As always, a mountain of thanks to our intrepid cover designer from amoeba, Scott McPherson. Scott didn’t want any special recognition for this, but I can’t resist noting that he designed a wonderful interpretation of Ishtar from the ancient Burney Relief, a Mesopotamian terra-cotta plaque, circa 1750-1800 BCE. He used that design for the cover of the new edition, but we couldn’t resist making it a part of the book’s interior design as well.
Ishtar Rising
Why the Goddess Went to Hell and
What to Expect Now That She’s Returning
by Robert Anton Wilson
Foreword by
Grant Morrison
Available in eBook and Print Editions!
The link above goes to Amazon. Scroll to bottom of page to view other buying options.
“And herein lies both Wilson’s typically mischievous nature and serious intent — in its original, weaponized form, the book that became Ishtar Rising is nothing less than a mytho-feminist screed masquerading as an antique stroke book; a brilliant, compact summary of matrist attitudes, their cruel demotion and degradation, their struggle for survival, and their hoped-for triumphant restoration. Ishtar is a book of revealing — the undressing of the Goddess as she descends into the Underworld, where, shorn of the accoutrements of Divinity, she must confront her True Naked Being to survive the ordeal. It speaks also of the return of the repressed. The journey of the now-enlightened Goddess back from the murk and mysteries of the Nether World to Get Some Shit Tidied Up. It speaks from its rear-view mirror times of a still-overdue resurgence of connectivity, kindness, sex-positivity, respect for Nature and for Life. It wonders what a world ruled by the Goddess would look like, in contrast to those Dark Satanic Mills and centuries of slaughter presided over by an unforgiving God.”
– Grant Morrison, from his Foreword to Ishtar Rising
“One of the leading thinkers of the modern age.”
– Barbara Marx Hubbard
“A 21st Century Renaissance Man … funny, wise and optimistic … the Lenny Bruce of philosophers.”
– Denver Post
“A dazzling barker hawking tickets to the most thrilling tilt-a-whirls and daring loop-o-planes on the midway of higher consciousness.”
– Tom Robbins
Here’s the full cover of the print edition designed by amoeba.
A Note From Hilaritas Press:
Decisions about how to put together the new Hilaritas Press edition of Ishtar Rising presented us with an array of issues that arise from the Book’s historical iterations. 
The 1974 Playboy Press edition, The Book of the Breast, a commissioned work from the magazine, had photographs interspersed throughout the text with captions written by Bob that followed the written narrative.
When Bob regained the rights to the book from Playboy Press in the mid 1980’s, he decided to republish it with the text largely as originally written, but with a new title and a new foreword. This new edition was published through a small publishing house, New Falcon Publications. The book that emerged in 1989 (sadly filled with typos), was quite different from the original. The New Falcon edition had inserted new photos and only SOME of the original photos, and all the photographs were clumped together in the center of the book, with no photo captions. We can only surmise that the effort of obtaining legal rights to all of the original photographs was deemed either too expensive or too daunting, as the New Falcon photo choices were quite different from the original. We also are guessing that if you couldn’t get all the original photos, then entering Bob’s original photo captions on just some of the images probably did not make sense.
In the new Hilaritas Press edition of Ishtar Rising, we have attempted to honor Bob’s original guidelines, and recreate the Playboy layout as much as possible. We took the time, effort and considerable expense of tracking down and gaining rights to as many of the original photos as possible. For those photos for which we could not locate permissions, we found suitable substitutions that worked with Bob’s photo captions. In many cases, when finding images that Playboy used, we were able to obtain the same image but at a much higher quality. Because of improvements in digital processing and printing, we can not only offer superior graphics, but also an Ishtar Rising in full color. We hope you enjoy the result!
Amor et Pasta Volans
Hilaritas Press Partners, Rasa and Christina
OTHER BUYING OPTIONS:
The Buy button on this page goes to Amazon, but Hilaritas Press books are also available at other online retailers, like Barnes & Noble. Our eBooks are available as Kindle editions, but also in other ePub formats (Nook, Kobo, etc). You can also buy Hilaritas Press books through bookshop.org where you can support your favorite local bookstore. Even if you don’t buy at Amazon, the customer reviews are worth a view. Please consider leaving your own review there!
