologist. Noun. (pronounced: es’cap·ol’o·gist). One who actively seeks to escape the imaginary manacles of modern life: work, debt, government, leisure industries, status and anxiety. – Urban Dictionary.

Praise for the magazine

“we immediately fell for its idiosynscratic mix of gentle humour, curious interviews and more serious reports.” — MagCulture

“a wonderful magazine” — Monocle Radio’s The Stack

“Fabulous, a wonderful magazine” — Jonathan Simons, Analog Sea.

“Delightfully eccentric but perfectly serious” — Outside Left

“Ambitious, elegantly-designed, literary.” — Yahoo! News.

“Foppish, irresponsible, and very needed” — Pat Kane, Thoughtland.

“Excellent publications that deserve a wide readership.” — Tom Hodgkinson, editor of the Idler and author of How to be Free.

“A brilliant magazine on the theme of escape as a sane response to an insane situation.” — Brian Dean, Anxiety Culture.

“I have the latest New Escapologist on my bedside table. I go nowhere without it. And I always make sure New Escapologist is on it.” — Ian Macpherson, writer and comedian.

“A splendid publication. So cheerful and light, yet with a ninja-sharp intellect hiding just beneath the surface.” — Mr. Money Mustache

“Entertaining and highly literate reading, even if you’re relatively content with wage slavery.” — Moneysense.

“We had to wait thirty years for someone to come up with an idea like this – an indie magazine about escape attempts!!! Next step: a whole Escapology Cult.” — Prof. Stanley Cohen, co-author of Escape Attempts.