Ken Burns, RAW fan

 

Ken Burns. Creative Commons photo, source. 

Ken Burns,  the famous documentary filmmaker, is back in the news again for his new TV series about the Revolutionary War, which I have not seen yet, but want to. 

Something I did not know, until recently, is that Burns is a fan of Robert Anton Wilson and was an Illuminatus! fan back in the day. 

Rasa, who of course runs the day to day affairs Hilaritas Press and the RAW Trust for Christina Pearson, mentioned Burns in a recent email chain.

"Hampshire College, my alma mater, had a reunion in October, and while there I met up with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, one of the college's more famous alums. I gave him a copy of our RAW Memes book, and I just got back this nice letter," Rasa explains.

Burns wrote, in a letter dated Dec. 16, "Thank you for the gift. I have no idea how much Wilson's ideas have meant to me once I devoured the Illuminatus Trilogy in the 70s. Love,  love his thinking." The letter closes with some friendly remarks for Rasa.

One thing I have in common with Ken Burns (other than knowing Rasa) is that I like the RAW Memes book. I bought it right after it came out. Details at the Hilaritas  website.

Happy new year to everyone! 

The Templars and the Assassins, in one book

 

A British historian, Steve Tibble, takes on both the Templars and the Assassins in a new book. Of possible interest to Illuminatus! fans of course, also the Templars figure prominently in Robert Shea's All Things Are Lights. The full title of Tibble's book is Assassins and Templars: A Battle in Myth and Blood.

Here is the publisher's blurb:

The story of the medieval world's most extraordinary organisations, the Assassins and the Templars.   

The Assassins and the Templars are two of history's most legendary groups. One was a Shi'ite religious sect, the other a Christian military order created to defend the Holy Land. Violently opposed, they had vastly different reputations, followings, and ambitions. Yet they developed strikingly similar strategies–and their intertwined stories have, oddly enough, uncanny parallels.   

In this engaging account, Steve Tibble traces the history of these two groups from their origins to their ultimate destruction. He shows how, outnumbered and surrounded, they survived only by perfecting "the promise of death," either in the form of a Templar charge or an Assassin's dagger. Death, for themselves or their enemies, was at the core of these extraordinary organisations.   

Their fanaticism changed the medieval world–and, even up to the present day, in video games and countless conspiracy theories, they have become endlessly conjoined in myth and memory.

Michael Johnson on smart plants

 

Photo by Sergey Shmidt on Unsplash

Michael Johnson takes on a fascinating topic and shows off his erudition with his latest Substack newsletter, "On Plant Intelliegence And/Or Consciousness." 

"If it turns out to be slam-dunk correct that trees, plants, bushes and all their cousins, were intelligent all along? Why it’s just damned embarrassing at the very least. On the other hand, with the way we’re heating up the planet, the plants may all just be muttering to each other that it’s only a matter of time before the Golden Age of Cretacious II and the mammal parasites are mulch."

Michael promises, "I will get to Robert Anton Wilson’s experiences with plant mysticism in a future article."

My favorite series

During the recent discussion of science fiction writer Philip José Farmer, Mark Brown wrote in the comments, "The Riverworld series is actually my all-time favorite science fiction series."

I like the first two books of Farmer's Riverworld series very much, but I never finished the series. But Mark's comment made me think about my favorite series, here are what comes to mind for me:

1. Illuminatus!, Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. Yes, I know it was meant to be a single work, but it was first published as a trilogy. I also like Wilson's Schroedinger's Cat and Historical Illuminatus series. 

2. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. I have read it several times. 

3. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe. I also have read this several times. 

4. The Culture novels, Iain Banks. I have one or two left to read. 

5. The Matt Scudder novels, Lawrence Block. My favorite modern detective series. But everyone loves the Sherlock Holmes stories, right?

Many science fiction fans would likely cite George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire Ice novels, but I tried one and couldn't get very far. Other fans would likely mention N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth series, but I thought the first book, The Fifth Season, was much better than the other two. Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy also is famous, but as a teen, I thought Foundation and Empire was the only really good novel (I have not read them since). I really like Philip José Farmer's World of Tiers series. Jack Vance is another favorite of mine, his Lyonesse series is very good and in fact most of his books are connected in one way or another. I love Roger Zelazny, but the Amber series is not my favorite works of his.  There are probably other SF or fantasy series I should mention. Most of my favorite mainstream writers did not write their fiction as part of a series, but Tom Perrotta wrote two Tracy Flick books, both excellent, Election and Tracy Flick Can't Win. 

Cat Vincent's origin story

People on Bluesky have been posting "origin stories," here is Cat  Vincent's. He posted the above book cover and wrote, "Origin story

"Read it when I was thirteen; gave me the tools I needed to survive. Ten years ago, I made a guest appearance in John Higgs's intro to the new edition.

"Funny how it goes."

James Joyce books roundup, including 'Straight Outta Dublin'

Over at the Finnegans Wake blog, Peter Quadrino does a roundup of "A Few Notable Books on Joyce and His Afterlives," and the books he considers includes the Hilaritas Press book released this year, Straight Outta Dublin: James Joyce and Robert Anton Wilson, by Eric Wagner, with a big contribution by R. Michael Johnson. Here's what Peter had to say about the book (which he says he hasn't finished yet):

"This book examines the influence of the works of Joyce on the work of the Robert Anton Wilson, especially focusing on Finnegans Wake. The author Eric Wagner has been hosting Finnegans Wake reading groups for many years and has previously written a guide to the works of Robert Anton Wilson. Here, in a fragmented and digressive approach drawing from a wide array of disciplines, Wagner indulges in in-depth discussions of the Wake, drawing on the insights of John Bishop, Hugh Kenner, Joseph Campbell, while also venturing into other modernists like Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, and thinkers like Alfred Korzybski and Wilhelm Reich. In the latter half of the book, R. Michael Johnson (otherwise known as the OG, author of a great Substack) provides a detailed survey of the Joyce elements that appear across all of RAW's books. "

Merry Christmas

They used to "laugh and call him names."  Now they're all dead. (Caption by Bruce Sterling, source. )

Merry Christmas to everyone.  Thank you to Tracy Harms for pointing out the above. 

Bruce Sterling is a science fiction writer; my favorite is his novel Islands in the Net. I will always feel it should have won the Hugo. For more of his sense of humor, perhaps not always gainfully employed, see here.  For How I attended his New Year's Eve party in 2000, see here. 

 

Boing Boing posts about RAW

Mark Fraunfelder (Creative Commons photo). 

The popular Boing Boing blog (originally a magazine, which I subscribed to back in the day) has recently had two posts about Robert Anton Wilson.

The first, which went up Dec. 1, was by Mark Frauenfelder and covers the latest Hilaritas Press book, A Non-Euclidian Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson's Political Commentaries 1960-2005. Mark writes, "reading it today, his thinking feels more urgent than ever."

The second, also by Mark and posted Dec. 17, talks about RAW's love for  mystery writer John Dickson Carr and links to my blog post on the subject. And, in turn, my post began with a post on BlueSky by RAW Semantics. 

Mark and his wife, Carla Sinclair, founded bOING bOING the magazine, before it became a blog. I once called the phone number listed for the magazine when I was wondering why I hadn't seen a new issue for months, and a young woman told me that "Mark" had been busy helping Billy Idol with Idol's latest album. I was too shy to say, "Hey, are you Carla?!" but I was told later it was likely Ms. Sinclair. 

John Higgs launches paid Substack option

John Higgs' Substack has until now been a free newsletter, filled with news and essays. While the free version of the newsletter will continue, John has announced he is offering paid options, too.

Readers who pay  £6 per month or £60 per year (or in American dollars, $9 a month or $85 a year) will get "The New Moon Letters," essays each new moon, plus a "Midsummer Annual," an entire book that will be mailed to you, plus the free newsletter. Founding members ($150 a year) get three copies of the annual book.

Here is a description of the newsletters for paid subscribers:

"So from January I will also start writing the New Moon Letters - new essays on all sorts of topics that will arrive every new moon. The New Moon Letters will be longer essays than have appeared in past Octannual Manuals, but still manageable in email form."

Here is what the annual books will be like:

"These Midsummer Annuals will build into a nice little collection over the coming years, and they will be quite rare, as the print run will be only a little more than the number of paid subscribers. Who knows, maybe they will worth a few quid on eBay one day? I’m aiming for each one to be around 150 pages or 50,000 words, based on my prejudice that collections of writers’ miscellany are great, but only for the first 150 pages."

Full announcement here.  

Maybe Night followup: New recording, new reading groups

 The video recording of the Maybe Night panel discussion of Finnegans Wake is now available, above. Among the folks I know from the blog are Bobby Campbell, Eric Wagner, Peter Quadrino and Oz Fritz, so I know RAW fans are well represented. Also present at the beginning of the video are Igor Belokrinitsky, Lorenzo Peyrani, Alexander Logvinenko, Amy and Richard Harte. Other folks appear later on.

Note that when you check out the official Maybe Night page, there are two new online Finnegans Wake discussion groups that are beginning. The Winter Wakeans, "the world's slowest Finnegans Wake reading group," is scheduled to do four pages each winter, from 2026 to 2234. That is not a misprint. That seems a bit slow to me, so instead I am going to participate in the Finnegans Wake 2026 Readalong. Here is some information, and here is the actual schedule. It looks like you can participate regardless if you have a physical copy of the book or an ebook.

The Maybe Night page I link to has various other links and contributions, check it out. 

Happy Maybe Night!

 

Maybe Night has arrived! Go here for all of the contributions and details! There are two new Finnegans Wake reading groups, for example, and contributions from quite a few people. Online discussion about to start as I write this. 

There is also a special Maybe Night announcement about an Illuminatus! TV series/film in development, with more details to be announced in 2026. 

Philip José Farmer reading recommendations

Philip Jose Farmer (source). 

Robert Anton Wilson and science fiction writer Philip José Farmer were fans of each other's work. See this blog post for an apparent reference to Farmer's Wold Newton in Masks of  the Illuminati; for Wilson on Farmer's Riverworld novels, and Farmer on Wilson's work, go here. 

A couple of RAW fans, Mark K. Brown and myself, are Farmer fans. So I asked him what his favorite Farmer works are.

Mark answered, "My absolute favorite is the 1st Riverworld book. I love that series, World of Tiers, the Khokarsa books, the fictional biographies."

I like the first two Riverworld books, the World of Tiers series and "Riders of the Purple Wage," his Hugo Award winning novella inspired by Joyce's Finnegans Wake. To find "Riders of the Purple Wage"  see this listing of appearances. 

For more on Farmer, see this elaborate official website.  See also the Science Fiction Encyclopedia entry.  I linked above to the Wikipedia bio. 

As with other classic authors, such as Poul Anderson, Farmer's books often go on sale cheap as Amazon Kindle editions, although I didn't notice any current compelling sales when I looked yesterday. 

Maybe Night art from RAW Semantics

 

Wanted to share the RAW Semantics artwork to promote Maybe Night. It's on Dec. 21, details here. (I made the picture as big as I could, but try clicking on it to make it bigger). 

Joseph Matheny: New art manifesto, 'Moby Dick' podcast

 The latest Joseph Matheny newsletter has quite a bit of interesting news, including the announcement of Art Is War: Fear and Loathing on the Internet, a current work in progress, "An art manifesto for our changing times." It is expected out next year, with more information coming out later in the Substack newsletter.

Also: A podcast on Moby Dick, a horror story Advent calendar some Ong's Hat bits and psychedelic mushrooms. 

Alan Moore's 'The Great When' is a fine book

Alan Moore's The Great When, both an historical novel and a fantasy novel, came out in 2024, so I am a little late in writing about it here.  But I thought it was a fine novel, so I thought I would recommend it to y'all. (The release date is for Great Britain; it actually does not come out in the U.S. until next year). 

The protagonist is one Dennis Knuckleyard, an 18-year-old orphan who lives with his mean landlady above a bookstore where they both work. Dennis comes into possession of a fictional book mentioned in an Arthur Machen story which should not really exist in the "real" world, and Dennis comes into peril as he tries to get rid of it. Dennis also comes into contact the magickal London that in some sense is more "real" than the everyday 1949 postwar London in which he lives.

While most of the book's main characters are fictional, real people also are part of the narrative, as is usual with historical novels. Austin Osman Spare, the occult artist, is one of the main characters. Smaller roles are played by folks such as Kenneth and Steffi Grant. 

I realize that many people have written about what a good writer Moore is, but this was my first encounter with his prose at book length. I discovered that he has a marvelous talent for description and for wonderful and unexpected turns of phrase. Referring to an historic old fort that had been unearthed in London, he says it was "situated here before Rome stumbled and the ages suddenly went dark." There are wonderful witty bits all through the book.

Moore also is an expert plotter and the book held my attention throughout.

The Great When is the first book of a projected fantasy series; the next book, I Hear a New World, comes out on both sides of the pond in 2026. 

I thought The Great When was so good, I assumed it had at least been nominated for a literary award. As far as I can tell, it has not. No Hugo nomination, no World Fantasy Award nomination, no Booker Prize listing. So who are you going to believe, all of those guys, or me? 

Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees announced

The nominees for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award have been announced:  James Blish, Aldous Huxley, C.S. Lewis, Adams Roberts and Charles Stross. Full announcement here.  As I've mentioned before, the connection to this blog is that this is the only literary award Illuminatus! ever received.

A mystery writer who's a RAW favorite

In the interview which is included in the Hilaritas Press edition of Coincidance, Robert Anton Wilson praises the mystery writer John Dickson Carr, noting that Carr lacks the "literary values of Chandler or Dashiell Hammett" but is good at puzzles. "But I don't think one always wants literarature; one wants to relax sometimes," RAW says, declaring he has "read almost all of John Dickson Carr's books." 

Brian Dean remarked on RAW's comments in a recent Bluesky post, asking, "Any recommendations for his novels?"

As it happens,  when I saw's Brian's post, I was reading The Crooked Hinge, a novel featuring Carr's best-known detective, Gideon Fell. I thought it was a good read, and the introduction by Charles Todd says the book is a "good place to start" in reading Carr.  The Wikipedia article on John Dickson Carr says that The Hollow Man is usually considered Carr's masterpiece. I would guess that most of the Gideon Fell books are worth reading. 

In an earlier post, I noted that RAW had recommended The Crooked Hinge in Sex, Drugs and Magick: "Before dropping witchcraft and the solanaceae drugs, it is worth mentioning that John Dickson Carr has written a detective thriller, called The Crooked Hinge, revolving around a revival of witchcraft in which the members drink belladonna and imagine they are flying around on broomsticks or copulating with demons. Carr cooked this plot up before the current occult revival -- his book was published in 1937! It's still reprinted frequently in paperback and is worth your time. The surprise ending is a lulu." 

 

Maybe Night is one week away

 

I just wanted to remind everyone that Maybe Night,  the celebration of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake organized by Bobby Campbell, is now a week away.

Full details here. The deadline for submitting material to Bobby is tomorrow. 

Jesse Walker's movie picks

At the end of every year, film buff Jesse Walker lists the best movies of ten years ago, 20 years ago, etc. He's resumed this year with 2015 and 2005 so far. 

Jesse's list includes TV series, and his 2015 list is topped by The Americans, one of my all-time favorite TV series, along with Twin Peaks and Devs. 

How Steve Jackson's 'Illuminati' game came about

Above is the excerpt from an interview in Mondo 2000 posted on Bluesky, here for your convenience is my transcript:

M2: What are some of the other games in the SJ Games line?

SJ: Well, of course therer's Illuminati.

M2: How did that come about? Where you a fan of the Illuminatus Trilogy?

SJ: Oh yes! That came about when Dave Martin [the guy who did the cover art for the game] and I were drinking wine and talking about life, the universe and everything.

M2: One of my favorite drinking conversations!

SJ: Right. Anyway, the subject got around to how you could make a game out of the Shea and Wilson books. I didn't think you could do a game based on the actual characters and events ... what with yellow submarines, Discordians and a giant octopus running all over the place. It would be too tough. A few days later, I was driving someplace when it occurred to me that you could build it all around a deck of cards. After I got the car under control ....

M2: (Laughs)

SJ. No really! I sat there in the front seat and started taking notes. I realized that rather than trying to use the world that Shea and Wilson had envisioned, I would go back to their source material.

M2: You mean basic fear and paranoia?

SJ: Yeah, right. No, I mean the Principia Discordia. Did you know that it actually exists?

M2: Oh, yes.

SJ: A lot of people don't. Anyway, we decided to focus just on the conspiracy theory aspects of Illuminatus. After that the creation of the game became absolutely simple.

With Mr. Jackson's permission, my new Robert Shea book has a short piece that Shea wrote for the Illuminati game. 

 

Another good one gone: Arthur Hlavaty has died

Arthur D. Hlavaty at Lunacon 45 in 2002. (Mark Olson photo via Fancyclopedia 3). 

I am sorry to have to report that prominent science fiction fan Arthur Hlavaty, 83, has died. Here is the announcement from Bernadette Bosky on Facebook.   And also here is Kevin Maroney on Bluesky.   The death also has been announced on File 770 (seventh item).  Writer Jo Walton has posted a new poem, "On the death of Arthur Hlavaty and Sophie Kinsella."

Arthur was a twelve time nominee for the Hugo Award for best fan writer. He published many fanzines and also was a prominent blogger. This article at the Fancyclopedia lists much of his fannish activity and you can follow the links to online versions of  his zines. 

Arthur founded The Golden APA, which counted both Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea as members. He often wrote about how Illuminatus! had influenced him. His support of this blog was much appreciated. 

When Arthur had to post about an obituary on his blog, his headline would be, "Another Good One Gone." Hence my own headline. 

Jacob Sullum's 'Guns and Dope Party' book

Robert Anton Wilson advanced the idea of a "Guns and Dope Party" (originally suggested, if I recall correctly, by writer Bill Helmer) to bring together "gun nuts" and "dopers" into a libertarian alliance.

I have cited writer Jacob Sullum quite a few times in this blog, as he is very good about writing about the "war on some drugs," as RAW called it. I recently noticed that Sullum has a new "guns and dope" book out.

The book is called BEYOND CONTROL: Drug Prohibition, Gun Regulation, and the Search for Sensible Alternatives. From the publisher's blurb:

"Decades of research have produced scant evidence that popular gun control prescriptions, such as assault weapon bans, universal background checks, restrictions on ownership, and red flag laws, work as advertised. Research on the impact of the war on drugs likewise provides little reason to believe that its doubtful benefits outweigh its myriad costs. In both cases, the burdens often fall on peaceful individuals who pose no threat to public safety, and the policies seem ill-designed to reduce the problems they aim to address.

"Sullum notes that critics of gun control and critics of the war on drugs make similar points, complaining that these policies are unfair, invasive, poorly targeted, and ineffective. But because these two sets of critics tend to come from opposing political camps, they usually overlook their common ground. Beyond Control surveys that territory, showing that conservatives and progressives share concerns about overcriminalization, overzealous law enforcement, draconian penalties, and the erosion of civil liberties."

My local library doesn't have his book so I submitted a request for it to be purchased. 

More here. 

A James Joyce Christmas parody

James Joyce photographed by Man Ray. 

The Scriptorium Philosophia Substack written by "Hilarious Bookbinder" has Christmas stories in the latest issue, parodies of famous writers. Here is the James Joyce parody:

Snowrun sleighrun river crack with ice then came St. Nicholas before the bells but after the hooftrod down through Dublintown. Aye, but blown cold through the pub where Stephen Daedalus sat rapping for his pint. 

—Well, says Joe, he’ll be down the chimney and all.

—What of? says Stephen, pay my five pound to the barman then?

—May ask for the English to leave as well. 

The voice of Jenny behind, the lilt of a jig in 6/4 time, the loop, the warm soft joygush lickflow of the music sneaking past, invading. The hard notes behind the sound. Masters in This Hall on uilleann pipes.

—No, says Joe. The pack is the thing, all full of wallets, inkpots, olive branches, swords, daisies, Turkish lamps, knocker-uppers, buckshot, tin whistles, shiny Irish pennies, cakes and cream, puppies, beehives, medals for bravery, winedrunk from an auroch’s horn, wheels, keys, wax candles, stars plucked fresh from the firmament, oilskin coats, snails, Russian stamps, and tweed flatcaps.

—That so for gifts? says the barman. I’ll nae get paid afterall.

Tom again: I especially liked the Raymond Chandler and Scott Alexander parodies. There are also parodies of E.L. James, Cormac McCarthy, Tom Clancy, H.P. Lovecraft and Lee Child. The comments have parodies of Olivia Nuzzi and Philip Roth. 

 

'Jukebox Musical' by Danny and the Darlings annotated

As I mentioned in a recent post, Jukebox Musical by Danny and the Darlings is a soundtrack album for Bobby Campbell's Tales of Illuminatus No. 2. It  is available as a free digital download at Bandcamp. 

The album consists of ten covers of 1950s era rock and roll tunes. As this sort of music was considered "old" even when I listened to it in high school in the 1970s (I was a weirdo because I would play Elvis Presley songs on the jukebox), it seems to me that for many listeners today, the songs on the album might seem rather obscure, although I recognized many of the song titles. 

Here is the track listing for the album, with brief explanations  and links for more information. (These are rather punk rock versions of the song and the resemblance to the originals varies somewhat, although I commend the attempt to bring these tunes into the present. But try some of the originals.) 

1. That's All Right. The tune dates to 1946, but is remembered as Elvis Presley's first single in 1954. 

2. Rip It Up. A 1956 hit for Little Richard. 

3. You Can't Catch Me. A 1956 single for Chuck Berry. 

4. Breathless. A 1958 hit for Jerry Lee Lewis. 

5. Pretty Thing. A 1955 Bo Diddley single. 

6. Oh, Boy! A particularly great song by a particularly great band, The Crickets (i.e., Buddy Holly and his band). Holly's 1959 plane crash death may be rock music's greatest tragedy ever. 

7. I'm  Walkin'. A 1957 single issued by Fats Domino. 

8. Nervous Breakdown. An Eddie Cochran tune.  (He is probably most famous for other songs such as "Summertime Blues." Cochran died age 21 in a 1960 car crash in Britain. 

9. Be-Bop-A-Lula. 1956 Gene Vincent tune. 

10. Rock Around the Clock. This 1954 hit by Bill Haley & His Comets helped launch rock and roll. The song is mentioned in Illuminatus! 

I don't have detailed music credits for the album, but "Danny" is Dan Robinson of Wilmington,  Delaware. I will try to find out more. 

Sunday links

From The Mgt.? (Source)

"My son’s friend, traveling in China, is staying at a hotel chain called ‘James Joyce Coffetel’, and instead of a Gideon Bible, they leave a copy of Ulysses by the bedside."

FBI releases Bigfoot file. 

Conservative writer argues, 'We Are Repaganizing."

"They need to make you hate some group." By Noah Smith, compare with RAW's "Shocking Hidden Facts About Male Non Violence" in Email to the Universe. 

Tyler Cowen's top classical music of the year. 

What we read last month

What Mark K. Brown read last month (reads and re-reads)

Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins  11/21  

Buddhist Scriptures ed. by Edward Conze  11/24  

Wasp by Eric Frank Russell  11/25  

The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler  11/26   

The Man Who Japed by Philip K. Dick  11/29

As usual, there is considerable overlap between what Mark reads and what I read. I've read the Conze, or a Conze edited book that is very similar. I've read Russell, Chandler and Dick, but not those particular titles. Mark is reading The Magus by John Fowles, as he mentioned in the comments recently, I may ask for a brief report when he finishes. 

What I read last month:

Melmoth the Wanderer, Charles Maturin.

For Emma, Ewan Morrison.

Operation Wandering Soul, Richard Powers.

A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, Robert Anton Wilson. (Mark already read it). 

Vanishing World, Sayaka Murata.

As usual, everyone else is invited to say in the comments that they have been reading. 

RAW Semantics on globalism and Scandinavian systems

Artwork by Brian Dean at RAW Semantics 

RAW Semantics has a new blog post up, "RAW political #5 – global / local / po," which further wrestles with RAW's politics in the light of the new book. Some of it discusses globalism versus local control, but there is also an interesting section which suggests how to reconcile Robert Anton Wilson's praise for Scandinavian style social democracy with RAW's interest in anarchism. One excerpt: 

"Returning to anarchy for a moment – if you see anarchism in terms of no government, no tax (and perhaps no regulations), then RAW’s liking for the Swedish model seems to contradict his anarchist ideals. But if you think of anarchist societies as decentralised, egalitarian, cooperative, communicating in flatter hierarchies, etc, then the seeming contradiction dissolves. Even the anarchistic preference for contracts – voluntary agreements rather than top-down enforcement – factors historically in the Swedish model (eg resulting from a relative absence of both feudalism and tyrants as kings).

"The Scandinavian system has succeeded on a large (national) scale over decades, unlike the mostly unimplemented alternative systems RAW held as anarchist ideals. From that POV, it looks “global” next to, say, the 120-person voluntary-contractual community. But next to the international Neoliberal order, it looks (or looked) 'local' – an eccentric exception to universal 'laws'. The Scandinavian countries finally had to adapt to some global shifts (eg changes to international financial markets), but even before those periods (eg 1990s) they were never really insulated from the 'inexorable forces of the market'. On the contrary – Sweden, for example, had to export 40% of its manufactured output and had been, since the late 19th century, 'a world economy highly exposed to trends in international trade.'

"You can see the Swedish model as workable on both local and global levels. At least for that type of culture."

Two new 'Tales' related music releases

Bobby Campbell's latest newsletter had a couple of announcements about music releases that deserve a signal boost.  

"Fresh from its staring role as a pivotal plot device/magical MacGuffin in Tales of Illuminatus!, Danny and the Darlings’ Jukebox Musical cassette tape has escaped the limits of fiction and entered our true and real reality, a transcendental object of unprecedented heart and soul, THE ROCK OF AGES!"

The link is to Bandcamp, where the cassette tape is on sale. But a digital download of the album is free! All of the song titles I recognize are from the 1950s, probably an underrated rock music decade at this point. I have downloaded the album and will be checking it out.

The second album is from Steve "Fly" Pratt and it's K9 Rapture, also on Bandcamp. 

Fifteen songs with dog-related titles. As usual with Bandcamp, you can check out the tunes before buying. Steve also has a special on a bulk sale of all of his albums. 

Filker Leslie Fish has died [Updated, note 'Memorial Filksing']

Leslie Fish in 2001. Creative Commons photo by David Gillett

Well known science fiction figure Leslie Fish has died. Although best known in science fiction fandom as a "filker," i.e. a science fiction folksinger, she also was a writer.

"Fish (1953-2025) died Nov. 29 at age 72, while in hospice care at her home," according to an obituary posted at the Libertarian Futurist Society blog by Michael Grossberg. See also this File 770 obit (fourth item) and this Wikipedia bio.  [Update: Like one of my favorite musicians, Cars leader Ric Ocasek, Fish apparently lied about her age! She actually was 81. See below.]

While I could justify this news item by mentioning the overlap between science fiction fandom and Illuminatus! fandom, there is a more direct connection to the interests of this blog.

Fish was part of the anarchist scene in Chicago in the late 1960s that Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea also were part of. See this interesting Jesse Walker article from 2005 in Reason magazine, which also (maybe) reveals who the "real Mama Sutra" was.  But Jesse also shares this bit from when he was researching the article: "The one time I interviewed her, she told me that she had been Robert Anton Wilson's dope dealer when they both lived in Chicago."

UPDATE: More information from Jesse Walker: A Leslie Fish Memorial Filksing will be publicly available live on YouTube. 

Also from Jesse: "Also, the guy who just passed it along tells me that he 'just got consent from the family this morning to disclose Leslie's actual birthdate: March 11th, 1944. So she died at the age of 81.' (Many obituaries said 72 instead, because apparently she habitually lied about her age.)

RAW's Beethoven listening projects, and ours

Beethoven when he was 26. 

Thanks to Eric Wagner, we know that Robert Anton Wilson "once took LSD and listened to all nine Beethoven symphonies, taking a bit more before each symphony, climaxing with the Ninth at sunrise."

RAW also listened to Beethoven in other interesting ways. Cosmic Trigger II, in the "Attack of the Dog-faced Demons" chapter, records that "In a farm in Mendocino, 1972, I was preparing for the Mass of the Phoenix, a ritual designed by Aleister Crowley in which the magician attempts to activate his 'True Will.' I had taken 250 micrograms of Acid, played some Beethoven, and, when I felt ready, I went to my makeshift Altar and began the Invocation."

In the link above, you can can see that in 2012, Eric Wagner also wrote about "my 11:32 project to listen to all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas eleven times each.  I've modeled the sonatas as parallel with the eight circuits of the nervous system, so I've almost finished the Sixth Morphogenetic Circuit, and I look forward to metaprogramming Beethoven shortly."

Eric has a new listening project. He recently wrote to me, " I plan to work through the 24 brains in Leary’s Info-Psychology over the next 24 weeks. A discussion I had with Dr. Johnson about Leary’s skill as a writer helped inspire this idea. Music for week one: Haydn Symphonies 97-100."

An update: "Last week I reread the first half of Info-Psychology and started Game of Life and read the brief summary of state one in Musings on Human Metamorphoses, pg. 90; Design for Dying, pg. 85, and Flashbacks, pg. 385, all by Leary. This week I plan to read Game of Life up through state 2.

"Music for the week: Haydn Symphony 100, Beethoven Piano Sonata Op. 101."

I am not doing anything as elaborate, but I am currently listening to all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas, in order, concentrating on a particular sonata each week. This week is Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1. Sviatoslav Richter is my favorite piano player, but Richter did not record all of Beethoven's sonatas, although he recorded many, so I also listen to Igor Levit, Alfred Brendel, Wilhelm Kempff, etc. Perhaps not related to the Beethoven, but also I have been reading a bit of primary source Epicurean philosophy each day; right now, I am doing the "Letter to Menoeceus." (Another translation here.) 

News from Bobby Campbell: Expect new 'Tales' announcement

Bobby Campbell apparently is busier than ever. His latest newsletter has many news items. 

One is this  hint about a coming Tales of Illuminatus! announcement: "The next installment in our Tales of Illuminatus! series is developing very nicely, with announcements to follow in due course, though steady yourselves for something of a curve ball!"

Also, Bobby is finishing another comic book series: "I’m going to take some time for my somewhat neglected personal work, specifically Agnosis! #3, which will finally complete the OKEY-DOKEY graphic novel.

"Follow along with those developments here: Bobby Campbell’s STATE OF THE ART"

Much more news here, including some items I have covered and some that were new to me.