num_pages: 250
description: Bloom's fascination with David Lindsay's philosophical fantasy led him to compose a sequel in 1979. The Flight to Lucifer, his only work of fiction. Though reviews were positive, he disowned it. His self-conscious theoretical interest in the nature of fantasy literature weighed it down too heavily. He's said he'd remove every copy of the book from every library if he could.Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus, supplied the concept of a voyage thru space to a planet created by a demiurge &amp; other incidental features of the book. However, most of its content derives fairly directly from gnosticism. In Lindsay, the passionate giant Maskull &amp; the thin, intense Nightspore, are taken from Earth to the planet Tormance by Krag, a mysterious figure who's a residue of the true godhead, Muspel, unassimilated by the false creations of Tormance's demiurge, Crystalman. Bloom's novel reproduces this formula with names drawn directly from gnostic history &amp; cosmology. Maskull becomes Thomas Perscors, "thru fire", identified as an incarnation of Primal Man. Nightspore's correlate is Seth Valentinus, a reincarnation of the theologian. Their guide is an Aeon, Olam, an emanation of the true god. Lucifer is controlled by "Saklas", gnostic name for the false creator. Olam has brought Perscors to Lucifer to fight Saklas, &amp; has brought Valentinus so he can remember his true self. This is also drawn from Lindsay. However, the details of their adventures differ &amp; in the end Perscors cripples Saklas &amp; changes the order of things on Lucifer, whereas Nightspore's victory is to escape Crystalman's clutches &amp; see reality as it is, tho vowing to return to Earth to free others.
language: English
title: The Flight to Lucifer: A Gnostic Fantasy
titlecomplete: The Flight to Lucifer: A Gnostic Fantasy
characters: Olam, Thomas Perscors, Seth Valentinus, Saklas
genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Literature, Science Fiction
ratings_count: 55
publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (NY)