Maybe Poul Anderson doesn't suck

 

Poul Anderson at Polcon, a 1985 science fiction convention held in Poland. Public domain photo via Wikipedia. 

In the New Libertarian Notes interview, reprinted in A Non-Euclidian Perspective, Robert Anton Wilson offers his thoughts at the beginning  on his favorite novels, TV shows, music, etc., including this bit on three science fiction authors, Poul Anderson, Ursula K. LeGuin and Robert Heinlein:

CRNLA: How about Anderson, LeGuin and Heinlein?

RAW: I haven't taken Anderson seriously since 1968, when he wrote an account of the police-riot at the Chicago Convention which was totally false, according to my observations on the scene. I decided Poul loved the Vietnam War so much, that he could actually watch a cop hit an old lady and remember it as a young communist hitting the cop. I haven't bothered keeping up with Anderson's hallucinations since then. LeGuin is great already, and getting better book by book. Heinlein has been an idol to me for more than 20 years. He can do no wrong, no matter how much he loves wars and hates pacifists. (I'm the kind of anarchist whose chief objection to the State is that it kills so many people. Government is the epitome of the deathist philosophy I reject.)

What I am struck by here is that RAW is honest enough to admit he isn't really being consistent when he separates Anderson from Heinlein, about which more below. But is that justified on literary grounds? Does Poul Anderson suck? 

To be sure, the Vietnam War and the antiwar protests are a pretty bad issue to be wrong about, and that's not the only instance where Anderson ages badly. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison, was a landmark original anthology of SF stories with many really good contributions by famous SF authors. The Poul Anderson story isn't a story I cared for. The "shock ending" of "Eutopia" is that one of the characters turns out to be gay. 

So, can we apply RAW's "Ezra Pound rule" to Anderson? Despite strong political disagreements with Pound, RAW famously saw Pound as a valuable writer. Anderson is a very different writer, but is he good enough that we have to disagree with RAW's dismissal?

Before we get into the rebuttal, here is a fascinating bit of science fiction history: When two groups of science fiction writers took sides over the Vietnam War.

The June 1968 issue of Galaxy magazine (at the time,  when of the best science fiction magazines) ran dueling ads on the Vietnam War. One ad listed the signatures of science fiction writers who opposed the war. The other ad listed SF writers who wanted the U.S. to remain in Vietnam until U.S. objectives were met. A blog post includes the two ads, with background and commentary. 

The blog post, by Alex Cox (a movie director) compares the two groups of writers. "Comparisons may be invidious, but the 'anti-war' group is by far the better group of writers," he writes. 

"By far" seems an exaggeration to me. It is true that the antiwar group has more writers that I'm a fan of. I've read much of the work of Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, Thomas Disch, Philip Jose Farmer and Ursula K. LeGuin, for example, and I know many of the other names.

But the pro-war faction also has some talent. Some of my favorite writers are there, too, e.g. R.A. Lafferty, Jack Vance and Robert Heinlein. I like some of the other writers, too. And as you might expect from RAW's comments, Poul Anderson is listed in the hawk advertisement.

I've read quite a bit of Anderson's short fiction, but only five of his novels. I remember particularly liking Tau Zero, a hard science fiction novel that got a rave review from James Blish in F&SF. I also liked The Winter of the World, The Boat of a Million Years and Orion Shall Rise. The last Anderson novel I've read, one that I just finished, is The Star Fox. I read it because it won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, but I didn't think it was that great. 

When I did my recent "Ten by Ten" blog post, I noticed in the comments that Mark K. Brown, a big RAW fan who reads many of the same authors as I, had read at least ten Poul Anderson books. So I invited Mark to tell me what he's read and what he liked, and he obliged:

"I've read the complete Polesotechnic universe stories (which includes the van Rijn/Falkayn and Flandry stories), Tau Zero (my fave), Boat of a Million Years, The Avatar, Winners (strangely enough, this  is a collection of award winners), and all of the fantasies. The Broken Sword is the one I had him autograph at ConFrancisco. I enjoyed all of them and will be reading more of his books in the near future." (The Polesotechnic  series consists of seven novels, according to the Poul Anderson bibliography on Wikipedia, but it sounds like Mark is talking about more than that. "All the fantasies" would amount to 15 or so books. So Mark has read more than two dozen Anderson books). 

The Broken Sword  is a very well-regarded fantasy novel. Gregory Arnott, another reader I trust, read it a few years ago. He wrote (personal correspondence): "I enjoyed The Broken Sword. It is pretty intense and incestuous which impressed me, as someone who was fostered on George R.R. Martin. I really enjoyed the different, and I dares way more accurate, depiction of Norse beliefs in a fantasy novel. I'd recommend it and it makes quick reading."

Since Mark and I both liked Tau Zero, and it was nominated for a  Hugo, I looked up what  won that year, 1971. It was Ringworld by Larry Niven, which is considered a classic. Niven, by the way,  also was one of the "Galaxy hawks," as was Jerry Pournelle, who co-wrote some of Niven's novels.

What the opinions of writers and critics?

In The Hugo Winners, Volume II, the editor,  Isaac Asimov, paid tribute to science fiction writers who had been prominent in the field for many years; he mentioned Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance and Gordon Dickson, then added: "Still, for a combination of quantity and quality, I would like to nominate good old Poul Anderson." 

John Clute would largely agree. He is prominent SF critic, from Canada, who I admire a lot. (He sat across from me once at a convention banquet. It was probably a bigger thrill for me than for him, but he patiently gave me a couple of hot takes when I posed questions). The SF Encyclopedia's  entry on Anderson is written by Clute. Some sample quotes from Clute: "His generation's most prolific sf writer of any consistent quality," "Perhaps unique among the top rank of American sf writers of his generation in that his fantasy work – he wrote a large number of fantasy tales – is also of considerable significance," Brain Wave is great, and "Out of the welter of remaining book titles, four singletons and Anderson's final ambitious series can be mentioned as outstanding." (Tau Zero makes the singleton outstanding cut, while the "ambitious series" is the four book Guthrie Family series that begins with Harvest of Stars. The second book of the series, The Stars Are Also Fire, won a Prometheus Award.)

I should mention that Anderson (aside from a stack of Hugo awards, Nebula awards, SFWA "Grand Master" designation etc.) is much-honored by the Prometheus Award, which I've participated in for years,  much as Robert Shea did: Six awards, plus a "lifetime achievement" award). 

Applying  the "Ezra Pound" rule, it seems that Poul Anderson may be a valuable writer. 

Footnote: If you happen to be a fan of ebooks, watch for sales. At any given time, a couple of the novels are on sale for $2, so you can build up a classic library cheap if you keep an eye out. As I write this, the Last Viking Trilogy is $3 from Barnes and Noble, while Hrolf Kraki's Saga and The Corridors of Time are $2 apiece at Amazon. 

An occult book museum, with an online library

The Embassy of the Free Mind. Creative Commons photo, information here. 

The Recomendo newsletter, which I subscribe to, has an item about an occult museum and library that I thought sombunall of you would want to know about.  From the latest newsletter, an entry by Claudia Dawson: 

"Recently when I was in Amsterdam, I went on a private rare book tour at the Embassy of the Free Mind. The embassy houses one of the world’s largest collections of Hermetic and occult books, and they’ve digitized thousands of manuscripts that you can read online for free. But if you’re in Amsterdam, I definitely recommend booking a guided tour. I chose the tour that focuses on alchemical texts, but they have others on magic, witchcraft, and Rosicrucianism. I didn’t get to touch any of the books, which is understandable, but I did get to smell one that was hundreds of years old and it was glorious.

 — CD"

Here is the Wikipedia article. It was opened by Dan Brown, the author. 

Progress being made on RAW magick book

I own most of the books in the Hilaritas Press catalog. This is one of my favorites. 

Hilaritas Press has had a book in the works for awhile that will reprint some of Robert Anton Wilson's most significant writings on magick. I recently got an email from Oz Fritz that mentioned he has been "been reading a lot of old RAW articles" to help the other editors working on the book and that the material is "a lot of fun." Oz added, "A lot of good material there."

I know sombunall of you have been waiting for the book and this sounded like encouraging news so I wrote to Rasa for an update, and he obliged: 

"Three editors and myself have been working a lot on the project (Mike Gathers, Dave Skelton and Oz Fritz are the editors). It will be a collection of some 30 essays. The working title is: Maybe Magick: Notes from an Evolving Nervous System. It occurs to me that it will be a nice complement to Sex, Drugs and Magick and Lion of Light."

That sounds encouraging, too. Rasa never announces a publication date -- he works on the book until he thinks it is ready, and then he puts it out -- but it sure sounds like things maybe are taking shape.

In the meantime, check out the large online catalog of available Hilaritas Press books, which I think suggests that Rasa won't delay the title once it's ready. There's also a PDF document of the catalog that visitors are invited to download. 

I see 30 titles, not all of them by RAW, and I think I own all but 3 or 4. And of course, I had a lot of RAW books before Hilaritas even began as the publishing imprint of the RAW Trust. 

More Bobby Campbell news

Bobby Campbell has released a newsletter full of news.  

-- The Kickstarter for Tales of Illuminatus No. 3 is fully funded. But pledges continue to June for everyone to get their goodies.

-- Bobby reviews a new Alan Moore collection that has a bunch of stories you've probably never read.

-- As I mentioned here earlier, Bleeding Cool and Grant Morrison like Bobby's comic book adaptations of Illuminatus! (Bobby: "If you told me 20 years ago I'd be working on an Illuminatus! comic book that Grant Morrison had publicly proclaimed as "brilliant!" I would not have been surprised at all, because I used to be an arrogant brat with delusions of grandeur. I still am, of course, but I used to be too!")

-- Bobby has a touching new comic about growing up with his older brother.

Read the whole thing for even more news!

Tales of Illuminatus No. 3 Kickstarter has lauched

 

The Kickstarter for Tales of Illuminatus #3 launched on Thursday as scheduled. 

Bobby Campbell's announcement at the Kickstarter site has details on the new issue. He's bringing in characters from other RAW novels, such as Sigismundo Celine from the Historical Illuminatus series (he's the guy at the piano). Bobby hopes to get the third issue out by July, but August is a more realistic goal. A trade paperback will be issued with the first three issues. A "skeleton key" zine with commentary by Michael Johnson is planned in the fall. There's a new poster that's going to be issued and there are related soundtrack albums that I've mentioned before in this space. And so on.

The pledges this time offer a dizzying array of options. Along with the various preset packages of rewards for backers, there is a pretty long list of available add-ons. I struggled with all of the options and Kickstater's clumsy system and finally took one of the packages when I pledged.

One point that seems important to me is that Bobby has put together pledge amounts that can meet any budget. Everyone can take part. And you don't have to feel any obligation to pledge more than you can afford; Bobby has already met the pledge goal of $777. The pledges already were more than $1,000 as I wrote this. 

Hilaritas podcast features Jordan Gruber

Here's the blurb: "Renaissance Wordsmith—writer, editor, and coach Jordan Gruber.  Founder of the Enlightenment.Com website, Jordan recently co-authored with James Fadiman, Your Symphony of Selves (on healthy multiplicity), and Microdosing for Health, Healing, and Enhanced Performance."

Jordan Gruber has a Substack and an official website. 

 

Michael Johnson on RAW and math

 

A tesseract. The hypercube is unfolded into eight cubes. Source. 

Michael Johnson's latest Substack piece, "Robert Anton Wilson and the Laws of Form," explores RAW's interest in mathematics, with a particular focus on G. Spencer Brown’s 1969 book Laws of Form. 

One of Michael's remarks inspired me to re-read one of my favorite Robert Heinlein short stories, "'=And He Built a Crooked House-'". The story made a big impression on me when I first read it in high school, and I still like it. It's available here. 

'Mycellium Parish News 2025' is an inspiring catalog of creativity

My copy of the 2025 Mycellium Parish News arrived in the mail yesterday, and it's the most inspiring publication I've read in months.

A joint production of two people, writer James Burt and Peakrill Press publisher Dan Sumption, the Mycellium Parish News is an annual compendium of Discordian publications and doings, particularly focusing on the British scene but with plenty of American stuff, too. It's a 42-page pamphlet. Maybe 25 percent of the listings are for productions I've mentioned here, but most of this was new to me.

The listings are divided into "Transmissions" (short pieces by the likes of John Higgs), books, Peakrill Press books, zines, links to websites (such as this one), podcasts, music, films, groups and events. Lots to check out.

Perhaps I should offer an example. Here is the listing for James Burt's work:

Microfictions

Parish News editor James sends out a short story every week or so. For the last two years, he's produced an advent calendar of horror stories. In 2026 he will release his horror novella Swedish Pizza. 
https://microfictions.orbific.com
https://eris.orbific.com/372

As you can see, James and Dan offer their own short URLs to make it easy to use their guide. I assume it's just coincidence, but I love it that the short URL for my own Robert Shea book is eris.orbific.com/404. In other words, the Internet link is the dread "404 not found" number.

As I went through this, I kept finding what I would describe as "found Zen koans."  Under music, there's a listing for "Music for Funerals and Bricklaying Ceremonies." Under  books, "Lori Emerson is founder of the Media Archeology Lab, 'a museum dedicated to obsolete technologies'."

You won't find as much interesting weirdness anywhere else. 

The 2025 Mycellium Parish News may be ordered from Etsy. If you are in the United States, it may take a bit longer to get to you than advertised. Please try to be patient. 

Monday news and notes

 

I have long been fascinated by Janice Weber, who has had a duel career as both a noted novelist and as a classical piano performer. Her latest, a slow-burn thriller named Meat Cove, skillfully melds several plots that come to a climax toward the end of the book. The book is somewhat reminiscent of her two-book "Frost the Fiddler" series from early in her career, but I think she's gotten better at writing thrillers. Here is the review from Kirkus, which also likes it. As of now, the Kindle is still $3. 

I own some of Weber's recordings and many of her books. The recordings are interesting and generally not the same old recordings everyone else does.  Here's the official website. 

Trump's psychedelic order. As I've covered other news about psychedelics here, I'll not that Trump has signed an executive order that aims to expand the use of ibogaine and other psychedelics for mental health treatment. Here is the coverage from Reason magazine.  An NPR article also mentions psilocybin. Mike Gathers did a Hilaritas Press podcast on his experiences with ibogaine. 

Tales of Illuminatus No. 3. Note that April 23 is the scheduled launch of the Kickstarter for Tales of Illuminatus 3. I'll  have full coverage. Here is the prelaunch page. 

Mark Frauenfelder on 'Natural Law'

 

Mark Frauenfelder's Book Freak newsletter has a new piece out on Robert Anton Wilson's Natural Law essay:

"Shortly after I bought it, my wife Carla and I heard that Wilson and Timothy Leary were doing a joint book signing somewhere in Los Angeles. We gathered up as many Leary and Wilson books as we had — which was a lot — and headed over. When I handed Wilson the Loompanics edition of Natural Law, he looked up at me and said, “Where the hell did you get this?“ He seemed genuinely surprised that anyone would own it.

"Here was the author, astonished that a reader had found his own book. It confirmed what I already suspected: Natural Law is a deep cut, even by Wilson’s standards. That’s why it’s the first book for our new Deep Cut Edition — subscriber-only posts about books that are obscure, strange, or underrated enough to deserve special attention."

I subscribed so I could read the whole thing, though you could read the first part for free. 

Prometheus Awards finalists named

[There are intersections with this blog, as I am a judge for the award, Robert Shea was an active member of the group that gives this award and Illuminatus! won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. -- The Management]

The Libertarian Futurist Society, a nonprofit all-volunteer international organization of liberty-loving science fiction/fantasy fans, has announced five finalists for the Best Novel category of the Prometheus Awards.

Here are the Best Novel finalists in brief, in alphabetical order by author: Storm-Dragon, by Dave Freer (Raconteur Press); War by Other Means, by Karl K. Gallagher (Kelt Haven Press); No Man’s Land, by Sarah Hoyt (Goldport Press); A Kiss for Damocles, by J. Kenton Pierce (Raconteur Press); and Powerless, by Harry Turtledove (CAEZIK SF & Fantasy.)

Full-length reviews of each Best Novel finalist, explaining how each fits the distinctive focus of the Prometheus Awards, have been (or soon will be) posted on the Prometheus Blog. Meanwhile, here are capsule descriptions of all five finalists:

* Storm-Dragon, by Dave Freer (Raconteur Press): The Young Adult science fiction novel centers on a boy who saves and adopts an intelligent alien pet on an ocean-dominated colony planet with dangers both alien and human. In the spirit of Heinlein’s Farmer in the Sky and Alan Dean Foster’s Flinx novels, the story centers on Skut and Podge, two resourceful middle-school boys from refugee families. As they make friends in their new home, the boys confront class bullies and repressive teachers, cope with mob behavior and navigate the ocean’s tricky shores. In the process, they interact and communicate more with their orphaned young “dragon,” an electrosensitive six-limbed alien creature who may be more intelligent and formidable than it appears. Aimed primarily at ages 8 to 18 and avoiding explicit ideology, the novel gradually expands to include parents, administrators and other adults enmeshed in the colony town’s increasingly corrupt politics, which threatens livelihoods through onerous regulations, taxes and property confiscations. Ultimately, a violent invasion from human raiders threatens the colonists’ broader rights. With a strong career background in fishing and oceanography, Freer focuses more on the plausible ecology and boy-centered adventures than the politics of this plausible frontier planet, while allowing his live-and-let-live, peace and freedom themes to emerge naturally.

* War by Other Means, by Karl K. Gallagher (Kelt Haven Press): Finding ways to come to mutual agreements through diplomacy and trading rather than coercion is a central theme in Book 7 of Gallagher’s frequent-Prometheus-finalist Fall of the Censor series. Following the liberation of dozens of worlds from the Censorate oppression, newly appointed ambassador Wynny Landry strives to prevent the rebellion from falling apart. Her task: convincing their governments to cooperate and forge trade deals for excess missiles despite differing cultures, interests and pressures. The novel centers on problems arising on Fiera, which formed a world government following the Censorite attack and atomic-bombing of 16 cities. So many state-commanded resources were put into defense and so much manpower lost to conscription that Fiera’s economy is failing. Meanwhile local politics keeps warships nearby, preventing them from supporting the alliance’s interplanetary defense. The story reminds us that even good and democratic societies can falter when politics, taxation, conscription and pork-barrel politics undermine their freedom, strength and adaptability. Among the libertarian themes: war as the health of the state, how governments can slide into despotism, the evils of slavery, the dysfunction of pork-barrel politics, and how censorship only makes people lust for forbidden fruit.

* No Man’s Land, by Sarah Hoyt (Goldport Press): The three-volume novel blends science fiction, fantasy, suspense, mystery, romance, adventure, political intrigue and a plausible “alien” biology in a universe where sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. In an interstellar future with settled human planets of widely differing societies, a freedom-favoring federation sends an ambassador to certify the final stages of induction of a previously lost colony. The first-contact story eventually focuses on a hidden world where the population has been genetically shaped to make everyone hermaphroditic. Both epic and intimate, with chapters alternating in perspective between the young human ambassador and an archmage, the novel becomes a love story about found family amidst a wider conspiracy threatening the federation’s commitment to equal liberty. Ultimately, in a multi-layered work launching her Chronicles of Elly series, Hoyt gradually weaves in a variety of libertarian themes while offering a radically different take on gender and sexuality than Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic novel The Left Hand of Darkness.  Among them: the virtues and benefits of cooperation, individualism, private property, tolerance, equal justice and individual choice, providing a stark contrast with the  evils of aggression, tyranny, slavery and discrimination against sexual minorities.

* A Kiss for Damocles, by J. Kenton Pierce (Raconteur Press): The science fiction saga, which launches the author’s Tales From the Long Night series, illuminates the ethics and efficacy of free trade and self-defense as a proper foundation for civilization. The novel is set on a colony planet where humans in towns and homesteading communities are struggling to recover centuries after a catastrophic attack and volcanic cataclysm that set back and severely limits their use of advanced technology. At the story’s heart is Shai, a young homesteader facing harsh frontier conditions, corrupt Townie politics, dangerous native species, and sinister forces amidst still-functional A.I.-powered orbiting war machines. Pierce celebrates the self-reliance and resilience of self-regulating frontier communities that survive and evolve based on the hard-won realities of voluntarism, mutual respect and cooperation. But this is also a cautionary tale about the deceptive idealism of a command-and-control ideology and the perennial tendency towards abuse of power, reflected in the Townies’ push for higher taxation, fiat money and indoctrinating state takeover of education. Narrating from her wry but hopeful perspective, Shai becomes a leader in her community’s struggles to defend their freedom, preserve their heritage and restore their world.

* Powerless, by Harry Turtledove (Caezick SF & Fantasy): Inspired by Vaclav Havel’s classic essay “Power of the Powerless,” this alternate history is set decades ago in a communist America where small moments of defiance or quiet resistance to governmental repression have unexpectedly big consequences. Set in the western United States dominated by a Soviet-Union-fostered socialist tyranny, the novel begins with one shopkeeper’s impulsive and fed-up act of taking down from his grocery storefront window a required propaganda poster expressing solidarity with the state revolution. In a dystopian society demanding utter submission and insistent on propping up its legitimacy, that simple act has a ripple effect on the shopkeeper, his wife and two children, and the wider world. Focusing on small acts of decency and honesty, the realistic yet inspiring story reveals how communism smothers the human spirit, denies reality, censors news, imposes lies and undercuts everyday life even when it doesn’t rise to the level of genocide or outright totalitarianism but strives to embody Czechoslovakia’s 1968 vision of "socialism with a human face.” Mirroring the psychological and political distress of many today for speaking the truth, Powerless is timely in reflecting the challenges in societies that claim to uphold freedom but suppress facts to enforce conformity.

Fourteen 2025 novels were nominated by LFS members for this year's award. Other Best Novel nominees, listed in alphabetical order by author: Red Heart, by Max Harms; Forged for Destiny and Forged for Prophecy, by Andrew Knighton; All the Humans Are Sleeping, by John C.A. Manley; For Emma, by Ewan Morrison; Planting Life: Shut the Kingdom, by Laura Montgomery; Where the Axe is Buried, by Ray Nayler; The Underachiever, by David A. Price; and Caballeros del Camino, by R.H. Snow.

The Best Novel winner will receive an engraved plaque with a one-ounce gold coin. An online Prometheus awards ceremony, open to the public, is tentatively planned for mid-August. Science fiction fan and author Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, will be this year’s keynote speaker and celebrity guest presenter. The date of the ceremony will be announced in mid July once the winners are known for both annual categories, including the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

The Prometheus Award, sponsored by the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), was established and first presented in 1979, making it one of the most enduring awards after the Nebula and Hugo awards, and one of the oldest fan-based awards currently given in sf.

The Prometheus Hall of Fame category for Best Classic Fiction, launched in 1983, is presented annually with the Best Novel category. This year’s Hall of Fame finalists are The Star Dwellers, a 1961 novel by James Blish; Brave New World, a 1932 novel by Aldous Huxley; That Hideous Strength, a 1945 novel by C.S. Lewis; Salt, a 2000 novel by Adam Roberts;  and Singularity Sky, a 2003 novel by Charles Stross.

The Prometheus Awards recognize outstanding works of speculative or fantastical fiction (including science fiction and fantasy) that dramatize the perennial conflict between Liberty and Power, favor voluntarism and cooperation over institutionalized coercion, expose the abuses and excesses of coercive government, and/or critique or satirize authoritarian systems, ideologies and assumptions.

Above all, the Prometheus Awards strive to recognize speculative fiction that champions individual rights, based on the moral/legal principle of non-aggression, as the ethical and practical foundation for peace, prosperity, progress, justice, tolerance, mutual respect, civility and civilization itself.

All LFS members have the right to nominate eligible works for all categories of the Prometheus Awards, while publishers and authors are welcome to submit potentially eligible works for consideration using the guidelines linked from the LFS website’s main page.

A  judging committee, drawn from the membership and chaired by LFS co-founder Michael Grossberg, selects the Prometheus Award finalists for Best Novel from members’ nominations. Following the selection of finalists, all LFS upper-level members (Full members, Sponsors and Benefactors) have the right to vote on the Best Novel finalist slate to choose the annual winner.

Membership in the Libertarian Futurist Society is open to any freedom-loving science fiction/fantasy fan interested in how speculative or fantastical fiction can enhance an appreciation of the value of liberty and broaden public recognition of the dangers and evils of tyranny and the abuses more prevalent under the State’s centralized and coercive powers.

For a full list of past Prometheus Award winners in all categories, visit our site. For reviews and commentary on these finalists and other works of interest to the LFS, visit the Prometheus blog.  

Rasa's (and Ken Burns') alma mater is shutting down

The Harold F. Johnson library at Hampshire College. (Copyleft photo under the Free Art License, details here.)

Most of you know Rasa, the fine dude who runs Hilaritas Press for the Robert Anton Wilson Trust. A few months ago, I mentioned that Rasa had attended a reunion for his alma mater, Hampshire College, where he presented a copy of RAW Memes to fellow alum Ken Burns, the famous documentary filmmaker. Burns sent Rasa a nice letter revealing that he had loved Illuminatus! I also have a friend here in northern Ohio  who graduated from Hampshire; she runs a book club I belong to.

This week came the news that Hampshire College (in Massachusetts, despite the name) will be shutting down. "Many small schools have struggled to enroll students in places facing population declines, a factor in Hampshire’s demise. Hampshire College has about 625 students, Ms. Chrisler said, about half the school’s enrollment in the early 2000s," the New York Times reported.

Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, which figures in Illuminatus! as Simon Moon's school, has closed repeatedly. The last time it closed was in 2008. It has been revived, though just barely: It had 15 graduates in 2025, according to the Wikipedia article. 

'Lynchian' update, for Americans

John Higgs is one of my favorite writers, and I really like David Lynch, so I was really pleased when John announced his book last  year on Lynch, Lynchian.  I wanted to buy an ebook, and I assumed it would be released in the U.S. After all, Lynch is an American and he has plenty of fans in the U.S.

I've seen no signs of a U.S. edition, however, so I finally asked John about it. He replied, "Alas, there are no plans for an American edition, I think mainly because it's a short 30,000 word thing. There's an Italian edition out later this year, but no American. And while getting the UK hardback online should be no problem, it does mean that there's no legal way to get the ebook or the audiobook. That I know of, anyway."

I will just have to order a paper copy and have it shipped to me, I guess. I'd still like to be able to get an ebook, but apparently that isn't easy to do and involves lying, such as pretending to be a resident of Britain.