Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. Blog, Internet resources, online reading groups, articles and interviews, Illuminatus! info.
John Crowley (Creative Commons photo, source) . Author John Crowley , the author of Little, Big, and other works has died. Here is the obituary in Locus. And you can read the entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Now that I have gotten around to reading a couple of novels by Thomas Pynchon, John Crowley is probably the writer that I've meant to read for the longest time, without having…
Aldous Huxley in 1954 Somebunall of you I have noticed are interested in Aldous Huxley, so I thought I would mention there will be an online broadcast tomorrow of an awards show for the Prometheus Awards that will feature two of Huxley's adult grandchildren. The event is 1 p.m. Sunday, Eastern time, and will feature awards being given to three books: The Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, for Brave…
A James Joyce drawing of Leopold Bloom. Source. When he taught James Joyce's Ulysses at Cornell, Vladimir Nabokov used to draw a map of Dublin to show Leopold Bloom's journey, explaining that knowing some Dublin geography was useful to understanding what was going on. A website I read about a few days ago maps that journey, along with other fictional journeys. The website in question is Reading…
Here is Bobby Campbell's update for the Tales of Illumnatus comic book project. For your convenience, I'll just reproduce the announcement here: Hey everyone! Quick update just to confirm that everything is proceeding as planned :))) Todd and I will be finishing up our pages over the next couple of weeks and fulfillment will begin before the end of the month. The KS campaign is officially…
This is a Maybe Day piece I had missed, but Modern Occultist published a good-sized article on RAW on July 23, discussing Wilson and several of his books. There is also discussion of Eric Wagner's An Insider's Guide to Robert Anton Wilson. Here is the intro: On July 23, 1973, a former Playboy editor turned novelist sat in California running himself through a battery of yogic breathing exercises…
Eric Wagner, ready for action when he was a bit younger (Facebook photo). Modern Occultist has just published a new interview with Eric Wagner, I thought it was pretty substantial. The interview is by C.M. Kushins, Here is one of the questions and answers: MO: You document Wilson’s lifelong devotion to Ezra Pound’s Cantos—the phrase “hilaritas et amor” from the Paradiso section even became…
A 1789 miniature of Mozart (public domain). 2. String Quintet By ERIC WAGNER Special guest blogger One Christmas in the 1990's my grandmother asked what I would like for Christmas. Inspired by this book, I asked for a CD of Mozart string quintets. The record store didn't have one, so she got me a terrific CD of Mozart string quartets instead. In the 2010's Rafi recommended the recordings of the…
Oz Fritz and Michael Johnson both published new pieces within a few days of Maybe Day, July 23. Oz' piece is "Crowley, Joyce, Lewis Carroll and the Night of Pan," published on his blog, The Oz Mix. I did not realize that Lewis Carroll was so influential on other authors until I saw Oz' piece. Oz' thesis that Joyce and Crowley could have met in Paris seems reasonable to me. Michael's article is "On…
PQ on Finnegans Wake and the Pluribus TV show (also the movie Dance First) . John Higgs newsletter with lots of recommendations. My dog would be a better president than Trump. Neal Stephenson: Writing by hand is good for your brain. Totally automated classic rock radio station.
Gabriel Kennedy/Prop Anon has posted a sample of the upcoming audiobook of the RAW biography Chapel Perilous: The Life & Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson. Production is being funded by a Kickstarter campaign , which as in other Kickstarter campaigns offers a tier of rewards for people willing to help. The deadline is September 3 for reaching the goal, so if you are interested, get on board…
Brunnenburg castle, where Ezra Pound's daughter lived. (Creative Commons photo, details here). A fascinating New York Times obituary records the death, at age 101, of Mary de Rachewiltz, "Ezra Pound's daughter and defender," as the obituary puts it. My link gets you behind the paywall, and you should read the obit by Trip Gabriel, as it has a lot of fascinating details, both about her and her…
Gabriel Kennedy/Prop Anon has launched his Kickstarter to fund the audiobook version of his RAW biography, Chapel Perilous: The Life & Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson. Details at the Kickstarter page , which lists the levels of support and the goodies you'll receive for various pledges. The goal is to raise $3,500. Bobby Campbell has announced his support.
When I did my Maybe Day article, "Reading about Robert Anton Wilson: Biographies, criticism and more," I listed three books under the "Critical Studies" heading -- Eric Wagner's two books, and Steve "Fly" Pratt's Fly On The Tale Of The Tribe: A Rollercoaster Ride With Robert Anton Wilson. And as I mentioned in my recent post on what I read last month, I finally read Steve's whole book last month.…
Fortepiano by Johann Andreas Stein (Augsburg, 1775) – Berlin Musical Instrument Museum. Creative Commons photo by Gérard Janot. Source. V MOZART 1. The Concerto By ERIC WAGNER Special guest blogger On page 251 Rosen begins discussing K. 503, Concerto No. 25, my favorite. Joseph Kerman edited the Norton critical score of this concerto. I saw that book in a Tower Records in the 1990's, but I…
Here is what Mark K. Brown read last month: Neuromancer by William Gibson 7/23 Slow Learner by Thomas Pynchon 7/26 Anti-Sartre, with an Essay on Camus by Colin Wilson 7/27 Mark is traveling, so he has less reading time. He also is plugging away on Charles Rosen's The Classical Style. Here's what I read in July: The Warlord of Greenline Town , J. Kenton Pierce. The Story of Russia , Orlando Figes.…
After I tried (and failed) to make an epub version of Neurologic by Timothy Leary and Joanna Harcourt-Smith, the short book on the Eight Circuit model that is not in print but available on the Internet ( see this post for background ), Mike Gathers tackled the job. At this link, you can download the original PDF file, or a zipped epub file, which quickly unzips into a working epub file. I have…
When I posted my two new articles for Maybe Day, "Reading about Robert Anton Wilson: Biographies, criticism and more," and "Robert Shea: A reader's guide,' I was not surprised that the RAW essay did get more comments. But I was pleased that Don Dulchinos did take a moment to post a comment on the Shea article. He wrote, "For my money, All Things are Lights and The Saracen are a worthwhile…
With politics lately seeming so bad, not just in the U.S. but in much of the world, I thought the above might be of interest. Via Klaster Chaosmos on Bluesky (worth a follow if you are a RAW fan there!). Klaster responded when I replied "I hope he's right," saying "Whether right or wrong, to me it serves as a stark reminder of the backwards and mostly reactionary nature of government and politics…
Timothy Leary in 1970 (public domain photo). I recently wrote a blog post in which I asked Mike Gathers and Joseph L. Flatley which Timothy Leary title to read to get Leary's take on the Eight Circuit model, and I got two recommendations. Lenny suggest Neuropolitique , which is in print and remains available from New Falcon. Mike Gathers suggested Neurologic and suggested a couple of links where…
Lanmaoa asiatica. Creative Commons photo, source. [Given that many of you are interested in psychedelic mushrooms, I thought I would share an excerpt from Scott Alexander's recent Substack issue, "Links For July 2026 (Part 1)." Each link has a few sentences with the link. Here is what Scott posted about an edible mushroom, Lanmaoa asiatica. A lot of the other links are pretty interesting, too, so…
Ludwig van Beethoven, about the time the Hammerklavier was written. (Source) . Part IV SERIOUS OPERA By ERIC WAGNER Special guest blogger On page 180 Rosen writes, “Tovey has remarked that Beethoven was not insufficiently dramatic but rather too dramatic for the stage: his music compresses into ten minutes the complexity of a three-act opera." This reminds of the equation Pound quotes “Dictung =…
Joseph Flatley (illustration "borrowed" from his newsletter). Joseph L. Flatley has a new Substack newsletter up, "Sirius, Osiris, and Isis — oh my!," which discusses Maybe Day, Robert Anton Wilson and his own recent experiences with a dream journal and a Crowleyan rite he performed that produced some interesting synchronicities. It's well worth a read. Lenny also has a new book out, T he Occult…
I was unfortunately not able to hit the road to view the pop up exhibition of Bobby Campbell art at the Create Magic Art Shop in Wilmington, Delaware. Bobby has now posted photos on Bluesky to show what it was like, and I reproduce them here. For prints and comics, see Bobby's Weirdoverse Gift Shop.
Yesterday, amid all of the other Maybe Day excitement, Hilaritas Press released a new edition of The Trials of Arthur: The Biker Who Would Be King by C.J. Stone and Arthur Pendragon. Above is the podcast, also released yesterday, of Mike Gathers interviewing Arthur. "Hilaritas Press was contacted by the authors of this astounding book to see if we would republish the book, with additional material…
Bobby's full list of contributions is here. Check out the streaming live broadcast . You can see the playlist. My contributions are "Reading about Robert Anton Wilson: Biographies, criticism and more" and "Robert Shea: A reader's guide."