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Thursday, September 14, 2023

What is your favorite RAW interview?


I've long thought that an interview of Robert Anton Wilson by Scott Apel and one of Apel's friends, Kevin Briggs, was one of the best interviews of RAW. It's not posted on the Internet, but it available in two of Apel's books: Beyond Chaos and Beyond, and Science Fiction: An Oral History

So when I loaned a copy of Beyond Chaos and Beyond to a friend of mine, Tracy Harms, I was curious what Tracy would think of the interview. On X, Tracy posted, "Yesterday I read an interview with Robert Anton Wilson and it reminded me how delightful he was.  So many fun, optimistic, enlivening ideas.  We miss him." And to me, Tracy wrote, "The opening interview was a lovely reminder of his contributions."

Both books remain available; Beyond Chaos and Beyond has a lot of RAW material and biography of RAW that Apel wrote; for Kindle, it's about $5. Science Fiction: An Oral History is only 99 cents for Kindle, and you also get interviews with C.L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, Theodore Sturgeon, Philip K. Dick, Fritz Leiber, Roger Zelazny and Norman Spinrad. 


4 comments:

Eric Wagner said...

I love the series of interviews "Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything: (or Old Bob Exposes His Ignorance)". I listened to those tapes over and over again.

chad said...

Great topic, Tom! I'll be eager to see what people share as their faves.

chad said...

I love Pratt's album interview. Great to hear Antiwar Bob rip politicians and extol the virtues of pot, all set to groovy ambient music.

quackenbush said...

I used to have an informal list in my head of favorite interviews, but that's faded a lot. David Jay Brown's interviews always stick out as excellent. Mavericks of the Mind.

The Sounds True audio interviews RAW Explains Everything with Michael Taft are excellent, as Wagner mentioned. I'm trying to get taft on the podcast next year.

Any interview with Faustin Bray. https://rawilsonfans.org/playing-kickball-with-chaos/

PropAnon's interview. Fly's.

These ring a bell after quick review:
Wilgus: https://rawilsonfans.org/science-fiction-review-17-interview/
Shea and Wilson: https://rawilsonfans.org/illuminatus-play-interview/
Disinfo: https://rawilsonfans.org/in-the-raw/