Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. Blog, Internet resources, online reading groups, articles and interviews, Illuminatus! info.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

El Neil still loves RAW

I'm reading the new L. Neil Smith novel, a vampire fantasy called Sweeter Than Wine, as part of my Prometheus Award judging duties.

Smith, if you don't know him, is a libertarian science fiction writer. He's a rather strict libertarian, and also a huge fan of the ILLUMINATUS! trilogy who often slips in references to it or to RAW in his books.

His new book is no exception. The book is largely set in Colorado (where Smith lives) and on page 44 there's a reference to Fort Collins: "Nice place. I had business there from time to time. Younger natives call it 'Fort Funky.' Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea readers call it 'Fnord Collins'." (Smith lives in Fort Collins.)

I should mention that  he's won the Prometheus Award three times: for The Forge of the Elders (my favorite of his, among the El Neil books I've read), for Pallas (which I didn't particularly like) and for The Probability Broach (which I haven't read yet, and which for some reason lacks a Kindle edition.)

No comments: