Independent publishing remains one of the few spaces where uncompromising stories can still be told and Cyclops Press has played a vital role in preserving these voices.
Founded by John Ogden in 1999, its catalogue reflects his long-standing commitment to documenting culture beyond the mainstream.
Ogden’s career began as a photojournalist in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, before turning to filmmaking in the late 1970s.
Over the following decades he travelled the world as a Director of Photography, but after losing his right eye in a surfing accident, he turned his attention to writing and publishing. He is the author of ten books.
Stone Free, Ogden’s latest work, tells the story of Warren ‘Abdul’ Anderson, a pioneer of surfing in Indonesia.
Following on from Grajagan: Surfing in the Tiger’s Lair and the documentary Sea of Darkness, Stone Free delves deeper into the surfer-scammer pan-Pacific crime networks of the 1970s. Part biography, part social history, Stone Free captures a vanished world—an era shaped by risk, freedom, and lives lived at the edge.
The Cyclops Press Stone Free east coast book tour comes to the Crawford Gallery in Byron Bay on Friday, January 30 – starting at 6pm, the event is free but filling quickly.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
