Raymond A. Palmer (1910–1977)

To people old enuf to've grown up in the era of magazines like "Science Wonder Stories", "True Gang Life", "Murder Mysteries", & especially "Amazing Stories" will probably remember the remarkable Ray Palmer as editor, writer, & publisher of some.. sensational stuff. Amongst the most sensational may've been Richard Shaver's claims that rocks are ancient books from a society more technologically advanced than our own & Shaver's claim that DERO (DEtrimental RObots) live in the Hollow Earth & menace surface dwellers. Whether Shaver really believed any of this I can't tell you. Nonetheless, he's attracted the attn of people like myself - & at least one magazine, "Shavertron", has been named in his honor.

Shaver made many paintings based around the "rock books" &, I must say, I rather like them. They're sortof a weird cross between 'Outsider Art', Cubism & Playboy. They're unique enuf to deserve far more attn than they get. While I don't find the 'science' in this bk to be particularly compelling, I love the eccentricity of it all. I've even used Shaver's work in 2 projects of my own: "The Sinnit-Nut Hollow Earth Symposium" & "Backwards Masking in Rocks". The latter borrows heavily from Shaver.… (altro)