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Saturday, August 24, 2024

'The Sex Magicians': New book, new podcast

 


Michelle Olley with Bob Guccione. Photo from latest Hilaritas Press newsletter 

The Sex Magicians by Robert Anton Wilson has been published and as customary, Rasa has issued a new Hilaritas Press newsletter announcing the book and providing relevant details. You will want to read the whole thing, but here is part of what Rasa wrote:

"There's been a lot of speculation about Robert Anton Wilson's first published novel. With elements that will be found in books yet to come, it is not simply a quick attempt to make money off of an explicit erotic ride informed by RAW's time as a writer/editor at Playboy. No, it's more than that, but was it a deliberate act of sex magic to help get Illuminatus! off the ground, as has been suggested?

"To try to suss out the nature of this odd and entertaining tale, we were fortunate enough to find two writers who have considerable expertise to bring to the subject. Michelle Olley, part of the famed Discordian crew that has done so much to keep RAW's spirit alive in the UK (and reverberations well beyond!), has written an introduction that focuses on the sex in The Sex Magicians. I'll let her impressive biography introduce her (see the note after her introduction in the book), but I do want to include a cool photo. Michelle had been recruited to 'help reinvent Penthouse UK (a men's magazine) for the 90's.' The photo is of Michelle at a dinner with the famed Penthouse kingpin, Bob Guccione.

"With a deep dive into the magick of The Sex Magicians, we asked magician, writer and teacher Gregory Arnott to explore the text in an afterword, and bring some understanding of the magical principles in the book into some perspective. Gregory did a magnificent job."

Here is a link to the new Hilaritas podcast, featuring Michelle, Gregory and host Mike Gathers, although you should be able also to get it on your favorite podcasting app. 

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