DEEP SCRATCH

Category: book review

  • Chapel perilous review

    Chapel perilous review

    Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson

    By Gabriel Kennedy a.k.a Prop Anon.

    Meticulous research, in depth interviews and his own blood sweat and tears make this book burst with primary sourced materials. Prop met and interviewed Wilson, and studied under his wings at the Maybe Logic Academy 2004-2007. Prop has read and processed everything Wilson published, and done a great service to humanity in discovering and compiling many unpublished materials and eclipsed details.

    This human story of integrity and the honest pursuit of the facts, no matter where they lead him is brave and honorable. Remaining forgiving and compassionate, RAW fans already feel this intuitively, now we have words and evidence to bolster those big feels. This book helps encapsulate and buffer that sense that now’s the time, the time to activate and put into practice what RAW communicated. Find and develope your own style. Nurture your own voice. Find the others. All that jazz.

    Both a clear introduction to his work, and a wellspring of fat facts for the RAW heads, this book can change your life, if you want it? 

    The work has helped cement my suspicion that RAW and his works present a road map, or a pathway or network of pathways, for all around the world humanity to thrive, relatively peacefully. A universal, fair and equal and sane vision for planetwide cooperation, physical and mental health and sufficient tolerance, that which is expressed by Charlie Chaplin (Perilous) in his famous speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

    Four quotations from the book, for a lil’ flava’

    “you are hereby invited to join the most powerful, unscrupulous, dangerous, and mind-blowing non-existent secret society in the world, the Bavarian Illuminati (a front for the even more powerful and non-existent, POEE.) –CP, pg. 86.

    Wilson was in D.C. that day with all the other hippies, Yippies, and freaks; walking past a chanting Ed Sanders who was standing on the back of a flatbed truck shouting, “Out demon, out!” towards the Pentagon.–CP, pg. 80.

    In a May Day letter, he told Leary, “I am developing a system of consciousness-expansion based on Lilly, yourself, Masters–Houston, Crowley, Gurdjieff, traditional Wiccadom…In my vain moments I think I have something quicker and easier than either traditional magick or modern psychology.”–CP, pg. 115.

    Cosmic Trigger Vol. 1 can now be named as the first popular non-fiction book to present the experiments that eventually earned John Clauser and Alain Aspect the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics.118 It was also the first popular book, according to Alan Moore, the British comic book genius and magician, to properly contextualize Thelema in a language that was accessible and fun. As if that wasn’t enough, Wilson’s book was also the first to present his and Leary’s 8-Circuit model of intelligence, and, according to Richard Metzger, the first to popularize the McKenna brothers Terrence and Dennis’s Timewave Zero Theory after their own The Invisible Landscape (1974).–CP, pg. 131.

    I could go on quoting what I consider the evidence for both Wilson’s genius and the importance of this new biography in it’s carefully paced introduction to the facts.

    Self evidently, as the saying goes, if it does not make you laugh its probably not true, or, gods can be recognized by their cheerfulness. Through all the struggle, rejection and physical discomfort, Wilson kept his integrity and generally maintained his hilaritas, his cheerfulness, optimism and kindness (expressed by experiential and experimental understanding) toward all sentient beings. 

    As a super fan of Wilson and his works, I’m naturally biased in my urgent recommendation to read this book, and support the author for his heroic biography. A labour of love. I have followed the long road, and the authors own struggle to get this book completed and published. Writing a book such as this, who’s subject is widly regarded as one of the brightest minds of a generation, requires a laser like focus, and decades deep full immersion in the subjects work. As noted, Wilson gets the biographer he deserves in Prop Anon. Walking the walk and talking the talk, and writing the writ. Get it in your soul.

     

    Turn all that what might have been, what could have and should have been done, into action, into process. Do it. Make it knew. Walk tall.

    10/10

    https://a.co/d/7R4XByF (Amazon Link) PRE-ORDER.

    https://chapelperilous.us

  • Steve Fly’s review of The Score by Howard Marks

    THE SCORE by Howard Marks

    Review by Steven James Pratt (Fly Agaric 23)

    Howard Marks writes fiction with a natural melody and swish turn of phrase, digging deep into his myriad of encounters with all walks he teases out subtle observations and explores the inner workings of the UK crime game and double-cross system.

    The Score follows DC Price, a Welsh female cop who’s coming off prescription tranquilizers after her last case, Howards previous book ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ DC Price carries drum rolling tobacco and on occasion relaxes with a light sprinkle of canna’ on top, like old Sherlock Holmes used to, and smoking seems to help her psychic powers expand into the wide reaching scenarios and puzzles under investigation by her inner prose.

    I personally enjoy the subtle telepathic and enhanced sensory articulation of Cat, how she often feels peoples gaze on her, intuits tiny anomalies others would not register, her delicate sense of reasoning is not unlike that of agent Starling from the Thomas Harris novels. This kind of hologrammic detective consciousness allows for many threads to run simultaneous, and the fact that Howard is writing from the perspective of a female character makes his feat of psychological insight border on the majestic.

    I felt the dire importance and horror of the subjects explored, the despair of teenage rebellion, the psychology of runaways, excessive drug use and dependence, suicide and/or crimes made to appear like suicide, organized and un-organized crime, torture tactics, rape and physical abuse, collusion between police and crime gangs. This is serious stuff here and I think we should listen up and follow Howard’s narrative voice that brings insightful wisdom and reasoning to these too common daily horrors, and can help his readers begin to process the ‘real’ criminal activities going on around us  which only receive a shallow dull description, hardly ever considering the mosaic like constellation of causes at play. Howard drills into such complex cluster fucks to investigate and exercise good philosophy, leaving the reader with a better conception of many Horror stories from the news. To me, this outlines the broader benefits of good fiction and literature in general, in that it helps one to pre-prepare for life scenarios, and often without the sugar coating of hyper-present mainstream TV, radio and loose-papers. I feel that the Novel in the write hand can emit a unique bond with the human psyche, favouring a slower and somewhat richer flow of ideas, allowed to amplify and resonate in the free mind of the reader. Howard seems to understand this strange pickle and serves up all the right flavours at the right moments to create a full bodied taste. 
          
    A friend of mine once recommended writing a passage stoned, re-writing it straight, reading it stoned and then reading it straight so as to percolate a fair balance between the left and the right hemispheres of the brain, bubbling and oscillating into a nice harmonious literary brew. I do not know anything of Howard’s writing habits, but I can feel his deep sense of focus and attention to detail, often dazzling the reader with a poetic and descriptive sense of location, wide emotional geographies and of an uncanny ability to scaffold suspense and deploy surprise in just the right dose. Howards prose pills are made with precise proportions.

    While reading The Score, I began to think of Howard and his own life story that is well known and respected by millions across Wales, England and the world due to the success of Mr Nice, the book and the movie. While reading the book I naturally found myself imagining some of the scenarios and characters within it and the possible parallels to characters and events in ‘real’ life and history, a rather foolish endeavour but great fun for the life of the mind.

    In my estimation, Howard understands the psychology of crime and international crime on many levels, and from many multiple points of view (MPOV) essential pluralistic thinking for a good novelist/ story teller/communicator.  Therefore, in his fiction Howard can explore many minds at once and many crimes at once, his portal evokes the general feeling of what it is like ‘out there’ where the criminal underworld and the authorities meet and mingle and conduct secret wars on the streets. Howard’s seen, heard, watched, tasted and read first hand his share of the last 50 years of criminal history, and he holds a master’s degree in ‘the philosophy of science’ a healthy mix I suspect, and now he’s delivered us a literary testament to what he’s learnt, in some sense, a demonstration of good communication, good bold writing and independent researcher.

    Howard Marks turns the crime fiction genre around, pointing the Novel back at the authorities, out smarting and out thinking them, like the best of crime writers, dancing smoke rings around the goons and dullards, most of the criminals and the detectives, telling good stories and forwarding a feeling of what it’s like on the ground dealing with some of the darkest of violent crimes and weird fuckers.

    Howard Marks has published by example and proved to me that marijuana consumers often work extremely hard and commit to highly focused work, sometimes resulting in exquisite art. Nice one Howard.

    –Steve ‘fly agaric 23’ Pratt
    23/3/2013   
    http://www.amazon.com/The-Score-Howard-Marks/dp/1846552699

    Steven James Pratt

  • Mavericks of the Mind Live! Review by Fly

    Mavericks of the Mind Live! by David Jay Brown & Rebecca McClen Novick. 

     

    By Steven ‘fly agaric 23’ Pratt.
    Amsterdam. March 2, 2013.

    David Jay Brown quickly rewarded me for my response to a post he made on Facebook, proposing friends of his–read and review–advance copies of his new book ‘Mavericks of the Mind Live!’ I have spent the last week dipping in and out of the dialogues, sampling their taste, considering how to weigh them, and by what metric?

    “Seems to me like everyone should have an isolation tank and get free of all this! This is my addition to technology, the isolation tank.—Dr John Lilly

    Each of the panel members do not always agree, which to me shows the tolerance and good will of the participants and the tricky terrain they are exploring together. David and Rebecca launch the panel into free flowing feedback based on their provocative questions that include psychedelics, theology, law, anarchy and death. For me, the contributions by Dr Wilson in particular, illustrate how well human consciousness can formulate meaningful answers, on the fly, including both personal experience and published sources, with the noticeable effect of speaking like he writes: artfully. A great accomplishment for a social scientific philosopher and master satirist, me’ thinks. I should add that the book is worth purchasing and reading for the RAW and Timothy Leary contributions alone.     

    “Psychedelics just accentuated what I was beginning to develop out of mathematics and physics–a sense of the order.– Dr Robert Anton Wilson.

    The wisdom from the speakers, together with the good timing of the conferences that were right on the tip of the internet information explosion (1993-94), set an historical intersection point, well worth of reconsideration. Without the present day reference points of Google, Facebook, and Twitter each of the speakers navigate somewhat familiar pathways into discussion relevant to our current hyper-connected social networks, search engines and intelligent predictive technology.  Also how interpersonal relations, and everyday social life changes during consciousness shifts. These Mavericks are invoking the future (1993-2013) and beyond with good cheer and a no-bullshit attitude.

    “We can literally flash millions and billions of ideas to each other, and change and change, and change and add. William Gibson talked about the global atmosphere. You can tap into it and still be as personal and intimate as you want with those that you want to communicate with that way.–Dr Timothy Leary.

    Due to exulted status of these Maverick futurists, in particular Dr Robert Anton Wilson, Dr Timothy Lear, Dr John Lilly, Dr Nick Herbert and Dr Ralph Abraham, the trajectories they set as a tribe together in these dialogues, stand testimony to the great consciousness revolutions that flared during the 1960’s, and the technological innovations & methodologies they spawned, plus, lots of sex, drugs, rock and roll and yoga in the streets. Amen!

    “When nobody is complaining that they’re being hurt, that’s what I consider being a victimless crime. And the difference is not only that I can’t see any reason that a victimless crime should be against the law, but the only way you can enforce laws against victimless crimes is setting up a totalitarian state–because, to return to my example, if I’m getting hit over the head I’m going to go complain. But if three people are smoking pot in the next room and listening to New Age music, nobody is going to complain about that, because we don’t even know about it–so there’s no victim. The only way you can find out how many people in Santa Cruz are smoking pot and listening to New Age music tonight is by spying on the citizenry. – Dr Robert Anton Wilson.

    http://www.amazon.ca/Mavericks-Roundtable-Discussions-Kleefeld-ebook/dp/B00BE86ZRO

    Steven James Pratt a.k.a Fly Agaric 23.

    Steven James Pratt