This Ain't The Summer of Love: Top Ten (or More!) PSYCHEDELIC SCIENCE FICTION

Well, it started as a top ten but ended up nearer thirty titles! Steve takes a trip through his library and discusses Psychedelic SF in the context of how and when hallucinatory chemicals escaped from the labs and onto the streets in the 1960s..
Music: steveholmes.bandcamp.com/
#booktube #bookcollecting #sciencefictionbooks #bookrecommendations #literaryfiction #psychedelics #psychedelic

[@dalehoustman4737]

A marvelous and intelligent exposition of the subject. As both a practitioner and student of psychedelics in the 60s, I was a big admirer of Aldiss’ “Barefoot in the Head” - as much a Joycean take as it is an approach to psychedelia, it was initially a challenging read as you adjust to the semantics. And Hesse’s “Steppenwolf” was a hippie favorite for probably the reductive reason of hallucinatory drug entertainment.. have read that several times in my life and it grows along with a person. Anyway - enough of my blither - great survey of the collusion of science fiction and psychedelic experience. Nostalgic and still illuminating. Thank you for this…

[@northof-62]

Just amazing! Your SF channel & knowlegde dwarf some others I've watching

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks, you're very kind - that's decades of book trade experienced combined with historical and contextual knowledge for you, plus my work as a writer. There are plenty more SF videos on the channel, so please watch the backlist.

[@strelnikoff1632]

This episode again hit the mark for me. I spent '69-'71 serving in Vietnam. Ergo "Night of Love" is going to be a must for me 😎. Also will try "Never Let Me Go" from another recent episode. Keep up the good work my brother . tan y tro nesaf!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Will do!

[@Drforbin941]

excellent

[@zamiadams4343]

Such an amazing channel, so many great books mentioned and now I want to read, all the best man.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Very kind. Do watch the backlist, plenty more here like this and more to come.

[@carltaylor6452]

One of the earliest counter-cultural psychonauts was, of course, Aleister Crowley, whose Diary of a Drug Fiend (an early drugsploitation novel) was published in 1922. (Crowley is likely to have first come across hallucinogens while a member of the Golden Dawn, which he joined in 1898.) Crowley was dependent on cocaine and heroin for long periods of his life, but also experimented with hashish and mescaline as part of his magickal rituals, as well as writing several 'research' papers on various intoxicants. It has even been claimed - despite lack of evidence - that Crowley gave mescaline to a young Huxley in Berlin in 1930. While that story is likely untrue, it is true that Crowley was experimenting with and writing about 'psychedelic' compounds not only before the term was invented, but decades before Hofmann discovered LSD-25 or Huxley took mescaline. It was his pioneering 'work' in this field, arguably, that led to his appearance on the cover of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It's a pity we can't ask Lennon why he chose him.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

None of this is new to me, of course. I first read of Crowley in the 1970s, read three biographies, read 'Drug Fiend', used to sell his books all the time in the 1980s when they were available in decent editions. Also read numerous novels where he is a character -or has a character based upon him - from Wilson, to Maugham to Arnott and beyond. I can't link him to SF, however, other than tangentially.

[@carltaylor6452]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I'm a bit of a Crowley nut - and other occult personalities and movements - and currently reading Churton's Crowley in England. I agree that it would be difficult to justify his appearance in an SF-centric video, although you might discuss JW Parsons/L Ron Hubbard and the Californian OTO! Crowley disciple Kenneth Grant's work is way out there, but again occult fantasy rather than SF, unless you can shoe-horn his obsession with HP Lovecraft into an SF link. This was a great video, btw, and I've ordered a couple of 2nd hand books: the Daniel Keyes and Chayefsky's Altered States. (I didn't know the latter was based on a book - the film was a favourite of us acid-heads back in the mid-80s.) Thanks. This is by far my favourite Booktube channel, despite not having read a lot of SF for the past 30 years.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@carltaylor6452 'Altered States' is a great book and like yourself I am a fan of the film, watched it at the cinema on first release. Jack Parsons is one of many real figures who appear in Jake Arnott's 'House of Rumour' -which I can't decide is SF or not! Glad you like the channel thank you.

[@strelnikoff1632]

Still more, being a native of Georgia I'm well familiar with Graham Parsons. I remember distinctly hearing "Wild Horses" for the first time while on tower guard one night in Vietnam. It had a deep impact on me at the time. You may know that the Stones allowed the Flying Burrito Brother to release it before they did.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Gram? Yes, wow fancy hearing that in Viet Nam! Respect!

[@expressoric]

Very many years ago, I read Lucius Shepard's "The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule", in the uncredited anthology "Great Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy", published by Chandler Press. It's a very strange piece about an unimaginably huge and inanimate dragon who exerts a strange power over the minds of the people who witness him/it. Very good video too.🤩

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, he wrote a number of Dragon Griaule stories, there is now a Gollancz Fantasy Masterwork of them, great stuff.

[@paulhwilliams]

Excellent trip through psychedelic SF!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks! Don't touch the brown text blocks as they use to say in 1960s book fairs lol

[@paulhwilliams]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Are you a fan of Rudy Rucker? He's the acid high priest of higher dimensional mathematics!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@paulhwilliams Yes, I've read Rucker in the past- way back in the 1980s and have acquired a couple I've not read yet in recent years. He reminds me of John Sladek but not quite as good, though he's a wild talent.

[@paulhwilliams]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Now I shall go and check Sladek!

[@CinePhill]

My dear friend as someone who aged 17, and was in a band called Sigma (Floyd reference there) and who once played at that age to a grunge crowd. With a cornet player, I kid you not! I’ve been saving this video to an suitable time. And as a big Ken Russell fan who once watched Altered States four times back to back under the influence I can only applaud you. All the best Steve, Castaneda, fraud though he is was definitely influential also.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

As Lemmy sang in Hawkwind's "Motorhead": 'All good clean fun/have another stick of gum,".

[@sd-ho8uu]

Fantastic video - and shirt. So many books referenced to explore. Just thought I'd mention a couple - Stigmata always gets chosen of PKD's druggie books, but I find Flow my tears the policeman said even weirder because of the effects of the drug, which I won't give away. Also, Huxley's final book, Island, very dark and includes a drug dealer called Doctor Robert. I always wondered if this was an inspiration for the Beatles song, rather than the usual explanation. Thanks for the long and informative video.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

You don't need to worry about giving it away, I'd read all of PKDs extant SF novels by 1986 and I think you have a very good point. I've read 'Island' too, but a very, very long time ago- I imagine you may have read AH's non-fiction works on psychedelics, seminal stuff- shame 'Moksha' has been OP in the UK for such a long time.

[@paulcampbell6003]

Utterly fascinating video essay, wonderfully presented. Very immersive, very informative; one of the best videos you've done! 👍

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks Paul - I felt it was a bit ragged, but it was totally improvised, no notes or prep, just what was in my head. The idea of this apporach is to give you and idea of what it's like to talk to me (1) over the counter in my job or (2) in the pub.

[@GypsyRoSesx]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I was thinking that while watching; how delighted your companions must be when you go for drinks at the pub. It’s no wonder that authors like you. You had my rapt attention for the entire hour plus.

[@strelnikoff1632]

First of your videos I saw a reference to 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Great Dick book!!! Let's see them make a movie of that! Ubik another great book. I saw it rated by Time magazine as one of the 100 best novels of the 20th century?!😮 And a reference to good ole Georgia boy Graham Parsons. If You can't tell, I was a teenager in the 60s, Vietnam soldier, the whole bit. Great channel mate.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

'Ubik' is sublime. There will be a video about it sometime this year.

[@markkavanagh7377]

Great talk, very appreciated.

[@slurmcarey3069]

Love the shirt mate

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

More like that coming! Wardrobe full of them!

[@felixskivor4487]

This is what this channel is about. Fantastic 🙏

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Cheers Felix!

[@mycatsdead]

same as yourself in the early eighties i had read all the classic S F. and went into the psychedelic acid / beat stuff. got most you have mentioned. but nice to see someone doing something ive grown and loved with. glad it not just me. totally enjoyable. have you seen the greenwich trilogy. even F Belkap Long used strong weed in the hounds of thindlos to open the way. robert sheckleys same to you doubled is a good acid/psych read

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yep, know the stuff you cite, good to hear from you!

[@mycatsdead]

i would like to thank you. ive just cleaned and boxed all my sf and fantasy paperbacks. my love is back. the others i forgot was the norman spinrad no direction home and new tomorrows good acid books. and i have more. many many thanks.

[@koolaidimmunity4032]

The perfect shirt for the occasion.

[@thekeywitness]

Great video. I was one of the people who requested it. Lots of my favorite books (Three Stigmata, Crystal World) and a few I haven’t heard of (The Gas, Night of Light).

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I thought it might have been you Kris- thanks mate!

[@leakybootpress9699]

A great introduction to a vastly important aspect of SF, Steve, and you flourished some of my favourite books too. You've scraped aside the topsoil, I hope you have a chance to commence the real literary archaeology one day. As a bonus, for me at least, I caught a glimpse of the late, great Gram Parsons.

[@salty-walt]

Paul Kantner used to hang out at my local cafe all the time. We still miss him. This seems an interesting twist on what most people do for this topic. I'm looking forward to a deeper dive if you make a part 2.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Cool!

[@Macilmoyle]

Interesting talk. Did I miss it or did you not mention the copy of "The Time of the Hawklords" that you had displayed at the back?

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I didn't, actually, I probably thought about it then forgot!

[@anthonyvictor3034]

Though born in 1966 l have always had an instinctual affinity with the Sixties zeitgeist. So it was great to catch up on great books of the era that I have loved and thought few people had heard of. Including Castaneda, Leary etc. Most of the SF books you mention l have read. But to see you wave the first editions in front of me…am l tripping? …is it heaven or hell or am I too stoned to know? 😀

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Who can say? Thanks for watching!

[@agogojira]

Great video, many thanks! Finally someone who "gets" Carlos Castaneda - I feel like too many readers get hung up on that he was maybe being less than truthful and totally forget that the Don Juan books are some of the most entertaining and inventive SF/fantasy novels ever written.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yep, I enjoyed them in that respect too!

[@CelticChief1979]

Grant Morrisons THE INVISIBLES is the example I grew up reading. Very psychedelic, a lot of drugs references and very, very out there.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, I love Granty, he's my preferred comics scribe. I've been a MASSIVE 'Animal Man' and 'Doom Patrol' fan since he took them on (and I like other stuff by him as well, of course).

[@Tusitala1967]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal King Mob's alter ego, Gideon Stargrave, is absolutely a rip on Jerry Cornelius, but I think Moorcock holds Morrison in little regard.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@Tusitala1967 Yes, Gideon is. Shame about that, I think Morrison at his best is the most advanced superhero comics writer ever, despite a debt to Moore.

[@Tusitala1967]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I love Morrison's work, especially Invisibles. He's probably my favorite comics writer. Love Moorcock too, and I know Grant idolized him as a youth. A shame indeed.

[@CelticChief1979]

Fully agree, his JLA was an exercise in pure imagination. The Invisibles his finest work (imo) Animal Man, christ the last issue brings tears to my eyes. His Batman Run was very disappointing as it took the character outside the Noir Detective which is my preferred take. It was of course, riotously good fun! His All Star Superman? Utterly sublime.

[@danieldelvalle5004]

This video gave me a lot of flashbacks from my counterculture youth. I dropped acid three times, all good trips, and read loads of PKD. Stopped the drug scene after smoking some hashish laced with opium, very bad trip. That's when my obsession with New Wave SF began. Then I read Ballard, Burroughs and my mind blown completely, so no drugs needed. And Hawkwind, Warrior On The Edge Of Time, YES! Your mention of psychedelic mushrooms made me think of Ben Wheatley's A Field In England, not SF, but interesting.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I'm glad you liked it, Daniel. They way that SF was an active part of the (counter)culture was so inspiring then, shame now so much of what remains of SF culture seems obsessed with the divisive and often illogical (by well-meaning in a twisted way) realm of Identity Politics now- not good for a genre that relies on science and objectivity to make sense of the world. I like some of Ben Wheatley's stuff, but I find his partner's (Amy Jump) input - she writes a lot of his things- very sloppy. I'd say my preferred work by him is 'Kill List'. 'A Field In England' is interesting though, great idea, but I've always found it a bit too long - as a 40 minute experimental film it would be awesome...

[@danieldelvalle5004]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal, Ben Wheatley's Highrise was awful for me, no justice done to JGB's novel. I found it extremely too long.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@danieldelvalle5004 -Yes, it's completely diabolical, totally fails to capture the cold harshness of the book. Shame Cronenberg's version was never made- yep, it was going to be a thing, I write about it in my essay "Me: Capri: Brigitte Bardot" in 'Deep Ends 2018' (Terminal press) - among many other things Ballardian in that pieve. thing is, CD had already done 'High Rise' in 'Shivers', really, same year as the Ballard novel!

[@michaeldaly1495]

Top topic, top shirt. I'm curious to know how you regard Graphic Novel/Comic SF in relation to SF literature itself; Jodorowsky's work with Moebius in the 70's strikes me as trippy SF par excellence.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

That's a question for a future video, but I have to be honest and say I've never really liked Jodorowsky or Moebius - I find the former chaotic and only really interested in visuals, which doesn't always make for good SF film-making, so I never agonise about his 'Dune' project. But watch this space, Michael...

[@michaeldaly1495]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Agree largely about Jodorowsky and SF - he has zero interest in the scientific method and his work is really about metaphysical transformation and mystical gubbins. I think the documentary about 'Dune' is probably better than anything he actually would have made with that film, although its influence was massive in terms of visual style. I did love his last two autobiographical films which have nothing to do with SF at all. Look forward to a vid on the subject of SF comics! 2000AD was a sort of new-wave continuation thing, now that I come to think about it.

[@KulchurKat]

Such an erudite, enlightening and a pretty comprehensive video on the subject of psychedelic SF - from Brave New World to Neuromancer. I’m sure there’s enough material here for another book with Bloomsbury. (M John Harrison’s second Viriconium book, A Storm Of Wings has a great psychedelic sequence as reality and the narrative breaks down under the influence of weird terraforming gases.) Which video did you reveal the name of the under-the-counter illegal book the chap in Compendium books sold you? I’m bursting with curiosity.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, 'A Storm of Wings' is iridescently trippy! The video to watch is 'The Time They Banned Delany & Platt', posted around about the same time as this one, I seem to recall.

[@KulchurKat]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Ah, from your reply I’m guessing the under the counter contraband was Hogg. I’ll give it a watch and find out 👍🏻

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@KulchurKat No, it wasn't 'Hogg', as you will see....

[@JackMyersPhotography]

I got to finish the video today, and I really love this topic so it’s helpful to see a dive into the related SF elements. The book/movie “Altered States” certainly borrowed from Castaneda, but for me it’s biggest “borrow” is from John Lilly and his experiments into ketamine, hallucinogenic drugs, and the sensory deprivation tank that Lilly pioneered the creation of. I can’t imagine being dosed with ketamine and locked in a sensory deprivation tank for days. It certainly “changed” Lilly via doing it.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, Lilly is one of the people I read back in the day, he's almost forgotten now. There's a line in 'Altered States' (the novel) which begins something like "Jessup, who had read Castaneda...". I'm glad you liked it Jack, always great to hear from you!

[@Scottlp2]

Not a book, but Walter and his LSD in Fringe comes to mind.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Can't say I'm familiar with it, whatever it is!

[@isoundinfo]

This video made me think of the substance called Forgettol and addictol from Jonathan Lethem's “Gun, With Occasional Music.” Some of his early work more generally could be seen as psychedelic in a sort of PKD way.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yeah, agreed. I think I scratched the surface. Lethem is mostly SF of course, but has rarely been packaged as such and he contributed to the Library of America PKD omnibuses.

[@JackMyersPhotography]

I remember reading Castaneda when I was 18, the scene with the Bruja was truly scary. The story of the pie eyed boy and not giving up your victories nor being ashamed of them. Seeing the spirit bird before realizing it was a pile of branches, there was so much truth in how to see things in the first book. Good fiction like Castaneda is a lie that tells the truth.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Totally. I read the first seven, enjoyed the first sixe, but found that after the fourth, they declined. But full of important insight- time to listen to 'Brujo' by New Riders of the Purple Sage now (while reading Farmer's story 'Spiders of the Purple Mage' -yes, he remixed his own story title into another tale). Hope you are well, mate, good to hear from you!

[@ImeldaFagin]

Your shirt being unbuttoned was very disturbing. But I admire that you seemed quite comfortable with it. Great and thoughtful video, as always.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I know! I was pretty uncomfortable, but once I started I had to go on. Won't happen again, I promise!!!

[@sylvanyoung]

Robert Anton Willson take on Timothy Leary is another side of that rabbit hole .I remember that LSD era , where many songs and even comics were seen to be LSD inspired . From the Beatles " Lucy in the sky " " hey jude " and " the celling flying away " in a whiter shade of pale . PKD made me laugh with his " there is no path to god via drugs " In Vials . What am i seeing at 17:00 😂 . Tom Pettys take on Louis Carrol is some thing . Comics ...the art in Dr Strange....We could fall forever down that rabbit hole . Great video . Thank you. .

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Y'know, Sylvan, I used to sell TONS of the RAW illuminati trilogy in the 80s, good days. As you say, there's so much more...

[@rickkearn7100]

"Blows Against The Empire": I wonder, OB, if Jimi Hendrix's "1983 A Merman I Should Turn To Be" , released in 1968, was prescient and inspirational for Starship. Also, I wonder if Du Maurier's "House on the Strand" (1969) fits into your narrative here somewhere? And PKD's "UBIK" I think is a side trip (albeit psychic-themed) of his drug culture offerings perhaps? Regardless, I am further impressed (and awed, actually) by your deep well of knowledge in this sub-genre. Totally eye-opening and yet another example of why I can't get enough of Outlaw Bookseller! Subject matter all near and dear to my heart. Cheers.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yep, I left 'Ubik' out as I want to do something else about it. Thanks again Rick for your sterling support, much appreciated!

[@MakeMeAmerican1812]

My father, who introduced me to Science Fiction, has amongst his sizeable SF collection several books by Hesse. I've always wondered why as my understanding was Hesse was a literary author.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Well he is, but that doesn't preclude any author from writing SF - he just wasn't a Genre SF author, meaning he didn't come from the pulp magazine tradition. 'The Glass Bead Game' is a Utopian SF author set in the future, so by default it is SF. You should read Hesse, he's amazing, especially 'Steppenwolf', which is a great entry point. His work was read in the sixties by many of the same people who read Tolkien, Herbert and Heinlein -but Hesse was in a different class of quality.

[@MakeMeAmerican1812]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal My father has a collection of almost every Heinlein paperback printed between 1960 and 1975. All beaten up reader copies!

[@TheMikekscott]

A friend of mine at university was very keen to try LSD, he bought a small white pill and we took him to a calming country side setting, we then spent two hours strolling around. No idea what he’d bought but it was definitely not LSD.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Burned rather than burnt out!

[@kid5Media]

Glad to see Mick Farren get a shout out.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes- how many other SF-writing rock starts have we hard, after all!

[@agogojira]

Julian Jay Savarin was one. :)

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@agogojira -Yep, a neglected figure!

[@stevenphillips1443]

His autobiography "Give the Anarchist a cigarette" is great ..

[@strelnikoff1632]

I'll have to postpone reading Night of Love as the only copy I could find on Amazon was going for a cool $198 😵‍💫

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

'Night of Light'?

[@allanlloyd3676]

Hello Steve, Nice history of my youth. The only thing I would dispute is the influence of psychedelia on Ballard's fiction. I'm sure that the more florid prose of his early work like Crystal World and the Vermilion Sands stories came more from reading Bradbury than from drugs, and that the Atrocity Exhibition stories came more from his obsession with media figures, the Kennedy assassination, his interest in psychology and the failure of the space age than from reading Burroughs. I loved Moorcock's story of sitting with Ballard when he took his only LSD trip. He insisted on drinking lots of whiskey before taking the tablet and had a very bad trip, as he told you in that interview. I don't think he was ever comfortable with Mike's more druggy friends. I used to own that edition of The Gas, and being a responsible father with two young daughters, I kept my copy in a box at the back of a wardrobe. We had some plumbers round looking at the pipes and when they left, my copy of Platt's book had gone too. That cover must have worked. I hope they enjoyed it. Copies are making about £50 now.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yep, you may well be right about Bradbury- you probably are- but I think Ballard fits in and there is at least one acid taking experience in 'Crash' I seem to recall. Great to hear from you as ever, let's do a longer pint next time!

[@allanlloyd3676]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I'm always up for a pint or two. Careful, I might turn up in Bath next time. And you are right about Ballard. He was so much part of the New Wave, though his relationship with Mike did make me smile sometimes.

[@kid5Media]

"...to a dark and sunless sea."

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Knew I'd missed something...only poem I can always get right from memory is Shelley's 'Ozymandias'.

[@sweeneezy]

great video, very informative and enjoyable. would you be interested in doing a video on philip jose farmer? I was listening to a PKD interview where he said farmer was the basis for Kilgore Trout and his work with pulp heroes like Tarzan has piqued my interest

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I posted one about his Wold Newton sequence a couple of months back. Just scroll though 'Videos', moving backward chronologically and you'll find it. More Farmer will follow.

[@TheMikekscott]

I didn’t know there was a fourth dna cowboy book. I loaned the trilogy to my son in law, but it was all too much for him.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, it appeared much later than the others- I've not read it either. The lot were published as a handsome hardcover omnibus by Do Not Press, but I've never tracked one down in good nick at a decent price.

[@willp2877]

Im so sorry, i am struggling to hear you when you said the name of that vinyl record behind you! I want to check it out.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

It is 'Warrior on the Edge of Time' by Hawkwind, from 1975- if you like Fantasy, SF, Romantic Poetry and Psychedelia, you'll love it. Features Michael Moorcock and Lemmy (later of Motorhead). If you do enjoy it, check the Hawkwind playlist on the channel- I review a number of their SF-oriented records in great depth.

[@willp2877]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal awesome thank you! I look forward to listening ro it. Do you like the early Moody Blues records? 'To Our Children's Children's Children' could fit that bill, SF related records.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@willp2877 -Never really gelled with the Moodies, but I'm sure you're right. Loads of stuff in that period has SF content, right?

[@willp2877]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal very true! Thanks very much for the thoughtful & interesting videos! Always enjoy them.

[@CelticChief1979]

Of course Grant Morrison was chief writer/showrunner on the Brave Mew World TV show.

[@stevenphillips1443]

KId Charlemagne - Steely Dan

[@neilwatson8349]

Hi Stephen - great series.. Huxley's book was one of the 1st I read on psychedelics & it nearly put me off - its so boring! Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was far superior.. KUTGW.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I wasn't that fussed on the Wolfe one, though I do like some of his work. I think one of the best descriptions I've ever read of psychedelic experiences is the acid trip sequence in John Rechy's novel 'The Fourth Angel', which really nails it, I felt. Thanks for the praise, you're very kind.