Keeping up with Robert Shea

While this blog is devoted to the work of Robert Anton Wilson, let's take a moment to discuss a useful resource devoted to Robert Shea (1933-1994), Wilson's collaborator on ILLUMINATUS! It is Shea who is credited with coming up with the idea behind the novel. Both men worked in the 1960s as editors at Playboy magazine. Shea suggested, as the two sat in the Chicago bar, that taking the crazy conspiracy theories circulated in the Playboy Forum section of the magazine could be the basis for a novel.

Shea's work has been preserved and made available by his son, Michael Shea, at an official site. Many of Shea's books may be downloaded for free at the site, under the Creative Commons license.

My interview with Michael Shea, which sheds light on ILLUMINATUS and other matters, is here. My memories of the one time I actually got to meet Robert Shea (I never met Robert Anton Wilson) is here.