Amorphous Albion, by Ben Graham
http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/8505792-amorphous-albion
I'll start with a declaration of interest: Ben is one of the founders of Festival 23, so I got to know about this book on the Discordian grapevine.
But it shouldn't stay in that particular community (or echo-chamber). It's too good for that, and it's needed out there!
Amorphous Albion is an heroic tale set in an impoverished future England in which a group of magical people called the Hove Space Programme take on, against overwhelming odds, a militaristic government, themselves lackeys of evil Illuminati-figures. This dystopia is underpinned with magic - on both sides. We are in the realm of earth energies as materiel, magical concepts as strategy.
We are also in a ream of shameless fantasy and a glorification of freak lifestyle: heroes that survive a battle check to see if they can still roll a joint. (Yes, it's 'freak', not 'hippie'. The latter words always stank of newspaper-ink. Welcome to True Freakdom!) Another main character made me think of the Mutoid Waste crowd. The realm of gods is occupied mainly by pop culture deities - old KLF items as power objects, the Beatles as immortal magicians.
There is quite a bit of enjoyable satire on countercultural magical scenes: Leeds as a foggy city of steampunk chaos magicians, Liverpool as home of the archetypes, Sheffield as a fine Discordian high-tech ruin.
The satire is mostly tender, but a bit less so when it comes to the smugness of Glastonbury. Kept happy and subservient to dark forces, the inhabitants live in a land of sweet meadows and abundance, which is down to life-energy being siphoned away from the rest of England. I read it while there for the Occult Conference early this year, a lovely clash of levels.
This is a lighthearted tale, but with dark bits. The characters have bad pasts and inner pain. And the satire makes it ultimately a serious book - all dystopias are reflections of the evils of current culture, and this is no exception; except that the battle for the world has shifted onto the level of magic.
Verdict? If you are a Discordian, magician, art-as-resistance person, counterculture enthusiast or freak, buy it. If you don't really get what I am talking about, buy it anyway, and experience the VR of a different dream of culture. A very different one. At the very least you will never again see Glastonbury High Street in the same way.
I'll start with a declaration of interest: Ben is one of the founders of Festival 23, so I got to know about this book on the Discordian grapevine.
But it shouldn't stay in that particular community (or echo-chamber). It's too good for that, and it's needed out there!
Amorphous Albion is an heroic tale set in an impoverished future England in which a group of magical people called the Hove Space Programme take on, against overwhelming odds, a militaristic government, themselves lackeys of evil Illuminati-figures. This dystopia is underpinned with magic - on both sides. We are in the realm of earth energies as materiel, magical concepts as strategy.
We are also in a ream of shameless fantasy and a glorification of freak lifestyle: heroes that survive a battle check to see if they can still roll a joint. (Yes, it's 'freak', not 'hippie'. The latter words always stank of newspaper-ink. Welcome to True Freakdom!) Another main character made me think of the Mutoid Waste crowd. The realm of gods is occupied mainly by pop culture deities - old KLF items as power objects, the Beatles as immortal magicians.
There is quite a bit of enjoyable satire on countercultural magical scenes: Leeds as a foggy city of steampunk chaos magicians, Liverpool as home of the archetypes, Sheffield as a fine Discordian high-tech ruin.
The satire is mostly tender, but a bit less so when it comes to the smugness of Glastonbury. Kept happy and subservient to dark forces, the inhabitants live in a land of sweet meadows and abundance, which is down to life-energy being siphoned away from the rest of England. I read it while there for the Occult Conference early this year, a lovely clash of levels.
This is a lighthearted tale, but with dark bits. The characters have bad pasts and inner pain. And the satire makes it ultimately a serious book - all dystopias are reflections of the evils of current culture, and this is no exception; except that the battle for the world has shifted onto the level of magic.
Verdict? If you are a Discordian, magician, art-as-resistance person, counterculture enthusiast or freak, buy it. If you don't really get what I am talking about, buy it anyway, and experience the VR of a different dream of culture. A very different one. At the very least you will never again see Glastonbury High Street in the same way.
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