It's time for another review of reviews! I'm still eagerly awaiting the announcement of this year's Hugo finalists so I can start this year's Hugo reading (although I'm taking a gamble by starting R. F. Kuang's Nebula-winning Babel, which is fantastic even if we improbably live in a universe where it won't be a Hugo finalist). While I'm waiting, I'm reading other books that are on my ever-increasing to-read list: The Regulators by Richard Bachman (aka, Stephen King), Schrödinger's City by Matthew Buscemi, and The Eye in the Pyramid by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. I guess the through-line here is that all three of these novels are pretty weird--and delightfully so. Just to mix it up, let's start with the one I finished last: The Eye in the Pyramid!
The Eye in the Pyramid by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
It's easy to forget in this age of QAnon and such, but conspiracy theories used to be fun. I was a big fan of The X-Files back in the 90's, and occasionally people would discover this and then tell me I should read the Illuminatus! trilogy. A few raved about it. At least one person said it was their favorite book (and maybe lived their life by it?). It always seemed like something I would check out, but for some reason never did (should I blame the Illuminati?). I bought a copy a few years ago, and recently I figured it could be some fun summer reading.
And it was! Reading this now is kind of like understanding a joke people have been telling for decades, everywhere from The KLF (confirmed by the Justified Ancients of Mummu and Wikipedia) to possibly the character Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad (unconfirmed, but after reading about all these conspiracies, I'm going to go ahead and say yes). I loved the riffs on conspiracy theories, philosophy, history, etc. that blur (if not obliterate) the line between real and imaginary (Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos figures prominently, which amused me greatly). The larger theme between order and chaos is really interesting, and I see why Discordianism is a maybe-kinda real philosophy (somewhat like Pastafarianism is a kinda-sorta real religion). There is a plot. Sort of. But the narrative also jumps between minds, times, and places seamlessly--no help from things like sub-chapters or section breaks here. Did I always know what was going on? Of course not! But about ten pages in, I stopped worrying and learned to love the flow of words, ideas, and bonkers happenings.
This is a very 1970's US counterculture book from the sheer fun and literary experimentation to parts that have aged less well, like the 1960's San Francisco understanding of Buddhism and Daoism to the fact that almost every woman in the book, with a few exceptions, has little to add besides wanting to have sex with every man almost all the time (that may put off some 2023 readers, and I wouldn't fault anyone for it). There is some sort of haphazard indirect movement toward uncovering the deeper truths of the conspiracies involved (JFK, Atlantis, Freemasons, Illuminati, John Dillinger, porpoises, the Cold War, you name it). I'd be surprised if the next two volumes bring much in the way of traditional resolution, but this is simply not that kind of series. Still, if the next two are as entertaining and thought-provoking as the first book, I'm looking forward to reading them.
Next up: The Golden Apple!
(See also my Goodreads review)
Schrödinger's City by Matthew Buscemi
A wild ride! There's plenty to think about concerning time and space, but maybe even more deeply: aren't we all, like the characters in City (not "the City" just "City"), thrust into a world we don't completely understand trying to make our way? It takes a while to figure out among all the various POVs (27 according to the author's acknowledgements!), but there is a plot of sorts that comes together toward the end. The author mentions China Miéville and Ursula Le Guin as influences, but I maybe caught a hint of Samuel Delany as well. This is definitely not easy reading and I can't say I caught everything, but overall I really enjoyed this one.
(See also my Goodreads review)
The Regulators by Richard Bachman
A weird book with a weird premise, weirdly related to Desperation (and some Dark Tower vibes, too). I loved it. You don't have to have read Desperation first, but it maybe makes you appreciate how weird a book this is. It's not a sequel. Not really. It has some of the same names with some minimal ties to their characters (for example, one name is used for a police officer in both novels, but with very different results). It's more like a riff on a similar story in an alternative dimension (or a different level of the Tower, do it please ya; you might even call it Desperation's "twinner" novel). It's written by King's nastier pseudonym, Richard Bachman, and this one is a bit nastier than Desperation (the gag is that Bachman's widow found it in a trunk, which is why it was published almost a decade after Bachman's "death").
Anyway, a street in suburban Ohio filled with all King's usual lovable/flawed everypeople suffers a bizarre and brutal attack. We don't learn anything about why it's happening or why help isn't coming for quite a while, but eventually it comes together. Sort of. King is always working on a bit of dream logic. I wonder if he used some of that same dream logic in the Dark Tower books that came after this (especially Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla). Like Desperation, the whole thing takes place in a relatively short period of time (maybe even within a few hours). And also like Desperation, this one would be great to see on screen (especially if Ron Perlman is available as he was in the adaptation of Desperation).
I don't want to spoil the ending, but I think it would be fun for the reader to consider whether it's happier or sadder than the ending of Desperation.
Overall, this is one of King's more delightfully weird novels that I feel doesn't get enough attention in his overall corpus, especially if, like me, you feel Stephen King is best served weird.
(See also my Goodreads review)
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