Join My Cult!

by James Curcio

Religions. Philosophies. Advertising campaigns. Gurus. Prozac. All of these drugs are sold as answers to our deepest questions: Why are we here? What truly has meaning?

For a group of young adults desperately searching for meaning in the bleak McMansion sprawls of Suburban America, these questions are of the essence. When none of the accepted avenues of thought or behavior make sense any longer, they wander into an unknown territory of magick, drug use, and shamanic exploration.

Through satire and drama, Join My Cult takes you on an inward initiatory journey and a deeply hypnotic experience.

Genres: Fiction, Psychology

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

James Curcio is a transmedia artist and writer best known for exploring the intersections of myth, philosophy, and media. Among extensive art and media credits, he is the author of Join My Cult! , Party at the World's End, a mythpunk take on The Bacchae in an age of anonymity and rock stars, and the non-fiction, Narrative Machines: Modern Myth, Revolution & Propaganda.

Current projects include Tales From When I Had A Face, an illustrated existential fairy-tale, and BLACKOUT, a dark Futurist-Lovecraftian webcomic. Masks: Bowie and Artists of Artifice, an interdisciplinary anthology begun shortly after Bowie's death, was published by Intellect Books in January 2020. He is the editor of ModernMythology.net.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up on what I thought was a solid recommendation. There are plenty of good ideas that inform it, to be sure, and it certainly does have some sort of effect on you if you take it seriously... However, I found that it suffers from its subject matter: melodramatic suburban teenagers.

This is one of the few books that I've audibly snorted at after reading the first bits of dialogue. The writing is just inexcusable at some points, however true it may be to its characters; being true to the characters, though, means that it reads like something a melodramatic suburban teenager might write, which isn't necessarily desirable.

On the other hand, there are plenty of parts that will make sense to someone who's been here. This is the propulsion across the abyss, chapel perilous, the fool's journey. I've dogeared some pages I might come back to. My rating is more accurately 2.5 stars.

[Keith]

I'm probably not going to manage a better review than this one by Chris Arkenberg, which which I pretty well agree. About all I could really add is: like Robert Anton Wilson on acid.

[Mattinfo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fiction built out of the experiences of an occultist in the "Chaos Magic" movement of the late 90s. It contains all sorts of bits and pieces of esoteric information. Choppily written, probably not as enjoyable if not relevant to you by interest or generation. Definitely heady. Should keep most people entertained if they aren't beyond the dilettante sort of occultism and spirituality. Unique.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

so far, quite an interesting read.