R. B. Russell

The versatile Raymond Russell has collected a wealth of undisputed facts about Cyril Henry Hoskin (1910-1981) and his life as T. Lobsang Rampa, a fake lama from Tibet. Hoskin must be classified as a hoaxer and a charlatan, but also as an eccentric. He would have been a fit subject for John Michell's "Eccentric Lives and Peculiar Notions" (1987). I still marvel at how such a blatant hoax and forgery as "The Third Eye" (1956), combined with Hoskin's unlikely and adjustable background story, show more could make so many people believe in him. The mystery can never be completely solved, but Russell outlines a part of the answer: namely that Hoskin kept on writing as Lobsang Rampa, and after some years his cheap paperbacks gained a set of completely new readers who didn't know that he had been exposed as a false lama and ridiculed as "the son of a plumber from Plympton". By buying his books, his fans (or dupes) made it possible for Hoskin to write new books within the same fanciful framework of Eastern mysticism for the rest of his life and earn enough money from it to put bread on the table. Russell lists 18 books by Rampa. I bought some of them myself back in the day, so I suppose I'm guilty of contributing to the continuation of the hoax, but I don't think I ever really believed that Rampa had any special or "secret" wisdom to convey. I was not one of those who wrote letters to "Rampa" at an address in Canada and asked for spiritual advice, as many people did. Today I only remember that some parts of his books were quite fascinating. There was something tantalizing about hidden, mysterious caves under the Potala palace high up there in the highest mountains... And who wouldn't like to learn to levitate?

This no-nonsense, fair-minded biography (which takes up the main part of the book) includes many black and white photos of Hoskin, both from the days when he was first exposed as a false lama, and from his later life in Canada. The photos are invaluable snapshots from his life and make him come alive. A man of mystery is transformed into a man next door.

My feeling about the whole story is that the success of Hoskin's first book made him a kind of prisoner of the fictitious T. Lobsang Rampa. It was a hoax that grew out of hand. So he had to spend the rest of his life defending himself and his books, which he wrote for a living. And when he discovered that he actually could live that way, he just kept on writing. It was morally reprehensible to spread lies as truth, of course, but he wasn't much worse than thousands of other fake mediums or false gurus. It has been said that many false mediums are quite sad persons, maybe because fooling others about serious matters (such as life after death) may feel as a burden in the long run. It takes its toll to keep up the charade. Russell indicates that Hoskin also seemed to become a sad person. Maybe for the same reasons?

From the book: Here is a little of what TV producer John Irwin had to say about a meeting with Hoskin: "He seemed to be a gentleman, but harmelss and lonely and completely lost in the fantastic role he had set himself. He was a sad man and, while I am sure he has no magic powers or strange knowledge, if he did write this book he has remarkable powers of imagination."

Russell mentions several books about Tibet and mysticism that were published before "The Third Eye", books that Hoskin may well have used as inspiration or lifted material from. He also thinks that the roots of some of the Rampa fantasies may go all the way back to Madame Blavatsky and her fantastical "Secret Masters" in the Himalayas. I'm convinced that he is right.

For me Rampa and his books belong to the 1970s, when I was flabbergasted by most things paranormal, in company with books by Erich von Däniken and ancient astronauts, Charles Berlitz and the Bermuda Triangle, Uri Geller, Colin Wilson, J. Allen Hynek, UFOs, telepathy, poltergeists, Nessie, Bigfoot, etc. It was fascinating to grow up with all that paranormal stuff available. I always sought proof. No proof ever came. Today I don't believe in any of it. I'm much more inclined to see the funny side of it. I could mention crop circles. The story or Rampa and his inventions is also partly farcical.

In the early 80s, as my cynicism (and scepticism) grew in the zeitgeist of stark, dark urban realism, Genesis P-Orridge entered the picture, announcing that the band Psychic TV had organized their own "church" called Thee Temple ov Psychic Youth (TOPY). It had to be ironical, and apparently it was, in the beginning. A kind of fan club organized as a church. But it later developed into a cult with Genesis as allmighty leader and with practices that reminds me of Charles Manson's "The Family". This is the subject of the last essay in this book. Personally, I jumped off the Psychic TV bandwagon in the early 80s. I would rather listen to TVP than PTV. I only had their first album. So, having followed them up to a point but not beyond, most of Russell's information about Genesis P-Orridge's darker dark side was new to me. The story is too complicated to sum up in this short review, so I will quote Russell instead:

"P-Orridge claimed he wanted to follow Burroughs and 'smash the control machine', but rather than destroy the control machine, he seems to have been more interested in creating one of his own."

And a little furher on:

"Like other would-be cult leaders before him, P-Orridge was a showman, courting controversy and manipulating everyone around him. Bad behaviour was both very real and an act; he may have claimed his poses were ironic, but many took him very seriously. For a while he wielded power as the leader of a cult, and perhaps it is for the best that he dismantled TOPY before he was able to do any more damage."

Between Rampa and P-Orridge we find two other essays. The first is about Russell's personal experience with members of an African church called The Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, a church I had never heard of, with a leader, a veritably incarnated God/Christ with the exotic name Olumba Olumba Obu. Russell's focus is on how a millenarian church (or cult) reacts when their prophecy of apocalypse fails and how the followers react when their leader's god-like or immortal status is questioned or shown to be false. A certain befuddled vagueness of response is here clearly delineated. I didn't find this essay as interesting as the biography of Rampa or the revelations about Genesis.

In the other essay in the middle of the book Russell takes a look at how the Church of Scientology recruits new members. They use a spurious and highly unscientific test they once gave the impressive name "the Oxford Capacity Analysis". Having been used ever since the 1950s the test seems to work very well to bring new victims into the fold.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in strange beliefs, hoaxes, cults and sects. Here is much information gathered, presented in a very readable form in Russell's crisp and clear language. Not a word is wasted. In the book's "Conclusion" Russell tries to answer some of the bigger questions, for instance why people tend to keep to their faith even when the basic premises have been proven false or after the leader has been demasked as a charlatan. To avoid spoilers I will not sum up all his conclusions here but only cite this paragraph: "It takes bravery when confronted with the idea that you might be wrong, or have been misled, to dispassionately consider the evidence. It takes a great strength of character to recognise and admit any error, and even more courage to walk away from a belief system if it has been an important part of your life."

As far as I know this book contains the first serious biography of Hoskin/Rampa in English. For me, having been curious about that man for many years, it was a real treat. Because of that I regard this as a valuable contribution to a field of knowledge I call "hoaxology". On my bookshelf I will place it between H. Louis Fader's "The Issa Tale That Will Not Die: Nicholas Notovitch and His Fraudulent Gospel" (2003) and Martin Gardner's "Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery" (1995). Or perhaps between Dr. Christoper Evans' "Cults of Unreason" (1973) and Egon Larsen's "Strange Sects and Cults: A Study of Their Origins and Influence" (1972). show less

R.B. Russell's main job is helmsman for Tartarus Press, but he is also involved in art, music, and fortunately for us writing short stories. This little book from PS Publishing in the UK is a real treat. Rather than horror these are better described as strange or eerie stories.

There is not a stinker in the entire thing. These are best savored slowly but nevertheless I found myself just racing through the book I enjoyed them so much.

Russell's horror is not the horror of Stephen King or show more Richard Laymon; not the horror of mayhem and grue. The stories are no less disturbing but more in the quiet way of reality abruptly twisting; think of a touch of surrealism coming into your day. The author's prose is literate and interesting. This is the way M.R. James would write strange stories if he were alive today.

You couldn't do better than to read these by firelight this winter season. show less

Essential guide to those that are scrubbing the shop shelves and garage sales for priceless gems dear auntie left behind but the current owners think of as so much dusty ink and paper. Also needed if you want to go toe to toe in the online book auction business.

I hardly feel I should shelve it as read, except I've browsed through it enough times to despair about too little time and too little money. I've also used it to make me feel better by seeing what happens to value when you treated show more your books so badly in your wild, wild, youth.

Now you can get it on your Kindle or phone and carry it about as you look for those Antiques Roadshow bargains.

Keep the calculator around if you don't live in the UK because all the prices are in pounds and when you have to make that last 15-second bid on eBay you don't want to be figuring the exchange rates. show less

Nice little novella packaged in the usual elegant style by Ex Occidente. Two complaints: it wasn't error free: "fell" for "feel" and "were" for "where." Inexcusable in a book that almost purports to be handmade and is this expensive and has so few pages. There was also a lithographic error that left a blank spot in the middle of each of the even pages. A sort of fading of the letters. Again, inexcusable. If you are going to market the book as art object it needs to be flawless, after all you show more wouldn't buy a numbered art print if it had a spot on it or a deletion.

On to the story itself, nice little strange tale by Mr. Russell of Tartarus Press fame. Really nothing supernatural going on here but a trio of very seriously disturbed characters addled by ennui. Lucian is the protagonist, a boy torn by two older "friends" into a place he doesn't want to be that makes him incapable of ever going back to who he was. There's a Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolff? vibe to it with Lucian caught in the middle. Miranda and Gerald are only capable of connecting with pain and loss. The fatal consequences for these tired of life individuals is almost inevitable.

Like a Shakespeare play, the weather takes a role in mirroring what is going on in the "action" so to speak.

Nary a whit of supernatural but great fun and a marvelous ending that I didn't expect but should have. Isn't that always how it is with mysteries? show less