Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

by Neil Rushton

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun by Neil Rushton is an unnerving and unusual story about one man's struggle to overcome perceived mental illness with the use of psychedelic drugs. Fantasy and reality intertwine leaving the reader never quite certain whether the author is recounting a hallucinogenic trip, a dream sequence, or something else altogether.
Observations on the human condition will resonate with many as, to a backdrop of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd, the author debates the merits of whether we are all in fact a little mad...."I'm not mad"...
A compelling, sometimes uncomfortable but never dull read, it will leave the reader knowing a little more about themselves and the mysteries of the human mind.

ebook

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Neil Rushton attained a PhD from Trinity College, University of Cambridge (Archaeology/History) in 2002. He is now a freelance writer, who has published on a wide range of subjects from castle fortification to folklore. His first novel, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, was published in 2016. Dead but Dreaming is his second novel and brings together his research into folklore, social history and the philosophy of consciousness.

Reviews

[Bethnoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journey through reality, sanity and mental illness which is dark at times, but ultimately uplifting. I found reading this novel a trip in itself, compelling enough that I read it in one sitting and dreamed about it afterwards. Music is an important part of the main character's life and the references are sparingly, but effectively used. I recommend this book.

[Pearce Hendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The blurb of this book caught my attention, and it did not disappoint. A very trippy, unsettling but enjoyable delve into the nature of psychotic illness.

There is a lot of medical jargon, which at times could be difficult to understand, but ultimately still kept my attention.

[Loukie Adlem · Rating 4 out of 5]

An author has to grasp the reader in the first few paragraphs lest she quickly moves on to the next book, right?

Well, this author succeeded by delivering the most hilarious, terrifying, and shall I say it? Yes, gross opening paragraphs it has ever been my pleasure to read. I won’t spoil it here for new readers, but be prepared to have your mind bent. :)

I must state upfront that I don’t usually read books about depression and drug use, so I have no frame of reference of other books like this one, how it compares to others in this “genre.”

I got the book when I heard it mentioned in a podcast. I live with depression, I know a fair amount about faerie folklore, and I knew almost nothing about the use of mind-expanding drugs as a treatment for mental illness. And this book blends all these aspects in one glorious whole.

I could relate to so many observations about depression, like for instance he says, “…it crept up on me when my defences were down and then burrowed deep inside like a neurological parasite intent on causing a pathological condition. But I didn’t notice the signs when they first appeared.”

Don’t let the subject matter put you off, though. It’s not a depressing book at all. There was enough dry humor to keep me smirking. I came away from the book curious to read more about the possibilities of treating depression by the use of entheogenic drugs.

The unnamed protagonist suffers from severe depression and anxiety disorders after the deaths of his mother and sister. After a violent episode in a shop, he is committed to a psychiatric hospital and this is when he meets the slightly sinister Dr. Ober Liddell who proposes to treat his depression by massive doses of entheogens. What ensues is a progression into a way of life where this guy later doesn’t know exactly what is real and WHEN he is. He experiences the past, present, and future blurring together in an increasingly fluid way. As he is told at one point, “Just because you don’t have your body with you doesn’t mean you’re not experiencing a reality.”

Eventually his depression and anxieties are cured, sure, but at what cost? He seems to lose any connection to what we’d call “real life.” His end is ambiguous. Is he alive? Is he dead? Where is he? When is he?

But, perhaps it doesn’t matter because, as the protagonist so succinctly observes, “The real world was shit.”

The book will reward a second reading, by me at least. I could see there were many allusions to the music of Pink Floyd, of which the title of the book is only one. Syd Barret, the elfin frontman of the band in their early years, also features in the story. As do several faeries. I felt I did not have a wide enough background to grasp all the subtleties in the story. Here I could also relate to the protagonist when he said, “…to be honest I was quite certain that I simply did not have the intellectual ability to grasp it. It would, like so many things, always be beyond my mental grasp.”

I feel you, dude.

Possible triggers: the protagonist was in a loving incestuous relationship with his sister.

The podcast I mentioned is The Weird Tales Radio Show, episode 15 “When Good Faeries Go Bad.” The interview with the author starts about 5 minutes in.

Cross-posted from Amazon.