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.
Microdosing expert James Fadiman is the guest on the new Hilaritas podcast. Here is the blurb for the show:
"Hilaritas host Mike Gathers talks with researcher, author, teacher, and consultant, Dr. James Fadiman.
"Richard Alpert first turned Jim onto psilocybin in 1961. Jim soon moved to Perry Lane, the Stanford Bohemian Quadrant which was ground zero for Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. There in Menlo Park, Jim guided Stuart Brand on his first LSD experience. He went on to help found the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and continues to teach to this day. Jim wrote the Psychedelic Explorers Guide Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys in 2011, and has co-written with his friend Jordan Gruber, Microdosing for Health, Healing and Advanced Performance, and Your Symphony of Selves: Discover and Understand More of who we are.."
James Fadiman’s website: https://www.jamesfadiman.com/
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_University_(California)
Host Mike Gathers:https://linktr.ee/mgathers23
Producer/Engineer Richard Rasa: http://www.pelorian.com/rasa.html
The Non Serviam podcast, episode 74, features Mike Gathers. He's interviewed by Lucy Steigerwald.
"For NSP 74, we spoke with Mike Gathers about the politics of Robert Anton Wilson!
In addition, we talked about libertarianism, techno-optimism, the limits of the left-right spectrum, and Mike's recently published book with Hilaritas Press titled, A Non Euclidian Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005 containing many previously published political articles and interviews of RAW."
I've provided YouTube links, but both should be on most podcasting apps.
Bonus news: Afroman won.
As I mentioned I would, I listened to Mike Gathers' in the latest Hilaritas podcast, above, as I was intrigued. It is interesting, personal and candid. Mike talks about his two trips to Costa Rica for Iboga psychedelic therapy, what is was like, how it affected her personal habits and his health. He's planning a follow-up session. Mike is careful to explain that Iboga is dangerous, and not something to experiment with by yourself.
The Hilaritas Press podcast released Monday has a format that's a little different this time. Instead of the usual interview of a guest by Mike Gathers, it stars Mike himself, doing a monologue.
It also sounds really interesting, and I will be listening to it soon. Here is the blurb:
"Hilaritas host Mike Gathers does all the talking this episode as he describes his illuminating experiences with iboga psychedelic therapy."
That's an iboga rainforest shrub behind Mike.
I have two Hilaritas podcasts to mention this time.
The newest, above, is with John Zerzan, here's the description: "Hilaritas host Mike Gathers chats with John Zerzan about anarchist Max Stirner, and John's interest in Anarcho-primitivism, in episode 53 of the Hilaritas Podcast."
With the excitement over Maybe Night, I managed to miss December's podcast announcement, but it sounds like an interesting one: "Hilaritas host Mike Gathers chats with Nick Tharcher, publisher at The Original Falcon Press, about his many years in the publishing of occult books, in episode 52 of the Hilaritas Podcast." Listen here. I liked Tharcher's first appearance on the the podcast, I'll bet this one is good, too.
Not too late to listen to the November podcast, on Robert Shea, featuring Mike Shea (with me in a supporting role). Mike tells great stories about his father.
I've linked to the Hilaritas Press podcast pages, but you should be able to find these episodes on your favorite podcasting app. Fifty three episodes and counting, browse them here.
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.
The new Robert Anton Wilson book, above, won't be the last from Hilaritas.
Hilaritas Press already has an impressive catalog of Robert Anton Wilson books, along with books by other authors, but the flow of new RAW titles looks like it is going to keep going for awhile.
Mike Gathers -- Hilaritas Press podcast host, one of the editors who helps Rasa, Substack newsletter author, and so on -- reports that work has begun on a new book that collects Robert Anton Wilson's writings on magick. Mike has assembled 16 essays so far. Possible titles include RAW Magick in Theory and Practice or Maybe Magick.
Don't expect the book to come out right away. "We've got a long way to go to get this into print," Mike said.
Various other ideas for RAW anthologies are being kicked around, but I need to emphasize that at this point there are mostly just ideas and may not result in an actual book:
• Mike has worked to assemble some of RAW's more utopian pieces, possible title, A Vision of the Future.
• Mike has compiled a list of 29 pieces RAW wrote for other books, including forewords, prefaces, etc.
• Mike has a list of 27 book reviews which could form the kernel of a book.
• "And then there's RAW Letters, which could be an endless research project although some are already assembled by Mike Johnson, Martin Wagner and myself, and I'm aware that Gabriel Kennedy has the real inside scoop there," he says.
• "And another idea we've tossed around is RAW Interviews, which would take some transcription work on a lot of the audio stuff running around out there, and, at least the part that intimidates me the most, would be securing the publishing rights to that long and varied list of interviews (I've mentioned this to Rasa several times and he's always seemed unconcerned). Burroughs Live by Semiotext(E) would be the model for that RAW Interview book."
In case you missed my caution above, Mike says, "I want to emphasize that these are all just ideas I've tossed around with Rasa and Chad."
The new Hilaritas podcast on the brand new Hilaritas Press book, episode, with Hilaritas host Mike Gathers chattting with Jesse Walker, books editor of Reason Magazine about A Non Euclidian Perspective, Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, is really good. I have embedded the podcast again in this post, but you should be able to find it in your favorite podcasting source or app.
Jesse explains how the big new collection shows off RAW's thinking over a long time period and says many of the pieces in the book will be unfamiliar even to many devoted fans. Jesse also offers his version of the final secret of the Illuminati.
Hilaritas has a podcast coming up on the Robert Shea book I edited. Jesse is among the writers who has endorsed the book, see his endorsement here.
Episode 50 of the Hilaritas Press podcast series features Jesse Walker, who wrote the wonderful introduction I read yesterday to the new Robert Anton Wilson book, A Non Euclidian Perspective, Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, which was released yesterday. I have not had a chance to listen yet but will do so soon.
Note that Jesse has just announced a new book. Jesse is on Bluesky and other social media as well.
Hilaritas Press today announced the release of a new anthology, A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005.
An email newsletter was sent out today to announce the book, Here is part of the announcement:
"This book has been a labor of love spanning some three years, where Mike Gathers, Chad Nelson, Jesse Walker and Richard Rasa poured over a mountain of essays, interviews and other writings so we could present an overview of Robert Anton Wilson's political ideas as they evolved over some 45 years. A nod to Tom Clisson, proofreader extraordinaire, is also essential. Jesse Walker, an editor at Reason magazine and author of The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory, wrote an extensive introduction for the book, and Jesse did a masterful job at pulling all the threads of RAW's ideas into a coherent picture. Richard Rasa penned an afterword that takes a look at the Guns and Dope Party, RAW's only semi-official dabbling into the political theater when he ran for governor of California in a special election. Rasa's afterword also attempts to examine the question of RAW's standing in terms of left vs right. Fortunately, RAW goes a long way in explaining that himself in one of the essays in this book, that both Jesse and Rasa referenced."
I just bought my copy, now I have to go look at it! More here in the newsletter.
The latest Hilaritas Press podcast, released yesterday, features AI Context Creator, Vincent Murphy talking with Mike Gathers about the new Hilaritas Press edition of Robert Anton Wilson's Book of Forbidden Words.
"This is one of the most compelling podcasts on AI that we've heard in a long time!" Rasa writes in the latest Hilaritas Press newsletter.
See the Hilaritas Press page for the new podcast for useful links.
I wanted to mention that I recently had a long car drive and so found it convenient to listen to all of the May Hilaritas Press podcast on Friedrich Nietzsche, with Mike Gathers interviewing Eric Wagner. I found it a worthwhile use of my listening time. Eric worked hard on this podcast, re-reading a great deal of Nietzsche to prepare for it. He remarks that while Nietzsche, like RAW, tends to pull the rug from under the reader, RAW is cheerful about it while Nietzsche has a tendency to be hateful. Eric also offers thoughts on where the new Nietzsche reader might begin.
My 2017 post on RAW and Nietzsche is here, the comments to the post are useful.
I had to do a couple of long drives this week, so I took the opportunity to listen to the new Hilaritas podcast. Some of it I already knew, as I have already read Straight Outta Dublin twice (once in manuscript, and the second time to proofread it), but I still learned quite a bit. A good discussion of Prometheus Rising and a good Robert Heinlein bit, among other highlights. I've made the YouTube version available again, but you should be able to find the Hilaritas podcast at your favorite podcasting app.
Straight Outta Dublin, Eric Wagner's study of James Joyce's influence on Robert Anton Wilson (with a big contribution from R. Michael Johnson) was released today by Hilaritas Press. Here is the official announcement. A bit from that newsletter:
"RAW fans into Joyce will love this book. RAW fans who are curious about Joyce, but maybe not big Joyce fans will also love this book. RAW fans totally unfamiliar with Joyce have some enjoyable eye-opening to do! Eric Wagner and R. Michael Johnson make RAW's love for Joyce understandable… not an easy achievement!"
There's also a new podcast about the book, with Mike Gathers interviewing Eric:
Mike Gathers. Photo from the Mike Gathers Coaching website.
Mike Gathers, known to many of you as the founder of the RAWilsonFans.org website and the host of the Hilaritas Press monthly podcast, is hard at work on his planned new book on the Eight Circuit model of consciousness invented by Timothy Leary and promoted by Robert Anton Wilson.
That's the news in his latest Substack newsletter, Intelligence Increase, his first newsletter in just over two years.
Mike has some other writing topics he wants to pursue, but the Eight Circuit project is the main focus of the newsletter, which details how he has worked with Grok 3 to get going.
"I went from fleshing out ideas that were half baked to generating a detailed outline of the book. I have been feeling recent pressure to write this book and haven’t made much progress in the six or so years I’ve been 'seriously' thinking about writing a book, but I have made a huge amount of progress in the last month," he writes.
The newsletter has an outline of many of the ideas Mike has come up with for the book, and more writing via Substack is promised soon. The newsletter is free.
