Friebright reviewed

Book review of my PKD memoir:

http://sfbook.com/remembering-firebright.htm

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Near death experience

It is possible that my husband had a few near death experiences, which would account for some of the mystical visions that he had from 1974 until his death in 1982.

I do know for a fact that I have had a few near death experiences.  The first time was in the winter of 1958, either January of February.  I can't give the exact date because I was only three years old at the time. 

Mom had left me asleep in a strange  bed, not my own.  She was in the kitchen with a friend, and I was in the den by myself. 

Suddenly, I found myself in a room filled with light, and surrounded by people who loved me intensely and unconditionally.  I seemed to know these people, even though they did not exist in my life on Earth.  I wanted to stay there forever, but they told me that I had to come back, that I still had things to do.  One of them shoved my shoulder, and then I woke up in bed. 

I had fallen asleep lying on my back, but I woke up lying on my side -- good thing, too, since the contents of my stomach had come up, and if I had been lying on my back, I might have choked to death.  I believe that the man who shoved me had rolled me over, so I would not choke. 

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Book excerpt - Philip K. Dick memoir

Chapter 2, The Prelude

After about than 35 years, I’ve finally put together some of the pieces of a puzzle that I once thought unsolvable. Why would some vast conspiracy, some ultra-secret organization with international resources, focus their efforts on a little known science fiction writer who was so poverty-stricken that he was forced to apply for government aid to feed his small child? This question occurred to Phil and others many times, but no answer seemed forthcoming. Recently, however, I came across information about Dr. Timothy Leary, with whom Phil had a passing acquaintance.
Dr. Leary spoke to Phil by telephone in 1969, several months before Leary’s conviction for possession of marijuana. President Nixon once called him “the most dangerous man in America”, due to his advocacy for the use of LSD and other psychotropic drugs. When he escaped from prison in 1970, all the resources of the federal government were marshaled to track him down. So that explains why Phil was under surveillance in 1971. He had come to the attention for the authorities because they wanted to put a stop to Leary’s call to “tune in, turn on and drop out”.
Timothy Leary, once the golden child at Harvard University for his work in personality profiling, had become a public enemy, considered more dangerous than the worst mob boss. Phil, in turn, had become a public enemy by association.
Phil’s wife Nancy was hospitalized for an extended period, and the royalties coming in from his books slowed to a trickle and then dried up, so he applied for state aid to ensure that his daughter Isa would have food and medical care. Phil began to notice that cars seemed to be following him when he drove to the grocery store. He wrote it off as paranoia, at first.
When Nancy came home, she seemed distant. Eventually, she left him for a neighbor who happened to be a member of the Black Panthers. To say the least, those circumstances did nothing to assuage Phil’s feelings of persecution. Left alone in a three-bedroom house, Phil began taking in roommates to relieve his feelings of loneliness and help to pay the bills. Gradually, without his noticing it at first, the little tract house in San Rafael, California, became known as a party house and a crash pad. People would come to visit, drink and take drugs, eat Phil’s food and fall asleep on the couch and the floor. Some of those people he knew, and others he did not. Some told him that the police suspected him of being a drug dealer, and that it was bad for his reputation to allow teenagers to hang around. He began dating a 19-year-old girl, and her friends naturally gravitated toward his house.
Most of these people did not read and had no idea what Phil did for a living. They were kids who liked to party, and his house was open to them.
All of these circumstances looked suspicious to any authorities who might notice him. And since he had already come to their attention because of his contact with Timothy Leary, they did notice him.


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New cover coming soon

Firebright has a new cover, thanx to the highly talented artist Nick Buchanan:

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Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio -- interview available!

Miguel Conner's interview with Anthony Peake and me is now available on Aeon Byte!

Purr!

http://aeonbyte.blogspot.com/2010/06/tenth-entry-for-schrodiners-diary-tessa.html

Anthony Peake is the author of The Daemon, which includes a chapter about Philip K. Dick.

--
Alive, Free, Happy!

Changes coming

My friend Nick Buchanan is making a new cover for Firebright, and I'm writing some things to add to it.

During an interview with Rob McConnell at X Zone, I realized something that Phil and I never had put together before.

In September 1970, Dr. Timothy Leary escaped from prison, and in 1971 a small group of shadowy people proceeded to terrorize Phil. This is significant because Phil had some contact with Leary in 1969.

INTERVIEW ON X ZONE

~~ just scroll down to the archives


Apple iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=295327298

OR

'X' Zone Podcasts : http://www.xzonepodcast.com

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Was It Johnson ? - Part 1

Book of Enoch

This book, banned from the Christian Bible but included in the Ethiopic Bible, tells the fascinating tale of the fallen angels who mated with human women. It also describes Hell.



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Closed Minds are NOT Scientific or Logical

I was reading a post on asocial networking site yesterday, and I posted a question in the comments section. I asked where is the evidence for evolution, and six people immediately jumped on me, calling me an idiot and a brainless fundamentalist.

Now, I did not mention God or the Bible. I simply asked for the evidence. One person posted that the evidence for evolution is in the stars -- huh? The others simply attacked me personally, with no attempt to show me any evidence for their firm belief that evolution is a proven fact.

Their knee-jerk, scripted reactions to my question demonstrate that they are not thinking. Their responses have nothing to do with my question. In fact, they are employing the logical fallacy known as the straw man. If you cannot answer the argument, you set up a fictitious argument for your opponent's point of view and attack without mercy.

I must conclude that they have been so brainwashed that they are incapable of any intelligent discussion. They worship in the hallowed halls of science, and I am a heretic in their eyes.

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