Bobby Campbell on the Robert Shea anthology

 

One more item, if I may, from Bobby Campbell's latest newsletter: 

"Wanted to make sure I mentioned this wonderful addition to the Illuminatus! canon, an excellently crafted spotlight on co-author Robert Shea. My enthusiastic review is enclosed below:

Meet Bob Shea! The legendary co-creator of Illuminatus!, Hodge to Robert Anton Wilson's Podge, a luminous man of letters, friendly suburban zen buddhist anarchist, and visionary creator of better tomorrows, that you are most welcome to enjoy today!

Tom Jackson has crafted a perfect introduction to Robert Shea's literary labyrinth, a guided tour of his revolutionary ouvré, wherein Shea's unique voice delivers enlightening epiphanies as casually as an old friend discussing the weather.

Make no mistake, the mystic mystery of Illuminatus! continues right here and now!

More on the book here. 

In a comment on my recent post about the latest Hilaritas podcast, podcast host Mike Gathers said the podcast on the Shea book and the Vincent Murphy podcast were two highlights in the 2025 podcasts. I thought the Shea podcast was good, too --- not because I was on it, but because Mike Shea told so many wonderful stories about his father. 

Maybe Day event planned in Berkeley, California, in July

Wilmington Comic Fest at The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware 1/10/26

Bobby Campbell's latest newsletter has an announcement that I think deserves a separate blog post, so that it can get a little attention: " I have set my sights on an in-person Maybe Day event in Berkeley, California on July 23, 2026. We'll see!"

I hope this comes together, and of course as I learn more, I will share here. 

Bobby of course is the founder of the annual Maybe Day celebrations on July 23, and the more recent midwinter Maybe Night events. At first, these were online celebrations, but recently Bobby has shifted more toward in-person events, such as his Wilmington Comic Fest conventions. 

I am a big fan of the possibilities of the internet, but there also is something to be said about in-person meetups. I certainly loved my time with Gregory Arnott and Bobby at Confluence in Pittsburgh, and I got to meet up with Gregory and his wife at another Confluence. 

Free 'Tales' webcomic and other Bobby Campbell news

 

In his latest newsletter, Bobby Campbell announces that Tales of Illuminatus No. 2 has now been released as a free webcomic, so that everyone can now read it. Print and digital copies remain available, as the free version likely won't be around forever. 

"I'm super psyched to have this out in the wild, and hopefully catch more folks up on our illuminated tales as we ready the next installment," Bobby says.

Bobby has combined two separate newsletters, previously on Substack, and moved to a new platform,  ghost.io, for a combined newsletter, Gloria Discordia. If you got the previous newsletters you should be getting the new one; otherwise, sign up here. 

I'll have a separate post on some of Bobby's other news, as I don't want it to get lost in the Tales announcement. But you can go ahead and read all about it. 

History lessons

A couple of history offerings that caught my eye, one of possible interest to RAW fans and one  that might interest Robert Shea fans.

RAW was a World War II revisionist, and I recent ran across an announcement from Thaddeus Russell for an online course, "World War II: The Great Blowback," scheduled for Feb. 9-12:

"To most Americans, World War II is the only 'good war'—the one conflict you’re not allowed to question without being accused of bad faith or worse.

"But over the last two decades, a growing number of of scholars has been assembling a very different narrative: that U.S. policy under Franklin Roosevelt turned regional wars into a truly global war, guaranteed the realization of the Holocaust, and was principally responsible for producing the greatest catastrophe in human history.

"This is the new history of the Second World War that I’ll be presenting in a 4-part live course at Unregistered Academy."

More information here.  

While I am open to World War II revisionism, I admit to being cool to the "Allies made Hitler did it" school. Speaking of which, Russell's Substack also has a recent interview with Darryl Cooper. 

Meanwhile, Tyler Cowen recently did a mini-review of Jack Weatherford's  Emperor of the Seas: Kublai Khan and the Making of China, which covers the period of history in Robert Shea's two Shike novels. Tyler wrote, "A fun and good book, think of it as explaining how Kublai Khan beat Song China but subsequently lost to Japan.  The Ainu play a role in a wide-ranging and still historically relevant story."

Scott Apel's wild novel

I have just finished reading The Uncertainty Principle?, an oddball detective novel (or maybe, as the text says, an "anti-detective novel,") by Robert Anton Wilson's longtime friend, D. Scott Apel. It is quite a wild ride, and I found it hard to stop reading. The hero is private investigator Alec Smart, there are I think three  novels that feature him. 

Several real  people appear in the book under fictional names, including Robert Anton Wilson, Arlen Riley Wilson and Philip K. Dick. Here is one of the descriptions of the RAW character, "Timothy Aleister Finnegan,":

From my perspective, I stood facing an avuncular guy who couldn't be mistaken for anything other than a writer. He was middle-aged, a few inches shorter than my six feet, but well-matched with his wife. He had a large, round face which tapered down to a pointed gray goatee, and he wore his salt-and-pepper hair slicked straight back against his head. He looked like nothing so much as the unlikely offspring of a cherub and a satyr. He had an infectious smile, accentuated by laugh lines radiating around his sharp blue eyes. In those eyes was a hint of endearing devilishness; a touch of the Trickster. The cherub as confidence man. There's an old joke that says, "After you shake hands with him, be sure to count your fingers." I felt like if I counted mine now I might find six. 

The Uncertainty Principle? is available as a paperback (about $15) and a Kindle ebook (about $1).  I have published a couple of interviews with Scott, here is one. 

John Higgs does David Lynch podcast, makes appearances

 

Want to know more about the new John Higgs book about David Lynch? Check out his podcast on the "Highly Irregular" podcast with host John Bernard. 

More news, including UK appearances to discuss the book, on the latest free issue of his Substack newsletter. There is also a paid tier now, as the newsletter explains. 

RAW talks to Art Bell

 I prepared for my recent podcast with Rasa on Midnight Frequency Radio by listening to much of the above, Robert Anton Wilson's 1997 interview on the Coast to Coast AM late night radio show featuring the late Art Bell. (Carl Richardson, the host of Midnight Frequency Radio, was Bell's brother in law and is still close to Bell's widow and children).

The Art Bell interview is a lot of fun. One reason I liked it is because Bell asks RAW about topics RAW did not usually cover. So, for example, he gets RAW to talk about the Big Bang Theory (the scientific theory, not the TV show) and about oil companies. 

Are we living in a simulation?

 

Illustration by Andrei Castanha on Unsplash

Here is a sentence I liked from Michael Johnson's latest Substack piece, "On the 'Simulation Hypothesis':

“You and I and that wall, that empty bowl of cereal in the sink, the lava lamp, the ‘69 Mets, and Krakatoa, are all just in the mind of God.” 

Many people joined me in thinking Michael's latest was mind-expanding, judging from the large number of comments that it drew. And there's some good stuff on Robert Anton Wilson's theory of perception. 

Oz Fritz on Pynchon's 'Shadow Ticket'

Oz Fritz has written a long blog post on Thomas Pynchon's latest novel, Shadow Ticket, "Magic Realism in Pynchon's Shadow Ticket." ("This post will inevitably contain spoilers," he warns).

Here is a bit to give you an idea:

"Common knowledge in the Pynchon universe holds that his historical novels include some subtext on the present time. Shadow Ticket is set mostly in 1932 when Fascism appeared in the ascendent around the world including the United States. Fascism plays a dominating role in the novel both in the macro geopolitical aspect and with the individual experiences and encounters by the characters. The story's timeline finishes around Christmas 1932. Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in January, 1933. The Hitler movement in the U. S. first comes into the picture at the start of chapter 4. Hitler gets blended with Charlie Chaplin's humorous caricature of him from The Dictator followed by a serious portrayal that seems accurate until he's described as someone who "says whatever comes into his head." The real Hitler did not have that trait, he never went off script in his meticulously crafted speeches. This kind of verbal diarrhea clearly fits a contemporary American politician."

I can't summarize everything in the review, but there's an interesting comparison between Pynchon and the likes of Robert Anton Wilson and Vladimir Nabokov. The post ends with "To be continued ..." so keep an eye out for more. 

See also Eric Wagner's review at this blog.  And you can read Peter Quadrino's review, too! 

A Scott Apel book I missed

When I was recording the podcast that I wrote about yesterday, Rasa held up a book for me to see during one of the commercial breaks. It was called Forrest Trump: The Half-Wit and Wisdumb of America's Last President and First Fuhrer. Rasa explained the book is by Scott Apel and told me the introduction was hilarious.

The book, which I'd missed when it came out, is attributed to "Tom Asspain," so I wrote to Scott and asked if I could name his as the author. He gave me the go-ahead.

"When the Cheeto Benito was re-elected in 2024, I felt like I had to perform some act of civil disobedience, not that it would do any good. I decided if I could throw a book like that together in a weekend, I'd do it. My writer/editor/publisher persona took over, however, and I insisted it look good and list all the sources, so it took about a week to assemble. I'm happy with it, but it makes zero difference to the state of politics in Amurikkka today.

"I even sent print copies to Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon, Meyers, Bill Maher and Jon Stewart (and every Daily Show host), hoping to get some mention or traction, but all I got is...silence. No response from anyone. C'est la merde."

He added, "When I first published it, I was worried that jackbooted Trumpenazi stormtroopers would track me down and shoot me. But seeing as how that's only happening in Minnesota, I guess I can let my guard down a little.

"I just hope Thomas Paine approves of my stealing his name."

The book is on Amazon (just $1 for the Kindle) and on iBooks.

All about RAW on 'Midnight Frequency Radio'

 Art Bell was a popular nighttime radio DJ who hosted the Coast to Coast AM late night radio talk show for many years. In one of his episodes, he interviewed Robert Anton Wilson.

Carl Richardson -- Art's Bell's brother-in-law -- is the host of a current podcast, Midnight Frequency Radio, that functions as kind of a tribute to Bell. And on a recent show, he had Rasa and I on to talk about Robert Anton Wilson. I've put up a YouTube video but you should also be able to find it on many podcasting apps.

Synchronicity artwork

 

The artwork, above, is “The Buzz” by creationtrip. It was posted on X by Lucid Dreams, with this quote from Illuminatus! by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson: “Synchronicity is as universal as gravity. When you start looking you find it everywhere.”

Hilaritas podcasts: John Zerzan and Nick Tharcher

I have two Hilaritas podcasts to mention this time.

The newest, above, is with John Zerzan, here's the description: "Hilaritas host Mike Gathers chats with John Zerzan about anarchist Max Stirner, and John's interest in Anarcho-primitivism, in episode 53 of the Hilaritas Podcast."

With the excitement over Maybe Night, I managed to miss December's podcast announcement, but it sounds like an interesting one: "Hilaritas host Mike Gathers chats with Nick Tharcher, publisher at The Original Falcon Press, about his many years in the publishing of occult books, in episode 52 of the Hilaritas Podcast." Listen here.  I liked Tharcher's first appearance on the the podcast, I'll bet this one is good, too. 

Not too late to listen to the November podcast, on Robert Shea, featuring Mike Shea (with me in a supporting role). Mike tells great stories about his father. 

I've linked to the Hilaritas Press podcast pages, but you should be able to find these episodes on your favorite podcasting app. Fifty three episodes and counting, browse them here.