Sci-Fi and the 60s: William Gibson in 1967

The Prophet of Vancouver in an earlier incarnation. Despite the centrality of 2001: A Space Odyssey, we tend to forget the role sci-fi played in the Sixties counterculture. Perhaps because sci-fi came to the fore in the early 70s with the Glam movement and the wave of dystopian sci-fi cinema, and the stereotype of the back-to-nature flower child is the dominant meme pushed in the media.

But Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (whose lead character was inspired by Crowley in part) was a foundational text of the Aquarian Age, as were the Lord of the Rings novels and Dune. I'd go so far to say that Star Wars was the final testament of the Sixties, with Luke Skywalker (name lifted from Jack Kirby's "Mark Moonrider") as the young seeker, Obi Wan as the Alan Watts/Timothy Leary guru and Han Solo as Neal Cassady, driving the Millennium Falcon (a lightspeed take on Furthur) to the Death Star (think the march on the Pentagon).

More on this to come- keep an eye on The Secret Sun network...