By Michael Grossberg
Marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Prometheus-winning Illuminatus! trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, Hilaritus Press has published a book honoring Shea by journalist Tom Jackson, a veteran LFS member and Prometheus Awards judge.
Jackson, who edits the Robert Anton Wilson Illumination blog celebrating the fiction and non-fiction of Shea and Wilson, edited Every Day is a Good Day, an anthology of Shea’s writings.
Subtitled “Robert Shea on Illuminatus!, Writing and Anarchism,” the anthology book has “quite a bit about the Libertarian Futurist Society in it,” Jackson said.
“I am pleased with the book, which took quite a bit of time and effort. l have been re-reading it now that I have a physical book in my hands. I’ve put together a book that I enjoy reading, my main definition of success,” Jackson writes on the RAW blog.
Shea and Wilson may be best remembered for writing the satirical and highly libertarian Illuminatus! trilogy. The 1970s bestseller was inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction in 1986, just a few years after the Hall of Fame was launched.
Here is the Prometheus Blog appreciation review-essay of Illuminatus!, written by Jackson and published here in 2020.
CRITICAL PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
Jackson’s anthology of Shea’s writings is already receiving high praise.
Author Jesse Walker, books editor at Reason magazine, writes:
“One great paradox of Illuminatus! is that its cult following somehow transferred itself to just one of the book’s two authors: Robert Anton Wilson (RAW) still has a devoted cadre of fans two decades after his death, while Robert Shea’s solo writings have run the risk of being forgotten. Thankfully, Every Day Is a GOOD Day is here to preserve the memory of this good-hearted, open-minded man – and to let more people enjoy his humane and freedom-loving writings.”
John Higgs, author of Love and Let Die and other books, writes:
“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. If you like RAW’s writings, you will easily get into reading Shea. If we may be so presumptuous, let us suggest that this is kinda essential reading for dedicated fans of RAW.”
On the RAW website rawillumination.net, Richard Rasa writes:
“Bob Shea was one of Bob Wilson’s closest friends, and reading this collection of Shea’s writings gives you a lot of clues as to why the two men got along so well. Many RAW fans learned about the two Bob’s by reading Illuminatus!, but not so many followed the further writings of Bob Shea. This new publication is a wonderful opportunity to find out that Shea was not only a really good writer, but also an exceptional human being.”
ABOUT BOB SHEA
Robert Shea (1933-1994) was a former journalist and American novelist. Besides Illuminatus!,co-written with Robert Anton Wilson, Shea wrote several historical novels, including Shike, All Things are Lights, The Saracen and his final published book, Shaman (1991), a Native American story.
During his journalism career, Shea worked as a magazine editor in New York and Los Angeles, served as an editor at Playboy magazine and edited No Governor, an anarchist zine mentioned in Illuminatus! and read by one of the characters.
Jackson expressed gratitude to Mike Shea, Robert Shea’s son and literary executor, for giving him permission to do the project, clearly a labor of love.
The book is available as a trade paperback and an ebook at various book sites, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble and bookshop.org
ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS AND THE LFS
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.
* Prometheus winners: For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
- Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook page for comments, updates and links to the latest Prometheus Blog posts.
