Robert Shea
Encyclopedia
Robert Joseph Shea was an American novelist and former journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

 best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson , known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...

 of the science fantasy
Science fantasy
Science fantasy is a mixed genre within speculative fiction drawing elements from both science fiction and fantasy. Although in some terms of its portrayal in recent media products it can be defined as instead of being a mixed genre of science fiction and fantasy it is instead a mixing of the...

 trilogy Illuminatus!. It became a cult success and was later turned into a marathon-length stage show put on at the British National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

 and elsewhere. In 1986 it won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award
Prometheus Award
The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society, which also publishes a quarterly journal Prometheus. L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist...

. Shea went on to write several action novels based in exotic historical settings.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy

Shea met Wilson in the late 1960s when they worked on Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

magazine. They decided to collaborate on a novel. It would combine sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...

, drugs
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...

, religious cults and conspiracies
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...

, as well as anarchy. Their philosophical and political differences merely served to enrich their efforts. Objectivity was jettisoned, as indeed was subjectivity: no single point of view
Point of view (literature)
The narrative mode is the set of methods the author of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical story uses to convey the plot to the audience. Narration, the process of presenting the narrative, occurs because of the narrative mode...

 or version of reality was privileged: Illuminatus! was the three-volume consequence.

Illuminati
Illuminati (game)
Illuminati is a standalone card game made by Steve Jackson Games , inspired by The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. The game has ominous secret societies competing with each other to control the world through sinister means, including legal, illegal, and even mystical...

, a card game from Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...

, was inspired by the books. A trading card game, Illuminati: New World Order
Illuminati: New World Order
Illuminati: New World Order is a collectible card game that was released in 1995 by Steve Jackson Games, based on their original boxed game Illuminati, which in turn was inspired by The Illuminatus! Trilogy...

, and a role-playing game, GURPS Illuminati, followed.

Shea provided in 1983 a brief introduction for the Illuminati Expansion Set rule book. "Maybe," he wrote, "the Illuminati are behind this game. They must be. They are, by definition, behind everything."

He and Wilson, though living in Chicago and California respectively, remained good friends in later years.

Other works

Shea went on to write historical action novels, including Shike
Shike
Shike is a two-volume novel published in 1981 by Robert Shea. It fictionalises and compresses Japanese history in order to incorporate the Genpei War and attempted invasion of Japan by the Mongols within the lifespans of two characters: Jebu — a warrior monk of the Order of Zinja who is a highly...

(1981), All Things Are Lights
All Things Are Lights
All Things Are Lights is a novel written by Robert Shea in 1986. It is the story of a fictional 13th century French troubadour named Roland....

(1986), and The Saracen
The Saracen
The Saracen is a two-part novel written by Robert Shea. The two separate portions, The Land of the Infidel and The Holy War are a continuous tale....

, a novel published in two volumes in 1989 depicting the struggle between a blond Muslim warrior called Daoud ibn Abdullah and his French crusader adversary Simon de Gobignon. His last published book was the Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 tale Shaman (1991). These stories were straightforward beginning-middle-end tales, but included a few sly hints about the subjects of Illuminatus!

All Things Are Lights
All Things Are Lights
All Things Are Lights is a novel written by Robert Shea in 1986. It is the story of a fictional 13th century French troubadour named Roland....

and the outline for the unfinished novel Children of Earthmaker
Children of Earthmaker
Children of Earthmaker is an unfinished novel by Robert Shea. An outline for the novel, running to 4500 words, was written prior to Shea's death. This outline has been published on his website....

have been released under a Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...

 license and are available to read and copy at Robert Shea's website. Lady Yang was finished but never published; a Creative Commons online version is in the works by Shea's son Michael.

Three of his lectures and two panel discussions he participated in were recorded when he was a featured speaker at both the Starwood Festival
Starwood Festival
The Starwood Festival is a seven-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops on a variety of subjects...

 and the WinterStar Symposium (both with and without Robert Anton Wilson) and produced by the Association for Consciousness Exploration
Association for Consciousness Exploration
The Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC is an American organization based in Northeastern Ohio which produces events, books, and recorded media in the fields of "magic, mind-sciences, alternative lifestyles, comparative religion/spirituality, entertainment, holistic healing, and related...

.

For several years, Shea edited the anarchist zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

 No Governor. The title comes from a quote attributed to Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought, and is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name,...

, "There is no governor anywhere." The zine was mentioned in and read by one of the characters in Illuminatus!.

Clipped from the Robert J. Shea Tribute page:
Robert Joseph Shea attended Manhattan Prep, Manhattan College
Manhattan College
Manhattan College is a Roman Catholic liberal arts college in the Lasallian tradition in New York City, United States. Despite the college's name, it is no longer located in Manhattan but in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, roughly 10 miles north of Midtown. Manhattan College offers...

 and Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...

 and worked as a magazine editor in New York and Los Angeles. In the 60's he edited the Playboy Forum where he met Robert Anton Wilson, with whom he collaborated on Illuminatus! After publishing Illuminatus!, Bob left Playboy to become a full time novelist. His novels include: Shike, set in medieval Japan; All Things Are Lights, a story that entwines the fate of Cathars of southern France with the occult traditions of Courtly Love and the troubadours; The Saracen, describing the intricate politics of medieval Italy through the eyes of an Islamic warrior; Shaman, tracing the fate of the survivors of the Black Hawk War
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict fought in 1832 between the United States and Native Americans headed by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos known as the "British Band" crossed the Mississippi River into the U.S....

 in 19th century Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

; Lady Yang, a tragic story of an idealistic empress of medieval China.


Robert Shea is survived by his son, Michael E. Shea, and his second wife, author Patricia Monaghan
Patricia Monaghan
Patricia Monaghan, Ph.D., is one of the pioneers of the contemporary women's spirituality movement. She is the author of more than 15 books of poetry and nonfiction, including the two volume Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines...

.

Recorded lectures & panel discussions

  • A Meeting With Robert Shea, ACE
  • Writing and Mysticism, ACE
  • Magic in the Central Empire, ACE
  • The Once and Future Legend (panel discussion with Ariana Lightningstorm, Patricia Monaghan
    Patricia Monaghan
    Patricia Monaghan, Ph.D., is one of the pioneers of the contemporary women's spirituality movement. She is the author of more than 15 books of poetry and nonfiction, including the two volume Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines...

    , Jeff Rosenbaum, Rev. Ivan Stang
    Ivan Stang
    Rev. Ivan Stang, born Douglass St. Clair Smith August 21, 1953 in Washington, D.C., raised in Fort Worth, Texas, and attended the St. Mark's School of Texas. He is best known as the author and publisher of the first screed of the Church of the SubGenius...

    , and Robert Anton Wilson
    Robert Anton Wilson
    Robert Anton Wilson , known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...

    ), ACE
  • What IS the Conspiracy, Anyway? (Panel Discussion with Anodea Judith
    Anodea Judith
    Anodea Judith is an American author, therapist, public speaker and expert on the Chakra system, bodymind , somatic therapy, and Yoga...

    , Jeff Rosenbaum, Rev. Ivan Stang, and Robert Anton Wilson), ACE

External links

  • Robert Shea's Official Website: Robert J. Shea's official website maintained by his son, Michael E. Shea. The site includes creative commons licensed versions of All Things Are Lights and other works.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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