Newsgroups: alt.satanism,rec.arts.books
Subject: Robert Anton Wilson (was: Re: Satan)
From: petruz@uqbar.cirfid.unibo.it (Petruz Boonenkamp)
Date: 13 Aug 92 14:16:22 +0100
Reply-To: petruz@uqbar.cirfid.unibo.it (Petruz Boonenkamp)
 <1992Aug3.224333.3034@fs7.ece.cmu.edu> <1992Aug11.150433.29253@spdc.ti.com>

In article <1992Aug11.150433.29253@spdc.ti.com> achenbac@epcot.spdc.ti.com (Jeff Achenbach) writes:
>>(unless you read R.A.Wilson's books which I doubt)
>
>Titles/ recommended reading?

He he.  I STILL think the idea of an alt.wilson group or something would
have been good.  Anyway:

Falcon Press/Golden Dawn, 1209 South Casino Center, Suite 147, Las Vegas,
NV 89104, (702) 385 5749, publishes quite a few of his best nonfiction:

Cosmic Trigger
Cosmic Trigger, volume 2 (really his autobiography)
Sex and Drugs
Wilhelm Reich in Hell (a theatrical piece)
Prometheus Rising
Coincidance
Ishtar Rising: Book of the Breast

There's also lots of other books of his, such as "The New Inquisition", which
*I thought* Falcon Press publishe{s,d}, but they're not in the list I have
here.  He also edits himself a Newsletter, "Trajectories", supposedly about
Our future in space, Nanotech, Artificial Intelligence, Parapsychology,
Longevity, etc.; 20 $/year, originally quarterly but now perhaps monthly;
Permanent Press, PO Box 700305, San Jose, CA 95170 (I haven't seen the
newsletter, so check yourself).

Reading suggestions about Wilson's nonfiction: "Cosmic Trigger" vol 2 is
a good place to start, vol. 1 is reasonably general; each of the other
is quite specialized in its own way (e.g. forget Coincidance unless you
have at least SOME interest in James Joyce).

Wilson's fiction is, I believe, even better reading.  The absolute must
in this field would be "Masks of the Illuminati" (Joyce, Einstein and
Crowley in a short significant novel).  "The Earth Will Shake" and its
follow-up "The Widow's Son" are great.  "The Trick Top Hat", "The
Homing Pigeons", and "Shrodinger's Cat" trilogy is a major work.  His
original claim to fame, the "Illuminatus!" trilogy written with Shea,
is also VERY entertaining.  Unfortunately I don't know the publishers
for these and other fiction works.

>   Not that it should matter, but lest you take me for a fundamentalist, I
>am a confirmed atheist and have no use for deities in any form.

Wison is an Onthological Terrorist, well determined to undermine your
ideological certainties as well as any fundamentalist's (or satanist's,
for that matter!).  He manages to jump with assurance and panache
between the "reality-tunnels" of Jung, Leary, Conspiracy Fans, Pagans,
Rationalists, Freemasons, Crowleyists, Reichians, and many others,
jumbling them all up and determinedly tearing down barriers all around.
NOT recommended if you want to stick to Your Certainty of the One True
Way, whatever it be, as it MIGHT happen that he should shake it up...

Oh BTW -- I don't see any particular relevance of Wilson's work to
Satanism (I may have missed something?).  The Ringmaster in "Wilhelm
Reich in Hell" looks modeled rather after Rehnquist or something, and
does NOT appear to be a particularly liberating figure (he can't even
be REALLY evil all the way -- when he masturbates to fantasies of
Marylin Monroe, it's VERY hard not to feel pity for him).  Anyway, so
I added rec.arts.books to the Newsgroups headerline, and maybe
discussion should go on there to avoid boring alt.satanism readers,
unless somebody CAN please point out the relevance (I shamefacedly
admit I haven't followed previous discussion there, not being a regular
reader, just my eyes grabbed a Wilson reference and I took my clue from
it...)
Newsgroups: alt.satanism