This book is the mindspawn of Martin Jones, author of Psychedelic Decadence and editor of Lovers, Buggers & Thieves. Originally conceived in the early years of this decade, it remains an imminent release from Headpress. ‘Bad Trips and Demon Fantasies’ barely describes what awaits the reader therein. Focussing on the tumultuous years 1965-75 – a decade that saw the rise and fall of hippie, the Apollo moonshots, the VietNam war, glam rock and the seeding of what would be punk – there are thirteen chapters in all, covering true crime stories from all over the world that could only have happened during that unique time period when change seemed possible, revolution was in the air, and then it all went to shit.
Contributing writers include:
Martin Jones, covering the case of Magdelene Solis, a Mexican prostitute who lead a scam against rural peasants that turned into a bloodbath, in The Death Psychedelic; breast-obsessed vampire wannabe Wayne Boden in Tit & Fang; Patrick Mackay, the mentally-unhinged young man who fantasised he was a Nazi Count and killed indiscriminately across decaying mid-70’s London, in Beyond The Eyes of Frankenstein, and the strange story behind Arthur Lee’s band Love and their experiences in the former home of Bela Lugosi in A Haunted House is not a Motel.
Paul Kirby discusses the case of Herbert Mullin in And The Voice Said Kill! which during the research of he struck up a correspondence with the man himself, who killed thirteen in California to prevent an earthquake.
Anthony Ferguson tells the story of Archibald ‘Mad Dog’ McCafferty, the ‘Australian Manson’ in In The Court of the Tattooed King.
Andy Darlington seeks the identity of Bible John, the mystery man who killed three women in late-60’s Glasgown, in Murder On The Dancefloor.
And much more besides.
My own contribution is the cover designs, thirteen full-page title illustrations for each chapter, supplementary illustrations and two chapters, each 20,000 words long. It would have been impossible to publish a book discussing this era without making some mention of the Manson Family case…
but I tried to do something different in Requiem For Lucifer by focussing on the times and places from which the Creepy Crawl Crew emerged and by paying particular attention to the murder of Gary Hinman, for which Robert ‘Bobby’ Beausoleil remains imprisoned to this day, along with the famous Zodiac case which my research suggested, might bear some connection to this grim episode that, with the benefit of hindsight, seems to have been inevitable.
Here’s my portrait of Bobby Beausoleil:
And if Manson wasn’t to be the final nail in the hippie coffin, there’s always Altamont. The events leading to the murder of Meredith Hunter have been discussed numerous times before so once again I tried to evoke the time and place and look closely at some of the characters who were so involved in what happened that day, and hopefully shed light on some of the facts that have, over time, become exagerrated to the point of absurdity…
Entitled Black Star White Light, it features histories of the Hell’s Angels and the Rolling Stones, and includes appearances by everyone from Aleister Crowley to Kenneth Anger to Donald Cammell.
Saturn In Retrograde promises to be a unique statement about a unique time, and if there’s one image that defines the tone of the book then it would be the look in this girl’s eyes…
The book should be completed later this year and available 2009-10. It will be worth the wait.
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