Mark Frauenfelder on 'Natural Law'

 

Mark Frauenfelder's Book Freak newsletter has a new piece out on Robert Anton Wilson's Natural Law essay:

"Shortly after I bought it, my wife Carla and I heard that Wilson and Timothy Leary were doing a joint book signing somewhere in Los Angeles. We gathered up as many Leary and Wilson books as we had — which was a lot — and headed over. When I handed Wilson the Loompanics edition of Natural Law, he looked up at me and said, “Where the hell did you get this?“ He seemed genuinely surprised that anyone would own it.

"Here was the author, astonished that a reader had found his own book. It confirmed what I already suspected: Natural Law is a deep cut, even by Wilson’s standards. That’s why it’s the first book for our new Deep Cut Edition — subscriber-only posts about books that are obscure, strange, or underrated enough to deserve special attention."

I subscribed so I could read the whole thing, though you could read the first part for free. 

Prometheus Awards finalists named

[There are intersections with this blog, as I am a judge for the award, Robert Shea was an active member of the group that gives this award and Illuminatus! won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. -- The Management]

The Libertarian Futurist Society, a nonprofit all-volunteer international organization of liberty-loving science fiction/fantasy fans, has announced five finalists for the Best Novel category of the Prometheus Awards.

Here are the Best Novel finalists in brief, in alphabetical order by author: Storm-Dragon, by Dave Freer (Raconteur Press); War by Other Means, by Karl K. Gallagher (Kelt Haven Press); No Man’s Land, by Sarah Hoyt (Goldport Press); A Kiss for Damocles, by J. Kenton Pierce (Raconteur Press); and Powerless, by Harry Turtledove (CAEZIK SF & Fantasy.)

Full-length reviews of each Best Novel finalist, explaining how each fits the distinctive focus of the Prometheus Awards, have been (or soon will be) posted on the Prometheus Blog. Meanwhile, here are capsule descriptions of all five finalists:

* Storm-Dragon, by Dave Freer (Raconteur Press): The Young Adult science fiction novel centers on a boy who saves and adopts an intelligent alien pet on an ocean-dominated colony planet with dangers both alien and human. In the spirit of Heinlein’s Farmer in the Sky and Alan Dean Foster’s Flinx novels, the story centers on Skut and Podge, two resourceful middle-school boys from refugee families. As they make friends in their new home, the boys confront class bullies and repressive teachers, cope with mob behavior and navigate the ocean’s tricky shores. In the process, they interact and communicate more with their orphaned young “dragon,” an electrosensitive six-limbed alien creature who may be more intelligent and formidable than it appears. Aimed primarily at ages 8 to 18 and avoiding explicit ideology, the novel gradually expands to include parents, administrators and other adults enmeshed in the colony town’s increasingly corrupt politics, which threatens livelihoods through onerous regulations, taxes and property confiscations. Ultimately, a violent invasion from human raiders threatens the colonists’ broader rights. With a strong career background in fishing and oceanography, Freer focuses more on the plausible ecology and boy-centered adventures than the politics of this plausible frontier planet, while allowing his live-and-let-live, peace and freedom themes to emerge naturally.

* War by Other Means, by Karl K. Gallagher (Kelt Haven Press): Finding ways to come to mutual agreements through diplomacy and trading rather than coercion is a central theme in Book 7 of Gallagher’s frequent-Prometheus-finalist Fall of the Censor series. Following the liberation of dozens of worlds from the Censorate oppression, newly appointed ambassador Wynny Landry strives to prevent the rebellion from falling apart. Her task: convincing their governments to cooperate and forge trade deals for excess missiles despite differing cultures, interests and pressures. The novel centers on problems arising on Fiera, which formed a world government following the Censorite attack and atomic-bombing of 16 cities. So many state-commanded resources were put into defense and so much manpower lost to conscription that Fiera’s economy is failing. Meanwhile local politics keeps warships nearby, preventing them from supporting the alliance’s interplanetary defense. The story reminds us that even good and democratic societies can falter when politics, taxation, conscription and pork-barrel politics undermine their freedom, strength and adaptability. Among the libertarian themes: war as the health of the state, how governments can slide into despotism, the evils of slavery, the dysfunction of pork-barrel politics, and how censorship only makes people lust for forbidden fruit.

* No Man’s Land, by Sarah Hoyt (Goldport Press): The three-volume novel blends science fiction, fantasy, suspense, mystery, romance, adventure, political intrigue and a plausible “alien” biology in a universe where sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. In an interstellar future with settled human planets of widely differing societies, a freedom-favoring federation sends an ambassador to certify the final stages of induction of a previously lost colony. The first-contact story eventually focuses on a hidden world where the population has been genetically shaped to make everyone hermaphroditic. Both epic and intimate, with chapters alternating in perspective between the young human ambassador and an archmage, the novel becomes a love story about found family amidst a wider conspiracy threatening the federation’s commitment to equal liberty. Ultimately, in a multi-layered work launching her Chronicles of Elly series, Hoyt gradually weaves in a variety of libertarian themes while offering a radically different take on gender and sexuality than Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic novel The Left Hand of Darkness.  Among them: the virtues and benefits of cooperation, individualism, private property, tolerance, equal justice and individual choice, providing a stark contrast with the  evils of aggression, tyranny, slavery and discrimination against sexual minorities.

* A Kiss for Damocles, by J. Kenton Pierce (Raconteur Press): The science fiction saga, which launches the author’s Tales From the Long Night series, illuminates the ethics and efficacy of free trade and self-defense as a proper foundation for civilization. The novel is set on a colony planet where humans in towns and homesteading communities are struggling to recover centuries after a catastrophic attack and volcanic cataclysm that set back and severely limits their use of advanced technology. At the story’s heart is Shai, a young homesteader facing harsh frontier conditions, corrupt Townie politics, dangerous native species, and sinister forces amidst still-functional A.I.-powered orbiting war machines. Pierce celebrates the self-reliance and resilience of self-regulating frontier communities that survive and evolve based on the hard-won realities of voluntarism, mutual respect and cooperation. But this is also a cautionary tale about the deceptive idealism of a command-and-control ideology and the perennial tendency towards abuse of power, reflected in the Townies’ push for higher taxation, fiat money and indoctrinating state takeover of education. Narrating from her wry but hopeful perspective, Shai becomes a leader in her community’s struggles to defend their freedom, preserve their heritage and restore their world.

* Powerless, by Harry Turtledove (Caezick SF & Fantasy): Inspired by Vaclav Havel’s classic essay “Power of the Powerless,” this alternate history is set decades ago in a communist America where small moments of defiance or quiet resistance to governmental repression have unexpectedly big consequences. Set in the western United States dominated by a Soviet-Union-fostered socialist tyranny, the novel begins with one shopkeeper’s impulsive and fed-up act of taking down from his grocery storefront window a required propaganda poster expressing solidarity with the state revolution. In a dystopian society demanding utter submission and insistent on propping up its legitimacy, that simple act has a ripple effect on the shopkeeper, his wife and two children, and the wider world. Focusing on small acts of decency and honesty, the realistic yet inspiring story reveals how communism smothers the human spirit, denies reality, censors news, imposes lies and undercuts everyday life even when it doesn’t rise to the level of genocide or outright totalitarianism but strives to embody Czechoslovakia’s 1968 vision of "socialism with a human face.” Mirroring the psychological and political distress of many today for speaking the truth, Powerless is timely in reflecting the challenges in societies that claim to uphold freedom but suppress facts to enforce conformity.

Fourteen 2025 novels were nominated by LFS members for this year's award. Other Best Novel nominees, listed in alphabetical order by author: Red Heart, by Max Harms; Forged for Destiny and Forged for Prophecy, by Andrew Knighton; All the Humans Are Sleeping, by John C.A. Manley; For Emma, by Ewan Morrison; Planting Life: Shut the Kingdom, by Laura Montgomery; Where the Axe is Buried, by Ray Nayler; The Underachiever, by David A. Price; and Caballeros del Camino, by R.H. Snow.

The Best Novel winner will receive an engraved plaque with a one-ounce gold coin. An online Prometheus awards ceremony, open to the public, is tentatively planned for mid-August. Science fiction fan and author Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, will be this year’s keynote speaker and celebrity guest presenter. The date of the ceremony will be announced in mid July once the winners are known for both annual categories, including the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

The Prometheus Award, sponsored by the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), was established and first presented in 1979, making it one of the most enduring awards after the Nebula and Hugo awards, and one of the oldest fan-based awards currently given in sf.

The Prometheus Hall of Fame category for Best Classic Fiction, launched in 1983, is presented annually with the Best Novel category. This year’s Hall of Fame finalists are The Star Dwellers, a 1961 novel by James Blish; Brave New World, a 1932 novel by Aldous Huxley; That Hideous Strength, a 1945 novel by C.S. Lewis; Salt, a 2000 novel by Adam Roberts;  and Singularity Sky, a 2003 novel by Charles Stross.

The Prometheus Awards recognize outstanding works of speculative or fantastical fiction (including science fiction and fantasy) that dramatize the perennial conflict between Liberty and Power, favor voluntarism and cooperation over institutionalized coercion, expose the abuses and excesses of coercive government, and/or critique or satirize authoritarian systems, ideologies and assumptions.

Above all, the Prometheus Awards strive to recognize speculative fiction that champions individual rights, based on the moral/legal principle of non-aggression, as the ethical and practical foundation for peace, prosperity, progress, justice, tolerance, mutual respect, civility and civilization itself.

All LFS members have the right to nominate eligible works for all categories of the Prometheus Awards, while publishers and authors are welcome to submit potentially eligible works for consideration using the guidelines linked from the LFS website’s main page.

A  judging committee, drawn from the membership and chaired by LFS co-founder Michael Grossberg, selects the Prometheus Award finalists for Best Novel from members’ nominations. Following the selection of finalists, all LFS upper-level members (Full members, Sponsors and Benefactors) have the right to vote on the Best Novel finalist slate to choose the annual winner.

Membership in the Libertarian Futurist Society is open to any freedom-loving science fiction/fantasy fan interested in how speculative or fantastical fiction can enhance an appreciation of the value of liberty and broaden public recognition of the dangers and evils of tyranny and the abuses more prevalent under the State’s centralized and coercive powers.

For a full list of past Prometheus Award winners in all categories, visit our site. For reviews and commentary on these finalists and other works of interest to the LFS, visit the Prometheus blog.  

Rasa's (and Ken Burns') alma mater is shutting down

The Harold F. Johnson library at Hampshire College. (Copyleft photo under the Free Art License, details here.)

Most of you know Rasa, the fine dude who runs Hilaritas Press for the Robert Anton Wilson Trust. A few months ago, I mentioned that Rasa had attended a reunion for his alma mater, Hampshire College, where he presented a copy of RAW Memes to fellow alum Ken Burns, the famous documentary filmmaker. Burns sent Rasa a nice letter revealing that he had loved Illuminatus! I also have a friend here in northern Ohio  who graduated from Hampshire; she runs a book club I belong to.

This week came the news that Hampshire College (in Massachusetts, despite the name) will be shutting down. "Many small schools have struggled to enroll students in places facing population declines, a factor in Hampshire’s demise. Hampshire College has about 625 students, Ms. Chrisler said, about half the school’s enrollment in the early 2000s," the New York Times reported.

Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, which figures in Illuminatus! as Simon Moon's school, has closed repeatedly. The last time it closed was in 2008. It has been revived, though just barely: It had 15 graduates in 2025, according to the Wikipedia article. 

'Lynchian' update, for Americans

John Higgs is one of my favorite writers, and I really like David Lynch, so I was really pleased when John announced his book last  year on Lynch, Lynchian.  I wanted to buy an ebook, and I assumed it would be released in the U.S. After all, Lynch is an American and he has plenty of fans in the U.S.

I've seen no signs of a U.S. edition, however, so I finally asked John about it. He replied, "Alas, there are no plans for an American edition, I think mainly because it's a short 30,000 word thing. There's an Italian edition out later this year, but no American. And while getting the UK hardback online should be no problem, it does mean that there's no legal way to get the ebook or the audiobook. That I know of, anyway."

I will just have to order a paper copy and have it shipped to me, I guess. I'd still like to be able to get an ebook, but apparently that isn't easy to do and involves lying, such as pretending to be a resident of Britain. 

A new paper, inspired by Leary and RAW

                                                  

A new paper, "THE MEDIUM WAS THE MESSAGE: Synchronicity, Transmission, and the Emergence of Human-AI CoCreation," co-written by Craig Ellenwood and the Claude AI, has been posted (as a PDF). You can download a copy from Joseph Matheny's latest Substack newsletter.  Ellenwood has a website, but I could not figure out how to access the paper from there.

The paper is inspired by a 1995 piece, "How Have Computers Empowered Humans?", written to Timothy Leary, that Ellenwood found in the New York Public Library's collection of Leary papers. 

The paper is co-written by Ellenwood and the Claude AI.

"We argue that this represents a new category of authorship that existing frameworks inadequately capture. Claude is not a tool used by Ellenwood to write more efficiently. It is not a ghostwriter producing text that Ellenwood then claims as his own. It is a collaborator with genuine intellectual contributions — including perspectives on its own nature and situation that no human author could provide," Ellenwood writes.

Ellenwood says the pair also collaborated on his new album, available at the website. 

I don't know Ellenwood, but here is his description of himself: "Creative Technologist, Musician, AI Systems Artist, and Co-Founder of the music element of Burning Man (1992). Performed with Psychic TV (1991–93). Collaborated with Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson, Moby, Genesis P-Orridge, and members of Tool and The Smiths. Founder of Inoculate Media and Haawke Neural Technology, Point Roberts, WA, USA."

"This paper is dedicated to Timothy Leary, Genesis P-Orridge, and Robert Anton Wilson," Ellenwood writes. 

Joseph Matheny releases podcast series of 'Ong's Hat Compleat'

In his Substack newsletter, sent out today, Joseph Matheny announces that he is releasing Ong's Hat Compleat as a podcast series/series of postings:

"Twice a month, I will publish, in order, a chapter of the book and the corresponding discussion audio. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is a multidisciplinary work: the text is one part, the audio is another, and the links within the text add a different dimension. Sequoyah and I discuss it in depth, including how I intended people to experience this design. Here’s a video of that discussion.

"I hope you enjoy this free experiment and know that it was made possible by those who bought the print/audio or combo. If you’d like to donate some change to thank us for the tremendous effort it took to produce 14 hours of audio and all the linked print for this project, feel free to buy the audio files on Bandcamp or the print or digital versions of the books. If you can’t afford it, that’s ok. The people who bought the work this year and last year covered for you. Kinda like a 'pay it forward' model.

"Be well and enjoy."

Joseph has various links at his newsletter for accessing the material, and note that you can simply subscribe to his Substack. The latest newsletter has other interesting news, too. 

Kevin Kelly's 'Heresies'

I don't know whether Kevin Kelly knows Robert Anton Wilson's work, or whether RAW knew his, but Kelly and RAW both seemed to share an optimistic outlook and a generally positive outlook toward new technology.

RAW was known for having "heretical" views, and I though sombunall of you would enjoy Kelly's list of 84 "contemporary heresies."

"I define a heresy as: something you believe that the people you most admire and respect don’t believe and reject out of hand," Kelly explains. 

"With that criterion in mind, here are a bunch of Contemporary Heresies I’ve collected. These are not necessarily my heresies, although some are, but most are “plausible — not insane” heresies that others around me have said they believe. Some of these heresies are trivial and some are dangerous — true heresy. (I’ll add more as they arrive.)"

Here are a few of the 84. The whole list is worth looking at. 

1. Aliens are already here.

8. The US Civil War was a mistake. The Confederate South should have been allowed to secede, and the rest of the Union would be better off today.

19. Death is a disease that can be cured.

20. Eating animals should be outlawed and illegal.

30. GMO food is better for you.

39. Obesity is contagious.

64. Progress is real. This year is better than last year.

70. Fancy wines are a scam

By the way, Kelly has just released a $4 digital version of his excellent book, Colors of Asia: A Visual Journey.

Al Zuckerman's book dedication

When literary superagent Albert Zuckerman died (he was the agent for both Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, see this earlier post), his book Writing the Blockbuster Novel went on sale cheap as a Kindle, and I picked it up. 

I want to share the book's dedication:

"I dedicate this book to some authors of mine who have written blockbuster novels that, for one reason or another, never achieved the huge recognition that they deserved.

"Michael Peterson for A Time of War,

"Robert Shea for Shike,

"F. Paul Wilson for The Keep,

"Tim Willocks for The Religion,

"and Jim Fergus for One Thousand White Women."

See Mike Shea and F. Paul Wilson's comments at the above link.

Robert Shea indeed did very well with Shike, his first published work as a solo author after Illuminatus!, although his subsequent novels did not sell as well. Mike Shea talks about that in last year's Hilaritas Podcast. If you want to know more about Shea and his literary career, you can check out my new book.

Saturday links [UPDATED]

Edward Gibbon. 

Oz Fritz on "Pynchon's Shadow Ticket from a Deleuzean Perspective."

Neal Stephenson's favorite Edward Gibbon quotes. Stephenson says Gibbon is "the greatest prose stylist ever." Don't miss the quote Stephenson connects  to the Trump Administration.

Tyler Cowen releases free online work. Tyler says he isn't quite calling it a book, but that's what other people call it. 

Ann and Sasha Shulgin in Conversation about Mescaline and MDMA. 

Jesse Walker's top 20 movies of the 1950s. "Glen or Glenda" must be pretty good if it's better than "Vertigo." 

UPDATE: Jesse has remained busy and his lists now include the best movies of the 1960s and 1970s, also "Acid Noirs." I have started watching the movies in the 1920s list. 

Tyler Cowen's advice for driving cross country. In the comments, I agree with listening to the radio. 

Reminder: New reading group begins next month

I want to take a moment to remind everyone about the new reading group I announced  in early March: Eric Wagner, beginning on May 25, to discuss The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven by Charles Rosen. 

Here again is what Eric gave  me: "It pleases me to announce that we will begin a reading group on Charles Rosen’s The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. This book provides a great analysis of music dear to Bob Wilson, especially Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata. Many people, including me, consider this book one of the best books on music ever written. We will begin on Monday, May 25. I recommend using the Expanded Edition of the text, but you may use the original edition if you would like to. I really look forward to this study group!"

Eric says you can get a lot out of the book even if you don't have a technical understanding of music. "Yes, he has technical stuff, but he also has tons of entertaining nontechnical stuff." 

Obviously, I don't care where anyone gets a copy of the book, but (acting on a newsletter tip from Kevin Kelly) I recommend bookfinder.com as a good place to find a book without being ripped off; that's where I got my copy for less than $10. If it's helpful, the ISBN for the expanded edition is 9780393317121.

Lost Leary-Wilson book currently listed on Ebay for $12,000

Ebay photo

The Periodic Table of Energy is considered a "lost" book written by Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson.

Acting on an anonymous tip posted at the blog post linked to above, I found a listing on Ebay for the book. If you have $12,000 handy, it's yours. 

Thanks, anonymous tipster! Does anyone know if there are any other copies? 

A new podcast interview with Eric Wagner

 Eric Wagner, author of An Insider's Guide to Robert Anton Wilson and Straight Outta Dublin: James Joyce and Robert Anton Wilson, is interviewed by Gerry Fialka in the above podcast. I will watch it soon; this week has been hectic for me.

The above interview is billed as Part Two. Part One is here. 

Eric says, "I really enjoyed talked with him. We have already scheduled part three."

'Bleeding Cool' covers 'Tales of Illuminatus'

Bleeding Cool, a pop culture website, has an article up by Rich Johnston, "Grant Morrison Loves The Illuminatus! Trilogy Comic Book Adaptation," which previews the upcoming launch, on April 23,  of the Kickstarter for the third issue  of Bobby Campbell's ongoing series.

It's a nice, well-informed article, and Mr. Johnston has paid attention to the first two Kickstarters. "The prices on these Kickstarters are massively low for what you get, including shipping," he writes.