Robert Shea (1933-1994) was a US writer and was a senior editor of Playboy magazine.

He is best known for collaborating with Robert Anton Wilson on the Illuminatus Trilogy!—Eye in the Pyramid (1975), The Golden Apple (1975), and Leviathan (1975). An omnibus edition appeared in 1984.

His historical novels The Saracen: Land of the Infidel (1989) and The Saracen: The Holy War (1989) deal with background material to the Illuminatus Trilogy.

Shea’s Japanese historical fantasy Shike (1992) combines the books Time of the Dragons (1981) and Last of the Zinja (1981).

Shaman (1991) is a fantasy about a half-breed Indian.

All Things Are Lights (1986) is historical fiction featuring the Knights Templar.

By Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson purportedly between 1969 and 1971, and first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex- and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, which hinge around the authors’ version of the Illuminati. The narrative often switches between third and first person perspectives and jumps around in time. It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology and Discordianism.

The trilogy comprises the books The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple and Leviathan. They were first published starting in September 1975, as three separate volumes, and in 1984 as an omnibus; they are now more commonly reprinted in the latter form. The trilogy won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, designed to honor classic libertarian fiction, in 1986. The authors went on to create several works, both fiction and nonfiction, that further discussed the themes of the trilogy, but no direct sequels were produced. Illuminatus! has been adapted for the stage, and has influenced several modern writers, musicians and games-makers. The popularity of the word “fnord” and the 23 enigma can both be attributed to the trilogy. It remains a seminal work of conspiracy fiction, predating Foucault’s Pendulum and The Da Vinci Code by decades.

Robert Anton Wilson (1932- ) is a US writer, and former Associate Editor of Playboy.

He is probably best known for collaborating with Robert Shea on the Illuminatus Trilogy!—Eye in the Pyramid (1975), The Golden Apple (1975), and Leviathan (1975).

Robert Anton Wilson continued the Illuminatus sequence without collaborator Shea with The Illuminati Papers (1980), Masks of the Illuminati (1981), and Right Where You are Sitting Now Further Tales of the Illuminati (collection 1982). The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, set in the 18th century are: The Earth Will Shake (1983), The Widow’s Son (1985), and Nature’s God (1991).

Another series are: Cosmic Trigger: The Final Secret of The Illuminatus (1977), Cosmic Trigger II: Down to Earth (1991), and Cosmic Trigger III: My Life After Death (1995).

The Schrödinger’s Cat Trilogy is comprised of The Universe Next Door (1979), The Trick Top Hat (1980), and The Homing Pigeons (1981). An omnibus edition appeared in 1988.

Reality Is What You Can Get Away With (1992) is a humorous SF novel and illustrated screenplay. The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1997) is an unproduced screenplay.

He collaborated with Rudy Rucker and Robert Lamborn Wilson on the anthology Semiotext(e) SF (1990).

His early books include Sex and Drugs: A Journey Beyond Limits (1973), The Sex Magicians (1973), and The Book of the Breast (1974) was revised and reprinted as Ishtar Rising: Or, Why the Goddess Went to Hell and What to Expect Now That She’s Returning (1994).

Everything Is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults, and Cover-Ups (1998) is in the format of an encyclopedia.

Robert Anton Wilson has written a number of nonfiction, psychology or social philosophy books including: Prometheus Rising (1983), The New Inquisition (1986), Wilhelm Reich in Hell (1987), Coincidance: A Head Test (1988), and Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You and Your World (1990).

The trilogy was originally written between 1969 and 1971 while Wilson and Shea were both associate editors for Playboy magazine. As part of the role, they dealt with correspondence from the general public on the subject of civil liberties, much of which involved paranoid rants about imagined conspiracies. The pair began to write a novel with the premise that “all these nuts are right, and every single conspiracy they complain about really exists”. In a 1980 interview given to the science fiction magazine Starship, Wilson suggested the novel was also an attempt to build a myth around Discordianism:

“ It started with the Discordian Society, which is based on worship of Eris, the Greek goddess of confusion and chaos. We felt the Society needed some opposition, because the whole idea of it is based on conflict and dialectics. So, we created an opposition within the Discordian Society, which we called the Bavarian Illuminati. There were several Discordian newsletters written in the 1960s, and several Discordian members wrote for the underground press in various parts of the country. So, we built up this myth about the warfare between the Discordian Society and the Illuminati for quite a while, until one day Bob Shea said to me, “You know, we could write a novel about this!” ”

There was no specific division of labor in the collaborative writing process, although Shea’s writing tended towards melodrama, while Wilson’s parts tended towards satire. Wilson states in a 1976 interview conducted by Neal Wilgus:

“ In general, the melodrama is Shea and the satire is me; but some of the satire is definitely him and some of the melodrama is certainly me. “When Atlantis Ruled the Earth” is 99% Shea. The sections about Simon Moon, Robert Putney Drake and Markoff Chaney are 99% me. Everything else is impossible to untangle.

The titles of the three volumes or parts (the front covers were titled Illuminatus! Part I The Eye in the Pyramid, Illuminatus! Part II The Golden Apple and Illuminatus! Part III Leviathan) refer to recurring symbols that relate to elements of the plot. The Eye in the Pyramid refers to the Eye of Providence, which in the novel represents in particular the Bavarian Illuminati, and makes a number of appearances (for example, as an altar and a tattoo). The Golden Apple refers to the Golden apple of discord, from the Greek myth of the Judgement of Paris. In the trilogy it is used as the symbol of the Legion of Dynamic Discord, a Discordian group; the golden apple makes a number of appearances, for example, on a black flag, and as an emblem on a uniform. Leviathan refers to the Biblical sea monster Leviathan, which is a potential danger to Hagbard’s submarine Leif Erickson (from the name of the icelandic discoverer of America).

The three parts of the trilogy are subdivided into five “books” named after the five seasons of the Discordian calendar. These books are also subdivided into ten “trips” named after the ten Sephirot. The last trip’s conclusion is followed by fourteen appendices named after letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, which share their names with paths on the Tree of Life. The first page of the Appendix includes this mysterious note: “There were originally 22 appendices explaining the secrets of the Illuminati. Eight of the appendices were removed due to the paper shortage. They will be printed in heaven”, while “Appendix Mem” states: “Where are the missing eight appendices? Answer: Censored.” This appears to be another of the authors’ jokes, although it is true that eight letters of the Hebrew Alphabet are missing, and the publisher required the authors to cut 500 pages from the book.