Brian Bates is a professor at the University of Brighton, and past chairman of psychology at the University of Sussex. Specializing in the use of deep imagination in tribal cultures, he directs a research programme and teaches an award-winning course in shamanic consciousness. His previous titles include the novel The Way of the Wyrd, an examination of the inner world of performance called The Way of the Actor, and The Human Face which he co-wrote with John Cleese.