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, 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?
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
From The Mgt.? (Source)
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 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.
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."
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.
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.)
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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.)
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.
When Rasa was creating covers for Every Day is a Good Day, the new Robert Shea anthology I edited, this was one of the possible covers. It was decided that it was not a match for the optimistic tone of the book, but nonetheless, I enjoyed looking at this dramatic artwork, and (with Rasa's permission) I am sharing it here.
Bobby Campbell has announced the return of Maybe Night. It is the third annual winter solstice celebration of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake and it's set for Dec. 21.
MAYBE NIGHT 2025 is our 3rd annual virtual celebration of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake :))) (The nocturnal equivalent of Bloomsday's commemoration of Ulysses)
We will once again engage the COLLIDEORSCOPE on December 21st at www.maybeday.net/night
We will also be broadcasting a live panel of illustrious Joyceans discussing Jeems Jokes' enchanted chop suey! Join us for this the first official meeting of the international Winter Wakeans Reading Group!
Let this serve as a clarion call for FW and/or Joycean art, video presentations, writing, and whatever else besides!
(I recommend sending in links to your creations, but you can also send things to be hosted on the Maybe Night site directly)
The idea is simple: Make something cool • Share it • Explore the others!
You can contact us at weirdoverse@gmail.com
Approximate deadline for submitting Maybe Night offerings is December 15th
Also! As always, do please feel free and encouraged to create and post Maybe Night content using your own ways and means. A decentralized and self-organizing Maybe Night would be just the thing to wake the Finnegans up, up, and away to ever greater glory!
The two newest books out from Hilaritas Press, the publishing imprint of the Robert Anton Wilson trust, seem to complement each other, so that someone interested in one book likely would find the other one interesting, too. This is probably coincidence, rather than the deliberate intent of Rasa and the other editors, but it seems like a fair observation.
A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, a Robert Anton Wilson anthology and the newest Hilaritas title, concentrates on politics, as the title says. Every Day is a GOOD Day, the Robert Shea anthology I edited released in September, is not ostensibly a politics book, but it has many essays on anarchism and a description of Shea's participation in an antiwar march in Chicago.
Both books have many pieces on anarchism. Both have a strong antiwar tone. Both have an essay on Ayn Rand. The Wilson book has a whole essay on nonvoting and the Shea book has short piece advocating nonvoting.
There is also some actual overlap. "Anarchism and Crime," the piece I speculated the other day might be an outtake from Illuminatus!, is reprinted on both books.
Of course, there are obvious differences in the books by the two Illuminatus! co-author. Shea is consistently an anarchist and Wilson is rather all over the place. They even acknowledge that about each other, Wilson in the "Illuminating Discord" interview, Shea in the acceptance speech after winning the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for Illuminatus!
The RAW Semantics blog has a post on Non-Euclidian, while Michael Johnson reviewed Every Day is a GOOD Day at his Substack.
A freight train on the Trans Siberian Railway runs next to Lake Baikal. (Creative Commons photo).
The new Robert Anton Wilson book just out from Hilaritas, A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson's Political Commentaries 1960-2005, includes an interview of RAW by Steve "Fly" Pratt. I was intrigued by this bit:
FLY: Yeah, I'm thinking of moving to Siberia.
RAW: You've moving to Siberia? That's not such a bad idea. I thought about moving to Amsterdam.
FLY: I found the city of Amsterdam to be one of the more liberal-thinking cities of Europe.
This is not the most important question, ever, but I wondered: Why did Fly want to move to Siberia? (He is quite the world traveler, but Siberia?) Why did RAW think it was not a bad idea? So I finally just asked. I emailed Steve: "I am curious why you wanted to move to Siberia. Did you ever get to at least visit?"
Steve replied, "No, I didn't visit siberia, yet. I'm romantic for tuvan throat singing, would love to take the trans siberia express.... Some day. Write all the way."
Here is my most recent interview with Steve, it links to a couple of others.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, even if you haven't made your dream trip yet.
Chad Nelson alerts me to a book that's coming out in April: The Occult Timothy Leary: The Tarot, Magical States, and Post-Terrestrial Evolution.
The book is apparently part of a series (the publisher, Destiny Books, also displays The Occult Sylvia Plath and The Occult Elvis. The Leary book has a foreword by R.U. Sirius, which seeems like a good sign.
Here is some of the publisher's blurb:
"Timothy Leary, American psychologist and countercultural icon, is well known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs and controversial experiments on human consciousness. What is less well known is his deep interest in Western esotericism, a dimension that Joseph L. Flatley explores in-depth.
"Flatley recounts Leary’s early life and career trajectory, highlighting the esoteric influences that informed his occult activities. The author explores Leary’s thoughts on reincarnation and his futuristic views of computers and human evolution. Readers will learn about Leary’s encounters with twentieth-century groups and figures like Ram Dass, the Weather Underground, the Black Panthers, and Robert Anton Wilson, all of whom influenced his psychic explorations and the development of his Eight Circuit Model of consciousness.
"The author also details the role of the tarot in Leary’s life and philosophy, showing how Leary created his own version of the deck. Flatley reveals the correspondences between Leary’s deck and his Eight Circuit Model of consciousness and gives practical suggestions for how to use this tarot for divination."
Author bio: "Joseph L. Flatley is an investigative journalist, author, and host of the podcast A Paranoid’s History of the United States. His short films have been featured at Three Rivers Film Festival (Pittsburgh), NonPlussed Fest (Los Angeles) and Desert Daze (Joshua Tree, CA). His most recent book is New Age Grifter: The True Story of Gabriel of Urantia and His Cosmic Family."
In the comments for my Nov. 19 post, about the documents Bobby Campbell posted after going through the Ed Sanders papers at Princeton University's library special collections, Jesse Walker posts a question about "Hodge Podge," a three page document written by Mordecai Malignatus, i.e. RAW.
Jesse asked, "Is "Hodge Podge" one of the cut bits from Illuminatus!?
"(It is certainly the first place I've ever seen Robert Anton Wilson make a Merle Haggard reference. My worlds collide!)"
When I read it, it certainly seemed possible to me that it was a bit cut from Illuminatus!.
I had the same question about "Anarchism and Crime," an essay featured in both the new Robert Anton Wilson book, A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, and in Every Day is a GOOD Day, the new Robert Shea anthology.
It was published in Green Egg magazine on May 1, 1974. It is attributed to both Wilson and Shea, which itself seems suggestive, and the date made me wonder if it became available after it was chopped out of the Appendix by one of the Dell editors making cuts in the book, or by Wilson and Shea when they were compelled by Dell to make cuts.
I should also note that RAW's old friend, Scott Apel, maintains that Wilson's book The Illuminati Papers includes material cut from Illuminatus! And in fact, there is independent evidence that Scott is correct.
I tend to think of Beethoven as Robertt Anton Wilson's favorite composer, and mentions of Beethoven haunt RAW's writings, including many of the most well-known titles, such as Illuminatus! and Prometheus Rising. So I was interested that Johann Sebastian Bach was the composer mentioned most prominently in the new RAW book, A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, which I just finished.
The first mention comes in the "Illuminating Discord" interview, from 1976, when RAW is asked about his favorite music, and he mentions "Beethoven's Ninth and his late quartets, Bach, Bizet, Carl Orff, Vivaldi, the less popular and more experimental stuff by Stravinsky."
In the transcript of the joint appearance with Karl Hess (pun intended), the pair are asked to name the "greatest person who ever lived." Hess says his mother and Euclid, RAW answers, "Johann Sebastian Bach."
In the Steve Fly interview, asked about "favorite music albums and recording artists," RAW answers, "I like Bach. I like Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane. I like Harry Belafonte and the Weavers and a lot of other music. I like Mahler. I like a lot of music. Next question." (But earlier in the interview, when Steve asks for RAW's "favorite sound," he answers, "The end of Beethoven's Ninth: male and female voices singing together about joy and brotherhood and peace.")
A few other Bach bits:
In this post, Tyler Cowen rates Bach "the greatest achiever of all time." While this is a reasonable opinion and Tyler makes a good case, I am not sure why Bach would rank above Mozart, who wrote an astounding quantity of good music before dying at age 35. Many of Mozart's most famous works date from late in his career, so it is painful to think about what we might have if Mozart had lived until 40. Bach made it to 65, Beethoven was 56 when he died.
Bach is referenced over and over again in the works of Richard Powers, one of my favorite novelists. This is most obvious in The Gold Bug Variations, in which a character gives her lover a copy of the famous Glenn Gould recording of the Goldberg Variations.
One of my favorite Michael Johnson Substack issues is his Bach piece, "J.S. Bach and the Psychedelic Mind." Michael likes to play Bach on electric guitar; he should put some of that out on Bandcamp.
I own a lot of Bach's music and also have a lot bookmarked on streaming services. If I had to pick one favorite piece, it might be Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582. I also listen over and over again to three cantatas: "Wachet Auf," BWV 140; "Christ lag in Todes Banden," BWV 4, and the "Hunting Cantata," BWV 208.
The new Hilaritas Press podcast released today with regular host Mike Gathers features Mike Shea and myself, discussing the new Robert Shea anthology.
Official blurb: "Hilaritas host Mike Gathers chats with Mike Shea and Tom Jackson about the life of Robert Shea, and the new Robert Shea book, Every Day Is A GOOD Day, from Hilaritas Press in Episode 51 of the Hilaritas Press Podcast."
The podcast opens with Rasa's nifty animation of the book's cover. I thought it was a good episode when we recorded it -- not because of me, but because Mike Shea told so many good stories about his father. I thank the Mikes and Rasa for making this podcast happen.
With the advent of the gift giving season, this seems like a good time to point to the Etsy Weirdoverse shop, filled with various items of Bobby Campbell goodness.
If you missed out on Tales of Illuminatus, you can buy both issues from the shop. But I also want to point to a digital product, Omnibus777, more than 600 pages of digital comics for $5, and the "Discordian God Card Package."
Etsy, if you aren't familiar with it, is a nice way to support small business folk and get unique items.
The recommendations for The Magus by John Fowles are coming in thick and fast. It looks like I need to get around to reading the copy that's been sitting in my Kindle for a long time.
1. The new Robert Anton Wilson book, A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, mentions the book three times, including once as a personal favorite, and also as a "great book."
2. I recently wrote about book.sv, a book recommendation site recommended by Mark Frauenfelder, the RAW fan, writer, artist and founder of the Boing Boing magazine and website. When I tried it, it recommended The Magus to me. In the comments, Lvx15 said the site recommended The Magus to him as well, and Mark Brown mentioned it's in his "to be read" pile (which I suspect is as big as mine).
3. Robert Shea (in the new book) recommends John Fowles as one of his favorite writers.
4. Email from Mark Fraunfelder today: "Thanks for mentioning my book recommendation review! I read The Magus earlier this year and loved it!"
OK, OK, I will try to read it soon.
As I wrote in yesterday's post, Bobby Campbell has released a lot of new Robert Anton Wilson material, but he also took the time to release PDFs of five Robert Shea zines. One of them illustrates that Shea and RAW originally thought Illuminatus! would be coming out much more quickly. It also confirms that the pair originally thought Dell would bring out one big book:
"Two Chicago authors (names kept secret for their protection) are threatening to produce a novel which will give the complete and total truth about the Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria. Dell books is threatening of publish it. If all parties involved survive, the book could be out by 1971. Then the Apple will really hit the fan!" (The Universal Instructor in All Arts and Sciences and Pennsylvania Gazette (formerly the Saturday Evening Post, Number 25, April 4, 1970, available here).
I will be checking out the RAW material, too, although probably not thoroughly until I can finish reading A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005.
But I don't want Shea to be overlooked (as if you couldn't tell) so I've started by looking at five Shea zines, dating from 1969 to 1970).
Here is yesterday's blog post, with reading recommendations from Bobby and a link to the whole archive -- lots of RAW material -- and links to Shea's five zines in the archive.
The Princeton Library. Bobby Campbell photo, I think.
As I mentioned the other day, Bobby Campbell recently visited the Ed Sanders papers at Princeton University's special collections in the university library, searching for Robert Anton Wilson papers.
Bobby has now posted a collection of papers to make them available to everyone.
Here is the announcement at the Maybe Logic blog:
Enclosed please find a large collection of letters, articles, poetry, prose, and Discordian junk mail created by Robert Anton Wilson, usually under a variety of pen names and aliases, and all sent to, and preserved by, the poet and activist Ed Sanders.
(There is also material by Robert Shea, Arlen Riley Wilson, and even a cameo by Mal 2!)
This material was discovered by the brilliant esoteric scholar R. Michael Johnson, our resident Overweening Generalist, who identified its close proximity to my suburban NJ environs, housed in the Princeton Library's Special Collections Dept, and suggested I might do well to take a gander. Not being the type to turn down a magical quest, I did indeed take a trip up the turnpike and captured the cache of material, converted to PDF, labeled and organized to the best of my ability, and now present to the wider RAW/Discordian community for enjoyment and edification :)))
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS: EARLY RAW - THE ED SANDERS COLLECTION
The majority of the material here was brand new to me, and does not seem to be available elsewhere on the internet, though I'll be curious to see how much of it is genuinely previously unknown writing. I direct your attention specifically to the "I" newsletter section, which appears to be an early forerunner of the Trajectories newsletter. It seems like RAW probably sent this stuff far and wide, but I've never bumped into it before. Maybe it's collected under another name? (Maybe housed in the famed Discordian archives?)
I also direct your attention to two prose pieces:
I Blew Pot at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Panty Raid at the Pentagon)
Both of which Wilson refers to as proposed novels, of which these are presumably very short excerpts.
The Werewolf Bridge material shows up as a recurring theme in his work, but I don't think in this exact form. RAW's first hand description of his experience at the Pentagon protest is riveting! And again, previously unknown to me.
I made a Kickstarter pledge to back Tales of Illuminatus 2 and my comic book arrived on my porch Monday. So if you backed the project, too, and if you don't have your copy yet, I suspect that it will arrive Real Soon Now. Congratulations to Bobby for completing it! A job well done!
Episode 23 of the Liminal Currents podcast features an interview with Rasa. "On this episode he shares many interesting stories about RAW, his concepts and a bit about Timothy Leary as well!" I have not had time to listen yet, but I will check it out soon. I have linked to the Apple podcasts site, but it appears to be available at many of the usual podcasting locations and apps. The host apologizes for accidentally referring to Rasa as "Robert" in the podcast.
The Liminal Currents podcast appears to have other episodes that might be of interest to sombunall RAW fans.
Letter from RAW to Ed Sanders.
Bobby Campbell on Bluesky: "I had a great day at the Princeton Special Collections Dept! Documenting a treasure drove of original RAW documents from his correspondence w/ poet Ed Sanders. (On behalf of the OG!) 213 pages of RAW & Shea material. Processing everything now. Decent chance there's some unique gems in here :)))"
Background on Ed Sanders. The Princeton library has a website for Ed Sanders Papers, 1939-2021 (mostly 1960-2010). I look forward to learning more.
RAW Semantics on Bluesky: "I'm currently reading Robert Shea's 'Every Day is a GOOD Day' (the new collection edited by @jacksontom.bsky.social - see my post above) & like it a lot. I've quickly warmed to Shea's voice, but I don't know enough about him to attempt a review such as this one."
Thanks, Brian, and thanks again for the review, Michael! As I noted earlier, Brian has posted notes on the new Robert Anton Wilson book, A Non-Euclidian Perspective.
More here on Every Day is a Good Day.
Given that Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea were Blake fans and many RAW fans also love William Blake fans, I thought I would pass on this article recommending the five best books about William Blake, as chosen by Mark Vernon, author of the new book, Awake!: William Blake and the Power of the Imagination.
Don't forget that John Higgs also has written two books about Blake.
I don't see the book on Amazon, so U.S. readers apparently will want to order the book from Britain and have it shipped over here.
Malcolm Cowley. Public domain photo by Carl Van Vechten.
Dwight Garner reviews a new book about Malcolm Cowley for the New York Times, and the review (and apparently the book) highlights the role Cowley, a writer, editor and critic, played in reviving the career of writer William Faulkner:
"It’s hard to believe now, but in 1944 every one of William Faulkner’s 17 books was out of print except for 'Sanctuary,' a thriller he’d written to pay the mortgage. He was only in his late 40s but his career was in eclipse. Maxwell Perkins, the venerated Scribner’s editor, had declared: 'Faulkner is finished.' Faulkner’s publisher nudged him further into oblivion when it donated some of his novels’ printing plates — who’ll need these again? — to be melted down for the war effort.
"Among the books out of print were several interrelated novels written between 1929 and 1942, 'The Sound and the Fury,' 'As I Lay Dying,' 'Light in August,' 'Absalom, Absalom!' and 'Go Down, Moses.' Each was set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Miss. Each is now recognized as among the most vital and important novels of the 20th century, but that was hardly the case at the time. Faulkner’s work had never sold well, and it had long ago been pounded into dust by popular critics such as Clifton Fadiman of The New Yorker, who found Faulkner a puzzling bore."
The review relates how Faulkner's fortunes were reversed when Cowley succeeded in getting Viking to let him edit and publish The Portable Faulkner, despite the fact that "Almost no one at Viking thought the book worth doing."
The book Garner reviews is The Insider by Gerald Howard; Faulkner is not the only writer Cowley helped. See the link, above, and the Wikipedia bio.
I mention this not just because RAW was a Faulkner fan (Faulkner gets a mention in Illuminatus!) but because the new book raises an important point: Who or what will help bring more attention to the works of Robert Anton Wilson (and Robert Shea)? Is there a Malcolm Cowley out there somewhere?
At least, thanks to Hilaritas Press, we don't have to worry about RAW going out of print. There's a lot currently available for any reader who discovers RAW and wants to get more.
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Harlan Ellison (Creative Commons photo by Pip R. Lagenta, more information)
Jesse Walker spots a "letter to the editor" from Robert Anton Wilson in the October 1981 issue of Heavy Metal magazine.
The text:
"Dear All,
"Loved the Burroughs article on immortality. That man is the greatest prose artist since Joyce. I was less impressed with the Ellison piece. His rhetoric always reminds me of the kind of speech that traditionally ends up, 'And let's get a rope and string the bastards up right now.' Doesn't he ever stop hating everybody and anybody in sight? Oh, well, that's his shtick I guess: different maps for different chaps, different scenes for different genes, different lanes for different brains ....
Live long and prosper,
Robert Anton Wilson Berkeley, Calif."
The Harlan Ellison piece, "Fear Not Your Enemies," is here. It's an essay arguing for gun control that appeared after John Lennon's murder. It's reprinted in the Ellison collection Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed: Essays.
The William Burroughs piece is here. The AI summary when I searched for it says, "William Burroughs' piece 'Immortality' was featured in Heavy Metal Magazine in May 1981. This work is a heavily edited version of an essay that later appeared in his book The Adding Machine. In "Immortality," Burroughs explores themes related to the human desire for eternal life and the implications of advanced medical technologies, such as transplant techniques, on society."
Dr. Gül Dölen
Robert Anton Wilson, defending Timothy Leary, campaigned for research into the benefits of psychedelic drugs, and I often wished he could have lived to see the research efforts that have been going on in recent years. Michael Johnson's latest Substack newsletter, "Recent Psychedelic Drug Research and German Ethology," is an interesting primer on some of the work that's going on. At the end of the piece, Michael loops back to Leary: "The Leary scholar James Penner thought Leary’s ideas around 'de-conditioning' and 'reimprinting' using psychedelic drugs were his biggest breakthroughs."
As this is a blog aimed at people who like to read, I thought I would pass on a suggestion from Mark Frauenfelder, from the latest issue of the newsletter Recomendo:
"book.sv, is a free book recommendation engine built by scraping 43 million Goodreads users. I entered about ten favorite books, and the results impressed me. It surfaced other books I’ve read and loved, validating its taste-matching algorithm. More exciting were the new titles it suggested: intriguing picks I hadn’t encountered before (like Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze). Unlike Goodreads’ algorithm, this feels like getting suggestions from someone who actually understands my reading taste. — MF"
So I decided to try it. I entered 14 favorite books, ones that I had read more than once, and it gave me 30 book recommendations. Most were titles I knew about, all were authors I had heard of. Nineteen were books I had already read, which I guess shows that the recommendations work; I liked almost all of the books I had read, although a couple did not impress me much. There were only a couple of books I don't know much about, Light by M. John Harrison and The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies. But the recommended book I am likeliest to read next is The Magus by John Fowles; Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea were both Fowles fans. I probably should also try The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth. (I read The Floating Opera in college and liked it, but I've never read any other Barth. RAW liked him.)
Photo from Unsplash
Here is some news that combines several of Robert Anton Wilson's interests: Ireland is moving ahead with a program to provide basic income payments to artists. The program was an experiment and is now being made permament.
While I got frustrated trying to find one really good news story that answered all of my questions (what kinds of artists? How many people are likely to qualify in the future?) here are some articles: From Smithsonian, also an article from Ocula, and also an article from Business Insider.
Just wanted to draw a little attention to it. Posted on Bluesky to draw attention to the recent RAW Semantics posting about A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005.
My sister's copy
I recently flew to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to visit my mother. While chatting with my sister in my mother's living room a few days ago, my sister mentioned that the local branch of the public library has a table where people can put books they own they have finished reading, and other library patrons are invited to take them and bring them home. Kind of like the "Little Free Libraries" that are common in the U.S. Susi mentioned there was a book that offered a different history of the 20th century.
The next day, Susi, knowing my interest in history, brought the book over to show to me, and to my surprise it was John Higgs' Stranger Than We Can Imagine. It's one of my favorite John Higgs books. I have my own copy, autographed by the author, and I also had bought a copy and given it to my father. It was one of the last books my Dad read before he passed away.
"I know that guy!" I exclaimed. I explained that Dad had read it. Then I picked up my mother's copy of Every Day is a GOOD DAY, the Robert Shea book published by Hilaritas Press that I edited that came out in September. I showed them the quote on the back cover, from John, endorsing the book.
At this point, you probably are curious what John said about the Shea book, here it is: "“Entertaining, thought provoking and richly varied, Every Day is a GOOD Day is a perfect introduction to the anarchistic principles and humane thinking of Robert Shea - a man more interested in finding flaws in his own beliefs than he is in forcing those beliefs on others.”
The October 2025 issue of The Mycelium has been released, and there's lots of Discordian news, including several events in Britain.
Some of Michelle Olley's newsletter covers news we have mentioned here: The new Non-Euclidian RAW book, the new Robert Shea book, Tales of Illuminatus No. 2 and John Higgs' new David Lynch book. And we appreciate the shoutout for this blog.
Also: A Day of the Dead bricklaying ceremony in Birkenhead Park in Liverpool ("The JAMs return to Merseyside for the annual laying of the bricks in The People’s Pyramid, presided over by Callendar, Callendar, Cauty and Drummond funeral services and our own Bricklayer, Daisy Eris Campbell and Krew"); a screening of David Bramwell's movie, The Haunted Mustache ("The story of a mysterious inheritance, seances, psychedelics and Brighton’s 1990s alt-cabaret scene is woven together with inimitable charm by writer, broadcaster and performer David Bramwell"), Melinda Gebbie's new art book and a new version of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies.
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