ALEISTER CROWLEY & CONSPIRACIES

ALEISTER CROWLEY & CONSPIRACIES

Aleister Crowley 1912

In BLOOD ON THE CARDS*, the fourth in my DI Sonny Russell crime novel series, one of the characters recalls meeting Aleister Crowley.

 Russell opened the book again. On the frontispiece he read, “Illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris”. ‘Golly’ was that her? A real lady.’

‘She certainly was. We got chatting and she confided in me. She’d been friends with Crowley for years, apparently. As far as I could make out she was some sort of disciple and had followed his teachings on something called, I think, Thelema. Some mumbo jumbo, anyway. He had come to live in Hastings - she’d heard he was ill and had travelled down from London to check on him. Apparently he was dirty and neglected so she arranged for a nurse to look after him. Anyway, she asked if I was interested in old books. I wasn’t going to turn down a chance to meet him so I said yes. He was in lodgings at Netherwood House on The Ridge in Hastings and I visited him there.’

‘What was he like?’

‘He was an old man by then. Early seventies, I think. He wasn’t well, coughed a lot and looked pale and drawn. I understood he was addicted to heroin. But there was something in his eyes. I don’t know, a darkness or something. His room was number 13…’

‘Of course.’

Pike nodded. ‘Despite being near the end he still had a huge presence.’

‘What did you talk about?’

‘Nothing of consequence, as I recall. Chess – he was member of the local club; hadn’t ever been beaten, apparently. The weather – he found the climate in the South good for his bronchitis. Lady Frieda showed me some books that he wanted to sell. They were old but there was nothing particularly special so I offered a few shillings, which she seemed happy to accept.’

‘Is that how you came by this?’ Russell tapped the book.

‘Oh no.’ Pike leaned forward, his eyes sparkling. ‘He gave it to me.’

‘How come?’

‘Before I left, I went over to say goodbye – he was sitting in a large wing chair. He grabbed hold of my hand – almost pulled me on top of him. I was amazed at his strength – he looked so feeble. He stared into my eyes. I can’t tell you how it felt. Creepy I suppose. Strangely compelling. Then he relaxed his grip and said: “You must have this,” and gave me the book. I heard that he died not long after.’

‘Is he buried somewhere nearby?’

‘No, no. The people of Hastings thought he was evil so he was cremated in Brighton.’

I became interested in him and his influence and did quite a bit of research about him - what I believe they call in university, reading around the subject. Although he died in 1947, he fascinated many who followed including Jimmy Page of the band Led Zeppelin.

Jimmy Page with twin-necked Gibson

In 1969 he became intrigued by Crowley and his cult Thelema. So much so that it is rumoured that two of the occultist's sayings, Do As Thou Wilt and So Mote It Be are carved into the outro tracks on the vinyl recording of Led Zeppelin III. He became even more involved as evinced in the next album, Led Zeppelin IV, where the band members are represented by magic symbols in the inner cover.

Led Zeppelin IV

Page collaborated with a filmmaker, Kenneth Anger, who practiced 'Magick' as set out by Crowley. Later the two fell out and Anger was said to have put a curse on the band. Not long after singer, Robert Plant and his family were nearly killed when their car went over a cliff in Greece, causing them to cancel the rest of the band's tour they were on. In 1977 Plant's son died. Page didn't attend the funeral which almost caused the break-up of the band. 

The Beatles - Abbey Road

I watched an interview with Jimmy Page. Hesaid Zep weren't the only band to be affected with conspiracies. On November 9th 1966 a rumour spread that Paul McCartney was dead and had been replaced by someone who had won a lookalike competition, know as Billy Shears. (Billy Shears is also mentioned in the opening to 'A Little Help from My Friends' on the Sergeant Pepper album.) Absolute rubbish, of course, but the rumour spread and stayed for a long time. It gained more traction when the wonderful abbey Road Album came out and featured the Beatles crossing the road outside the recording studio and Paul is pictured barefoot. Even before that on the track, Glass Onion on the White Album John Lennon sings, ‘here’s another clue for you all, The Walrus is Paul’.

BLOOD ON THE CARDS is currently with the printer and will we available soon.

JOURNEY'S END - well not quite

JOURNEY'S END

well not quite

A few days ago I finished writing the fourth book in the DI Sonny Russell series of crime novels, BLOOD ON THE CARDS. It came as something of a surprise.

I started writing it back in December 2018 with only the germ of an idea  - that the body of a fortune teller would be found in a WW2 pillbox near Appledore in Kent. Besides that, I hadn't a clue where the story was going to take me. 

I remember listening to Anne Cleeves, the author of the Shetland and Vera novels that have been so successfully transferred to the small screen. She was choosing her eight records on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and said there were two types of writers - plotters and pantsters. 

Plotters know exactly where they are going, even to the extent of creating a graph or wall chart, showing the characters, the locations and the plots and just how they are going to react with each other. Pantsters, on the other hand, literally fly by the seat of the pants, following every twist and turn of the story they are creating. Writing like a reader, they are never sure where the narrative is going to take them. I'm one of those. 

I do enjoy the writing, above everything else - editing and promotion for instance - and feel quite bereft when I come to the end of a story that I have been wrapped up in for nearly a year. I would quite like to get on with the next instalment, but first the hard work really starts.

I will have to go through this first draft, carefully checking for inaccuracies, to make sure the chronology is correct and that the narrative floes. I will then hand my baby over to my better half, Greer, who after a lifetime in journalism is more than qualified to check for errors I've missed. I then like to pass it on to a beta reader* to get his opinion of the story. (Very sadly, a good friend who fulfilled that function on the last manuscript, passed away recently so I will have to find another trusted friend to take his place. Not an easy task.)

Then, when all are satisfied, it's off to the printer. So, although the writing is done, there's still a long way to go. However, if you haven't already met DI Sonny Russell, Aggie, his faithful Jack Russell terrier and DC Johnny Weeks, the first three books are available in paperback or kindle.

*A beta reader is usually an unpaid test reader of an unreleased work of literature, who gives feedback from the point of view of an average reader to the author.

THE FORTUNES OF WAR - a writer's inspirations

THE FORTUNES OF WAR

a writer's inspirations.

Last week I finished writing BLOOD ON THE STRAND, book three in the DI Sonny Russell series of crime novels. Hurrah! and Oh dear! I felt a sense of satisfaction for sticking to something for over a year coupled with a strange sense of loss. I've felt this before and the best thing, I find, is to get on with the next project - straight away. But what to write?

I've long had an interest in the esoteric, particularly Tarot cards and the germ of an idea featuring them had been lurking at the back of my mind for some time. But how to use them in a story? I remembered I'd come across an actual unsolved case known as The Wirral Pillbox Murder where the body of a prostitute was found in a WW2 pillbox in 1955. Despite a huge manhunt, which saw 40,000 people being quizzed across the country, her murder still remains unsolved. 

Now, if that didn't start my imagination rolling, nothing would. Obviously, I wouldn't use the story - I write fiction, after all, but a fortune teller and a body in a pillbox? A rotten cold has meant an enforced rest from anything physical but pounding a keyboard isn't physical - is it? So, I'm happy to say that BLOOD ON THE CARDS has seen the light of day and is now well underway.