How to make a video about the Illuminati

 

Nieman Lab, a website aimed at journalists, has an article up about a new app aimed at helping journalists turn an article until a video for smartphones.

Eagle-eyed Ron Hogan wrote to me to point out something amusing: The example in the illustration, above, concerns the Illuminati.

If you are having trouble reading it, some of it (there are variations between the two examples) says,

"Did the Illuminati start as a parody?

"Yes, and that's quite a twist.

"They invented tales of a secret society,  the Illuminati, to make people question reality.

"This myth, born from a parody text called Principia Discordia...

"This anti-establishment text inspired  influential thinkers like Robert Anton Wilson and Kerry Thornley." 

Ron Hogan has a Substack. 

The app's inventor, Sophia Smith Galer, possibly a RAW fan, has an official website. 

Hilaritas podcast: Mariana Pinzón

 

The latest Hilaritas Press podcast, released Monday, features guest host Zach West interviewing Mariana Pinzón on Octomantic Neuro-Hacking and more. See the official page for links that provide more information. 

Pinzón also was interviewed for episode 22, by Mike Gathers, on "on ChaoSurfing the eight circuits of consciousness and the eight colors of chaos magick."

'Vineland' online reading group begins

By Eric Wagner
Special guest blogger 

Vineland Introduction 

My friend Paul Chuey first told me about Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 in 1982. We both loved Wilson and Leary's writing, and Leary's writing about Gravity's Rainbow intrigued us. Paul got me Gravity's Rainbow for Christmas in 1983. It took me four years to read it, and I then read The Crying of Lot 49, V and Slow Learner. In 1990 when Vineland came out in 1990, I found myself broke, but I kept having dreams about buying Vineland, so I splurged on the hardcover. I expected a struggle reading it, but instead I finished it in four days. I felt like I had climbed a flight of stairs and at the end stumbled because I expected more steps. I loved that book so much, and I still do. I have reread it over and over again. I bought his next four books on the first day of publication. 

In the eighties, before the announcement of the publication of Vineland, people speculated that Pynchon might never write another novel after Gravity’s Rainbow (1973). Various rumors spread about Pynchon. He had become obsessed with The Brady Bunch. He had lost all his money and wrote Godzilla screenplays. When I first read Vineland, I loved how Pynchon incorporated these theories into the novel.  

For this study group we will read one chapter a week, starting next Monday, June 30. Oz Fritz will write the posts for the odd numbered chapters. I will write the posts for the even numbered chapters, and we will finish up just in time for the publication of Pynchon’s new novel Shadow Ticket on October 7 

June 30        Chapter 1 

July 7           Chapter 2 

July 14         Chapter 3 

July 21        Chapter 4 

July 28        Chapter 5 

August 4        Chapter 6 

August 11        Chapter 7 

August 18        Chapter 8 

August 25        Chapter 9 

September 1     Chapter 10 

September 8    Chapter 11 

September 15    Chapter 12 

September 22    Chapter 13 

September 29    Chapter 14 

Wilson and Shea's obituaries

Robert Anton Wilson and Robert J. Shea both largely launched their literary careers with the publication of Illuminatus! in 1975. I say "largely" because they both had publications in magazines for many years before, a couple of Wilson's Playboy Press books had come out before Illuminatus!, etc. I think it is a fair observation that that Illuminatus! is what made them known to most readers.

Most RAW fans will know that Wilson quit his job at Playboy and embarked on writing many other books, such as Cosmic Trigger 1 (1977) and the Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy (1979-1981). Shea did not leave Playboy, he was pushed out in a layoff, but it forced him to make good on his plan to develop his career as a novelist, and Shike came out in 1981.

Wilson became a "cult" author with a large following, while Shea, while successful, did not become famous, and their receptions when they died illustrate that.

Wilson's death prompted a decent-sized obituary in The New York Times. You can read it here.  He also got an obituary article in the Los Angeles Times, e.g., "Robert Anton Wilson, a futurist, philosopher and coauthor of the Illuminatus trilogy, a cult science fiction series about a secret global society, died Jan. 11 at his home in Capitola, Calif. He was 74." 

It is listed as a combination of "staff and wire reports," although I don't know what wire service carried the news. (My search of  the Associated Press archives did not turn up anything.)

I can't find any evidence that Robert Shea ever got any ink in the The New York Times.

But his did at least get a staff-written obituary in a big hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune. Here are the first five paragraphs:

Robert Shea, 61, a writer, was co-author of the fantasy Illuminatus! trilogy books. He also wrote several historical novels and a book, "No Man's Land to Plaza del Lago," about the area along Sheridan Road that buffered Evanston and Wilmette.

A resident of Glencoe, he died Thursday in Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

The three volumes in the Illuminatus! series are "Eye in the Pyramid," "The Golden Apple" and "Leviathan." The books, written with Robert Anton Wilson, are satires of various conspiracy theories.

He and his co-author were associate editors of Playboy in the late 1960s before collaborating on the fantasy trilogy, which was first published in 1972.

His historical novels include a volume on medieval Japan, "Shike;" one on medieval Europe, "The Saracen"; and a story of the Blackhawk War in Illinois, "Shaman."

John Higgs at Glastonbury

 In his latest newsletter, John Higgs reports he will be appearing at the Glastonbury Festival:

The festival is June 25-29, and John reports, "I’m being interviewed by Robin Ince about Exterminate / Regenerate on Thursday at 3pm on the Science Futures Laboratory Stage. I’ll also be appearing at some point that evening on Robin’s ‘Nine Lessons for the Summer Solstice’ event on the same stage, where I’ll be reading something appropriate from Watling Street."

Still no announcement on John's new book, but "I’ll have news about my next book in the next newsletter, but I can tell you that it’s is coming pretty soon - it will be published in November."

There's other news, plus an essay on how bad social media has gotten. 

Today in library news

 

Branka Tesla writes to let me know that Straight Outta Dublin by Eric Wagner with R. Michael Johnson, published by Hilaritas Press, is now available at the UC Berkeley library. 

"I walked into their Main Library two weeks ago, had a pleasant conversation with the librarian and she handed me the Purchase Request Form and now Eric Wagner, Michael Johnson and Hilaritas Press are on the shelf.

"(I do not want to take all the credit for doing it. Maybe someone else also contributed.)"

This raises a couple of interesting points.

One, many libraries do allow patrons to request purchase of a title. I wanted to read the new Ada Palmer book, Inventing the Renaissance. It's kind of expensive and I filled out a form asking Cuyahoga County Public Library to buy it. The library purchased it and I am reading it now. Part of the reason I did that is that I want to support Ada Palmer, and now that the book is on the shelf (well, when I return it) other people can discover her. I'm guessing that Branka can in fact take credit. 

Also, don't forget that libraries have limited space. All libraries, as they acquire new books, have to get rid of some of the old ones to free up shelf space. I assume that some of that can be done by getting rid of multiple copies of former bestsellers that are no longer hot, but single titles that haven't been checked out in a long time also are obvious candidates. So when you check out a book by a favorite author, you are helping to keep that person's book in circulation. 

Would Illuminatus! be a publishing success today?

RAW fans, talking about how many times they have read Ulysses or about their Finnegans Wake discussion groups, seem out of step with the culture today. Literary fiction seems to be going out of style.

A Substack piece called "The Cultural Decline of Literary Fiction" seems to document that literary fiction once sold well and now does not sell at all. It states, "No work of literary fiction has been on Publisher’s Weekly’s yearly top ten best-selling list since 2001."

I don't know that I agree with every claim made by the author, Oy, but most of his assertions seem to be correct.

A couple of other articles: In a blog post in April, I mentioned another Substack article, "The average college student today," which asserts, "Most of our students are functionally illiterate. This is not a joke. By 'functionally illiterate' I mean 'unable to read and comprehend adult novels by people like Barbara Kingsolver, Colson Whitehead, and Richard Powers.' I picked those three authors because they are all recent Pulitzer Prize winners, an objective standard of 'serious adult novel.' Furthermore, I’ve read them all and can testify that they are brilliant, captivating writers; we’re not talking about Finnegans Wake here. But at the same time they aren’t YA, romantasy, or Harry Potter either."

Earlier this month, I read Lake of Darkness, the latest novel by British SF writer Adam Roberts. Its setting in the future depicts a society in which even scholars such as historians seldom have the ability to read and write. Why should you learn to read when an AI can read to you? It seemed like a convincing depiction of what we are moving toward. (Mostly, the book is a horror novel about black holes. I am fascinated by Roberts, who doesn't seem to get a lot of attention in the U.S.)

Illuminatus! was a riveting read for me when I stumbled across it in college, but at the time, I was also reading Nabokov and other literary fiction and a pretty wide variety of science fiction, including the more challenging stuff. Some people have found Illuminatus! a difficult read. Would it have done well if it (or something like it) were published today? I also feel uneasy about the reception Richard Powers, another of my favorites,  would receive if he were just starting out today. Would he sell enough books to be able to make a living and keep doing it? 

The world is in a dark place

 

A huge explosion in a building as a result of a bombing by Israeli warplanes. Photo by Mohammed Ibrahim on Unsplash, published in February, 2025. 

Last week, when Brian Wilson died and I visited Leon Russell's recording studio, I wondered what Robert Shea would say about the Beach Boys and Russell. (I am under the impression that Shea paid more attention to rock music than RAW. Shea for example was a big Beatles fan. ) This week, I wonder what the two Bobs, Wilson and Shea, would say about about all of the warfare in the world. Both were involved in the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War. Shea participated in more than one protest in Chicago, not just the one described in Illuminatus!. 

Let's see, the war between Russian and Ukraine is raging and if anything seems to be more intense. Israel, still fighting in Gaza, has bombed Syria and is now bombing Iran. One of the New York Times articles I read said the strikes and counter strikes between Israel and Iran may last for weeks, not days. So, what do we need to stumble into World War III? China deciding the world is distracted and it's a good time to make a move on Taiwan? Or is there some other trouble spot I'm not thinking of? The world seems in a dark place. 

Hilaritas Press nears completing original mission, issues new catalog

Some news from  Hilaritas Press, the publishing imprint of the Robert Anton Wilson Trust.

The small press has just issued a new catalog, download your PDF copy here.  You'll get a 40-page catalog of books by Robert Anton Wilson and other interesting authors.

It's also worth taking a moment to note that the original purpose of Hilartas Press was to reissue the works of Robert Anton Wilson in definitive editions, making them easily available to his faithful readers. That original mission is almost done! If I am counting correctly, there have been 23 RAW titles republished or published. There are a few titles that the Robert Anton Wilson Trust does not control (such as, for example, Illuminatus!) but most of the books that Hilaritas has the rights to have been published. A reprint of a remaining title, Playboy's Book of Forbidden Words, is in the works.

It's not as if Hilaritas is going out of business. Other books are in the works. Keep your eye out for news!

H.P. Lovecraft on Star Trek?

 

On X.com, a screenwriter named Zack Stentz writes (with a clip), "This episode was written by beloved horror author Robert Bloch, who's doing an homage to his friend and mentor H.P. Lovecraft's novella "At The Mountains of Madness," also about a race of artificially created servants who destroyed their creators (also called "the Old Ones.")

Apparently it's this episode.  I wonder if RAW spotted it? 

The costuming would appear to be a tribute to some of the old covers SF magazines used to have. 

Hat tip: Tracy Harms. 

A different look at 'Ulysses'

Photo of Dublin by Gregory Dalleau from Unsplash 

Here is an interesting article that analyzes James Joyce's Ulysses in terms of Dublin's poor public transport: 

"A wide-awake city of tech firms, theatres and tourist attractions, Dublin is one of the EU’s richest metropolitan areas; it is also the only large western European capital without a metro. No Dubliner would have been more frustrated with the situation’s absurdities, and MetroLink’s slow progress, than Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of James Joyce’s Ulysses."

The article, by Dermot Hodson, gives a close reading of Leopold Blooms travels around the city, and his thoughts on how public transport in Dublin could be improved: "Ulysses is a peripatetic story. For 17 or so hours, Bloom walks across Dublin, encountering friends, acquaintances and foes ....  Bloom covers nearly nine miles on foot. It is little wonder how tired he is by the time he climbs into bed next to Molly."

An interesting piece. Hat tip, Tony Smyth in the comments in Tuesday's post. 

Maybe Day 2025 announced

 

Bobby Campbell has announced plans for Maybe Day 2025. There's a new approach, an emphasis on actual events with face to face interactions, although online stuff is still cool, too. Here's Bobby:

"MAYBE DAY 2025 IS COMING!

"But this time w/ a twist :)))

"MORE INFO HERE: https://maybeday.net."

Follow the link; the festival, below, is what Bobby is hosting. Other folks are encouraged to set up events, too. 

Leon Russell's recording studio in Tulsa

 

An equipment case for "Eric Clapton group" in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Many of Clapton's band members at one time were based in Tulsa. Of course, I liked the number. 

RAW fans, can you name the pop/rock star who advised his fans, "Find out all you can about Buckminster Fuller." 

That would be Leon Russell. I am in Tulsa this week, visiting relatives, so I visited the restored Church Studio that Russell owned. 

Russell is not well remembered now, but he had a huge career, as this Wikipedia article explains. 

The Church Studio in Tulsa.