The Weird Wild West

Rudy Wurlitzer's first novel in over twenty years, The Drop Edge of Yonder, is a strange metaphysical saunter through the Wild West.

In Through the Out Door: Sampling and the Creative Act

I get asked what I think about sampling a lot. Think of this essay as a soundbite for the sonically perplexed.

Arthur C. Clarke’s Last Words

Last week British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke passed away, but he's left us a moving video to remember him by.

Plant People

Hans Silvester presents an astounding collection of photographs of two African tribes who use plants and other natural materials to create elaborate fashions.

Future Mutations: An Interview with RU Sirius

RU Sirius is a writer, musician, and one-time presidential candidate best known for co-founding and editing the early '90s psychedelic cyberculture magazine Mondo 2000. In this interview, RU explores Open Source politics, transhumanism, and the wisdom of Robert Anton Wilson. "There's this group mutation that seems to have grown out of the counterculture – a new and possibly evolutionary, collaborationalist mind-meld."

Goodbye, Genre

Old categories for media are falling to the wayside as audience taste broadens and the borders between genres blur. We also lose our group identities in the process. Is that a triumph or tragedy?

Getting Real with Paul Krassner

Paul Krassner, creator of the classic satircal zine The Realist and co-founder of the Yippies!, was one of the funniest and most poignant satirical writers of the 1960s counterculture. In this interview he reflects on his 50 years of activism, and offers thoughts on today's world. "My advice for the future is to always remember that the political system is merely a buffer between the status quo and the force of evolution."

Shamans and Charlatans: Assessing Castaneda’s Legacy

When first published in 1968, Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan was hailed as a groundbreaking ethnographic account of Native American shamanism. With fame came scrutiny, however, and a debate clouded Castaneda's legacy. But there's no doubt that both Castaneda and Don Juan shaped the Western world's understanding of entheogens and Native American culture.

You Don’t Have To “Steal This Book”

Abbie Hoffman's classic guide to counterculture is now available for free on the Internet.

Go Fish

David Lynch's book Catching the Big Fish addresses creativity, meditation, and the human condition.