Sex and Rockets

December 15, 1999
Jack Parsons' resumewould fill a book. Robert Anton Wilson's introduction to Carter's biography calls Parsons a scientist, occultist, political dissident, and "simple damned eejit." As John Parsons, he was a Cal Tech^-trained rocket scientist; as John Whiteside Parsons, a libertarian ideologue; as Jack Parsons, an occultist. He was Marvel Whiteside Parsons to Mom and Dad. The rocket engineer was probably inspired by the intellectual ferment of pulp sf. The other identities Parsons spun out of his many interests and abilities. A devotee of satanist Aleister Crowley, he was important in promulgating the Beast's (i.e., Crowley's) New Aeon, which is the most interesting and titillating aspect of Parsons' story. Replete with zany twists and turns: plenty of dirt on the Masons, the Templars, and their playmates: and turn-ons too numerous to list, Carter's entertaining book is also an introduction to the occult and several aspects of New Age thought and writing. Parsons may be obscure, but he cut a figure that gives Harry Potter^-banners something real to fear. ((Reviewed December 15, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)