Just wanted to draw a little attention to it. Posted on Bluesky to draw attention to the recent RAW Semantics posting about A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005.
Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. Blog, Internet resources, online reading groups, articles and interviews, Illuminatus! info.
Just wanted to draw a little attention to it. Posted on Bluesky to draw attention to the recent RAW Semantics posting about A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005.
My sister's copy
I recently flew to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to visit my mother. While chatting with my sister in my mother's living room a few days ago, my sister mentioned that the local branch of the public library has a table where people can put books they own they have finished reading, and other library patrons are invited to take them and bring them home. Kind of like the "Little Free Libraries" that are common in the U.S. Susi mentioned there was a book that offered a different history of the 20th century.
The next day, Susi, knowing my interest in history, brought the book over to show to me, and to my surprise it was John Higgs' Stranger Than We Can Imagine. It's one of my favorite John Higgs books. I have my own copy, autographed by the author, and I also had bought a copy and given it to my father. It was one of the last books my Dad read before he passed away.
"I know that guy!" I exclaimed. I explained that Dad had read it. Then I picked up my mother's copy of Every Day is a GOOD DAY, the Robert Shea book published by Hilaritas Press that I edited that came out in September. I showed them the quote on the back cover, from John, endorsing the book.
At this point, you probably are curious what John said about the Shea book, here it is: "“Entertaining, thought provoking and richly varied, Every Day is a GOOD Day is a perfect introduction to the anarchistic principles and humane thinking of Robert Shea - a man more interested in finding flaws in his own beliefs than he is in forcing those beliefs on others.”
The October 2025 issue of The Mycelium has been released, and there's lots of Discordian news, including several events in Britain.
Some of Michelle Olley's newsletter covers news we have mentioned here: The new Non-Euclidian RAW book, the new Robert Shea book, Tales of Illuminatus No. 2 and John Higgs' new David Lynch book. And we appreciate the shoutout for this blog.
Also: A Day of the Dead bricklaying ceremony in Birkenhead Park in Liverpool ("The JAMs return to Merseyside for the annual laying of the bricks in The People’s Pyramid, presided over by Callendar, Callendar, Cauty and Drummond funeral services and our own Bricklayer, Daisy Eris Campbell and Krew"); a screening of David Bramwell's movie, The Haunted Mustache ("The story of a mysterious inheritance, seances, psychedelics and Brighton’s 1990s alt-cabaret scene is woven together with inimitable charm by writer, broadcaster and performer David Bramwell"), Melinda Gebbie's new art book and a new version of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies.
I haven't gotten very far in Non-Euclidian yet, but I have gotten far enough to notice that the editors chose many pieces written early in RAW's writing career. RAW himself, with some exceptions, did not use much of his early work when he was alive and was selecting the pieces for his own anthologies. He sometimes disparaged his early work, although I also wonder if he did not have easy access to much of it.
In any event, the use of early pieces in A Non-Euclidian Perspective means that the reader gets a look at how RAW's writing style and political thought evolved during his career. Some of those early pieces are not really my favorite bits of RAW writing, but I did very much like "Ezra Pound and his Admirers," where RAW confronts his admiration of Pound and his loathing for his politics:
"Two statements which I am arrogant enough to call 'facts' must be placed on record in any intelligent discussion of Pound: (1) He is a great poet and a great thinker; (2) He has deliberately and consistently support fascism, anti-Semitism and other vicious systems and attitudes for 30 years now, and continues to do so ... Placed together, those facts make a paradox which is both tragic and highly alarming. Most of us prefer not to face that paradox, and we reduce Pound to one part of it and ignore the other part."
Later:
"To see Pound as he is -- a man of genius and goodwill, of folly and rage, of love and integrity and hatred and dishonesty -- is to admit that such contradictions can exist in the human personality. That is not a comfortable thought -- it is especially uncomfortable to those of us who are, like Pound, idealists intent on changing the world -- so we prefer to brush it aside and go on playing our life-myth that the universe is one big Western Movie where the 'good guys' (us) are fighting the 'bad guys' (our enemies.)"
I am grateful to the editors for getting this book assembled, so I could read this piece and the other pieces.
Related: Substack from Michael Johnson: "Ezra Pound, RAW and The 'Two Cultures'."
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."
Not a bad book, honest. Cover by Rasa.
Feel free to email me what you read last month to be included in these chronicles, or just post your own list in the comments.
What Mark K. Brown read last month:
The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche 10/18
Brave New Word by Aldous Huxley 10/19
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 10/21
Orphans of the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein 10/25
A Non-Euclidean Perspective by Robert Anton Wilson 10/26
What I read last month:
Every Day is a GOOD Day: Robert Shea on Illuminatus! Writing and Anarchism, Robert Shea. Yes, I read the book I edited when I got my paper copies from the publisher, Hilaritas Press. I thought it was pretty good. Michael Johnson wrote a review for his Substack newsletter, he obviously gave the book a careful read.
Vineland, Thomas Pynchon. I kept up with the reading group.
The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told, Bill Janovitz. New book about one of my favorite rock groups. I obtained a review copy, read it, interviewed the author, and wrote an article about it.
All the Humans Are Sleeping, John C.A. Manley, Prometheus Award nominee.
Don't Try This at Home: Convention Reports, David Langford. I mentioned this in a previous blog post, and I may write a review and publish it here.
In his latest Substack newsletter, John Higgs has a piece which uses the SNAFU principle from Illuminatus! (communication is possible only between equals) and applies it to the dangers of AI chatbots and billionaires:
"There’s been a lot of welcome attention on AI psychosis lately - the ‘insidious risks’ to a person’s sanity that come from talking to chatbots. The sycophantic approving attention that LLMs bestow on us feels safer than the messy unpredictability of speaking to humans, which can lead to an addictive cycle of increasing isolation and divorce from reality. LLMs are a bit like drugs – most people who experiment with them will be fine. But not everyone will."
Also:
"Great wealth means that tech oligarchs can have everything they want - except for people they can relate to as equals. They have no-one who will tell them when they are being an idiot, for fear that this will hurt their position and income. And as a result, billionaires become increasingly deluded and insane as the years pass and their wealth grows. I’m sure we can all think of examples."
I'm hoping that's enough to persuade you to read the whole thing.
Also, the David Lynch book comes out in less than two weeks, and John has talks scheduled on Lynch, William Blake and Dr. Who, see the newsletter for details.
Interesting Michael Johnson Substack post on hyperobjects and Internet culture. And there's also an early RAW Semantics post you may have missed that mentions hyperobjects.
"Patricia Crowther, Who Brought Witchcraft Out of the Shadows, Dies at 97." New York Times article, as usual I get you behind the paywall.
RAW Semantics recommends Tales of Illuminatus.
Testament reading group continues.
Are AI doomers a big risk to AI safety? "Eliezer is like a parent raising a child and giving the kid bad ideas. Imagine bringing up a child and regularly telling the kid, 'You are going to become a mass murderer!' Who could possibly think that is a good idea? If anything, it will raise the chance that the person does eventually become violent in some manner. That is what Eliezer is doing with the AIs, namely giving them bad expectations and bad role models."
Art: RAW Semantics
Apparently I am not the only person excited about the big new Robert Anton Wilson book (514 pages!), A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, as the RAW Semantics blog already has a post about it. Whereas I have only gotten a few dozen pages in, as I'm also trying to read two other books at the same time, Brian wasted little time, consuming the book in a weekend:
"Don’t expect smooth surface consistency and neat little category boxes from someone as prolific, pluralistic, open-minded and adaptable-to-situation as Robert Anton Wilson. That’s the 'warning' I’d give to someone, new to RAW’s work, about to read this amazing and exhilarating collection."
Jesse Walker also wrestles with the diversity in his "Discordia Rising" intro to the book.
I also plan to blog about the book, but kudos to Brian for getting out of the gate early! I'll be going back to his notes as I get through the new book.
BTW, amazing art from Brian as usual, please see the post for that, too. I love the comic at the top.
Each year I try to find some horror to read for Halloween, and this time I am reading the Standard Ebooks edition of Melmoth the Wanderer, an 1820 Gothic novel by Charles Robert Maturin. It's great fun so far. The Wikipedia article about the novel convinced me to go ahead and read it, e.g. "The novel was described by H. P. Lovecraft as "an enormous stride in the evolution of the horror-tale", and Maurice Richardson also wrote an essay for Lilliput magazine praising Melmoth. Melmoth the Wanderer was cited by Karl Edward Wagner as one of the 13 best supernatural horror novels. Thomas M. Disch placed Melmoth the Wanderer at number four in his list of classic fantasy stories. Devendra P. Varma described Melmoth the Wanderer as "the crowning achievement of the Gothic Romance". Michael Moorcock has described Melmoth the Wanderer as "one of my favourites".
If you aren't familiar with the website, Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-run organization that attempts to prepare excellent ebooks of public domain works. Here is the site's horror titles, including Dracula, works by H.P. Lovecraft, etc.
La Purísima Mission State Historic Park near Lompoc.
A New York Times photo feature shows the locations over much of California where the new movie, One Battle After Another, loosely based on Vineland, was filmed. The article features photos of California from one end of the state to another. (While I can provide a gift link to the article, I am wary of violating the Times' copyrights, so I have instead taken the above photo from the website for a state park). The Times says the movie "hidden corners of the state that even natives seldom see."
Hat tip, Jesse Walker.
Baruch Spinoza. Created by Barend Graat. Public domain image.
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.