Antony Lopez - The Second Coming

[dem]

Antony Lopez - The Second Coming (New English Library, April 1975)

Jacket design: Antony Dominy

Blurb
The rumour was quickly spreading throughout the country - the second Messiah was coming. His disciples were everywhere already, preaching, converting, baptising. There were even members within the broadcasting stations, for messages flashed continuously on the screen THE END IS NOW - RENOUNCE THE FLESH, interspersed with the news that America was crumbling under the onslaught of earthquakes and floods. The apocalypse was nigh.
Only Sonny and a handful of others refused to join the general movement. They resisted the new era, only to learn that the new methods of persuasion were little different from the old - the firing squad, the cosh, and subliminal brainwashing. Under such conditions, even Sonny's resistance was weakening, and it seemed the new order, that denied freedom and the flesh, would prevail.
A frightening glimpse into a future that could so easily come about.

We first join Sonny Moon, a twenty-something stoned hippie, in his South London flat, falling asleep to the TV. The same news broadcast for over a week now. With American cities in ruins after a series of floods and earthquakes, the survivors have turned to rioting, race war and cannibalism. It's God's judgement on the Permissive Society. The Second Coming is here in the form of an Oriental ex-judo champion, and the only hope of salvation is to get yourself Processed and join The Family.

Mike Barabas, like most of Sonny's friends have already succumbed. In fact, Sonny can no longer call him 'Mike', it's Saul these days. Saul is rising through the ranks of The Family, and he's out to recruit those members of the public yet to be brainwashed into accepting God's Plan for the New Age. Sonny is number one on his list.

Sonny, raised a Catholic, never could accept the concept of Original Sin. He doesn't believe there is anything awful about having sex and if, God says there is, he doesn't like God much. He explains this to the Family representatives who, on instruction from Saul, call around for a motivational chat. It doesn't go well. Conceding that some people just won't accept God's unconditional love, one of the interchangeable ciphers warns him; "If you try to contact any of your friends in The Family there will be a violent reaction."

After this interview, Sonny is ranked among the "possessed" and therefore, in urgent need of subjugation for his own good. Fortunately, The Family are trained to use their weapons of love in such circumstances. Armed with revolvers and tons of ammo they set out in their campaign vans with the yin-yang logo's on the sides. Sonny's photo is emblazoned across posters, "Wanted For Conspiracy.' Saul leads the hunt.

Sonny, meanwhile has been taken in by Tim, a 62 year old gardener, who doesn't want anything to do with the "perfect people" and has managed to stay off their radar up until now. Tim puts him up in his cottage on the outskirts of Brixton, and even lets him customise his ID card.

After the likable Tim is murdered in cold blood while tending the weeds, Sonny decides his only hope is to give up and join The Family. His considerable knowledge of drugs helps him bypass the lie detector and sail through the Process with a perfect score - making him one of very few people to have attained Sainthood and, therefore, pretty much untouchable. Very soon he learns that his fellow Saint, a young black girl named Elixa, is as wary of The Family as he. They bide their time until, with the Second Coming imminent, they're chosen for a Peace Mission in America ....

If it sounds a bit weird up until now, once they get Stateside, Sonny turns into the Counter Culture's equivalent of Rambo ...

What to say! Well, it certainly lives up to that attention-grabbing cover, and those constant references to 'The Family' and 'The Process' have all kinds of (deliberate?) unpleasant connotations. Also, although it's another 128 pager, the print is bigger than we're used to, and, with a frenetic pace and nothing much by way of characterisation, i got through it in an hour. Neat chapter headings, too (Sodomy In America, Trigger Happy Perfect People, etc.).

[jimpennington]

and lurking inside are the nearest i've read to what can happen if you run a tape playback feedback routine as per the William Burroughs method.
btw: the auditing seesion dialogues are very real and scary.

[dem]

Dec 17, 2013 20:56:09 GMT jimpennington said:

and lurking inside are the nearest i've read to what can happen if you run a tape playback feedback routine as per the William Burroughs method.
btw: the auditing seesion dialogues are very real and scary.

Some of our 'sixties-'seventies veterans may be able to confirm or deny this, but i was once informed that a lot of Process literature was doing the rounds of the British Fantasy scene during this period, though I can't recall who was allegedly providing it. Typical of NEL under Peter Haining's editorship to publish a weird novel of topical interest!

Welcome, Jim, and thank you for posting. Hope you get something from your time with us.

[jimpennington]

This editor sounds interesting .... I might try and find out more.
Anthony Lopez also wrote a series of niche-pulp for NEL called "Hoods" - under the pseudonym Vincente Torrio - a superb made-up name if ever there was. The editor's idea I am told. Clearly a man of imagination.