New Trajectories: Notes on the Artists

One of the Leosaysays artworks in New Trajectories.

I'm still reading New Trajectories issue No. 2, the massive zine published by Bobby Campbell for Maybe Day. I'm enjoying the articles, but I am also really impressed by the artwork. 

Here are a few notes on the artists:

The cover is by Jake Giddens. He is a freelance illustrator based in Portland, Oregon, visit his official site to see more of his work. "My art combines traditional art styles with a fun, playful vibrance. Often drawing inspiration from Japanese woodblock prints, medieval paintings, Persian drawings, comic books, fable storybooks and contemporary children’s textiles."

Leosaysays is an artist and illustrating from Nottingham, England. He also has an attractive official site. "Leosaysays is the creative moniker of Rob Manners, an Artist, Illustrator, Tarot reader and UKCP reg. Psychotherapist (www.robmannerscounselling.com) working in Nottingham, UK."

The Zendrites comics are a collaboration between Mike Clinton and Ken Condon; more information here. I believe Mr. Condon is the excellent comics artist, his drawing of Atlantis in the comic is worth a long look. 

Bobby Campbell is an artist and comics producer based in New Jersey. Please see his Weirdoverse web site. Follow him on Twitter.

You will know Rasa  for  his work for the RAW Trust and Hilaritas Press, but you can learn more about him at his official professional site, Pelorian Digital. 

"Richard Rasa was born in Washington DC on January 7th, 1952. He traveled overland from Europe to India at age 17, and studied sitar with Amiya Bhattacharya in the city of Benaras. A few years later, living in Germany, he played guitar and sitar with the Jazz/Rock group Sweet Smoke, recording for EMI records and touring in Germany, Holland and France. He studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and obtained a BA degree in multimedia communications at Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts. Following his curiosity and supported by good karma and a healthy immune system, he has lived and traveled in 38 countries on four of the planet's continents. Rasa says 'currently my left brain dominates my digital work, while my right brain plays sitar with Starseed.' Rasa is the founder and owner of Pelorian Digital Graphic and Website Design, Consulting, and Artist Representation. Rasa is also the Meta-Programming Director for the Robert Anton Wilson Trust, working to promote Pope Bob's books and ideas. In addition to entertaining the staff of Pelorian Digital with impromptu mini-concerts, Rasa authors much of the content of this website."

Many of the writers in New Trajectories also are artists (or musicians, or bloggers, or ...) Eva David for example illustrated her article herself. 

Thanks to everyone for New Trajectories

New Trajectories, the big zine put together by Bobby Campbell for Maybe Day, clocks in at an impressive 77 pages. But like the tesseract home in the famous Robert Heinlein story, "--And He Built a Crooked House--" those 77 pages have a lot more in them than you might realize. Like a link to a YouTube playlist of Robert Anton Wilson inspired songs, a link to a Mike Gathers minibook, a link to the first chapter  of Steve Fly's new novel, and so on.

All of the Maybe Day work put in by RAW fans seems particularly impressive to me when you consider we're not getting a lot of help. We don't get money from the government or from arts foundations. Academia doesn't seem to be interested in RAW. We can't even get much publicity; Boing Boing, for example, has had nothing about the upcoming Hilaritas Press edition of Starseed or about Maybe Day. Maybe it's not the right time to try to stoke interest in a dead white male, although I'd point out that RAW didn't come from a wealthy family, and Irish Americans were once a marginalized group.

In fact, New Trajectories is so impressive, many of us seem to be a little worried he/she/they didn't measure up. One friend described his contribution as "super rough." Another worried his contribution wasn't original enough. I worried about my Bob Shea piece, but it was sincere.

Everyone, you did well! Pat  yourself on the back!

Happy Maybe Day! [UPDATED with explanation]

Bobby Campbell helps you celebrate the gala international holiday at MaybeDay.net with a 72-page PDF zine you can download and keep, his production of a 32-page document from Mike Gathers on the Eight Circuit model (also a handy PDF), videos from various folks and more! Go get your stuff! Find the others! (You will recognize many names and meet new friends.) All hail Bobby for his great work, and thanks to all of the contributors! (Above illustration chipped in by Rasa).

Addendum: Explanation of Maybe Day below. 

Explanation of Maybe Day: Maybe Day is celebrated every July 23 by fans of the American writer Robert Anton Wilson, who was known for books such as Illuminatus! and Cosmic Trigger.  It is thus analogous to Bloomsday, celebrated every June 16 by fans of James Joyce.

The day also recognizes the efforts to keep Wilson's work before readers, not just official efforts such the Robert Anton Wilson Trust and its Hilaritas Press imprint, but the informal but persistent efforts of a network of RAW fans around the world.

For reasons that are not easily summarized in a few words, July 23 is a notable day for many fans of Wilson; the significance of the date becomes apparent if you read Cosmic Trigger.

Maybe Day also refers to "maybe logic," Wilson's suggestion that many questions or assertions can be answered, not just with "yes" or "no," but with "maybe," and that many claims ought to be qualified with a degree or uncertainty. So, for example, if you say, "Maybe Robert Anton Wilson is an interesting writer and maybe he still deserves to be read," you are issuing an invitation, not asserting a dogma regardless of personal literary taste.

Update to update: Watch Bobby Campbell's explanation of Maybe Day (about eight minutes):