The Lost Treasure of Eris, inside page. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale.The Lost Treasure of Eris, cover page. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale.The Lost Treasure of Eris, back page. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale. Thanks to Alfred Vitale for sharing these scans of a rare and for the most part unknown Discordian tract entitled The Lost Treasure of Eris: Or How Eris Found Me, and What She Did to Me, When She Found Me !?! published by KALLISTI Productions in 1987 with an introduction by Episcopos BOB Invisibilus Invinsicilus—which seems like an appropriate name for someone introducing a Discordian book due to the fact that darn near ⅓ of the first wave of Discordians were named Bob—and trust me that’s no exaggeration. This early Discordian Bob Cabal included Wilson, Shea, McElroy, Yeager, Newport (and I’m probably forgetting 2 or 3)—not to mention Roger Lovin, whose middle name was Robert. (Bob Dobbs is another story.)
The Lost Treasure of Eris also happens to be dedicated to a number of Bobs—including the aforementioned Wilson and Shea—not to mention a certain someone named Banner. In this case, I assume Episcopos BOB was referring to Bob Banner, former editor and publisher of the late, great conspiracy magazine Critique that during the course of its run would occasionally feature articles by RAW.
The Illuminoids and Critique magazine. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Here’s an excerpt from Jesse Walker’s The United States of Paranoia (Amazon) that talks about Bob Banner and Critique.
The Lost Treasure of Eris dedication page also acknowledges Neil Wilgus, author of The Illuminoids, another must-have book for one’s Illuminati Discordian-library back in the day when the Eye in the Pyramid had suddenly become all the rage.
Den of Discordian Iniquity: Magickal Childe Bookstore, late 1980s.Alfred informs me that he discovered The Lost Treasure of Eris at the Magickal Childe book store in NYC in the 1980s. If memory serves me correctly, this is where Mark Philip Steele (creator of the Illuminatus! comix) told me he came across a copy of the ultra rare Revisionist Edition of the Principia Discordia (circa ’76.)
So it appears that the Magickal Childe had an affinity for Discordian obscurities such as these.
Alfred and I would like to track down the origins of this strange relic—The Lost Treasure of Eris—that was supposedly first published 10 years or so before its ’87 re-publication. So if you have any info please let us know!
2 replies on “An Amazing Discordian Discovery: The Lost Treasure of Eris”
Priceless !
I’ve been looking for a copy of “The Lost Treasure of Eris” for decades, after I saw a listing for it in a Loompanics catalogue back in the mid to late 1990s. Alas, the book was out of print when I tried to buy it.
I recall the catalogue listed this book’s author as Victor Koman, a sci-fi and fantasy author and Libertarian. I was never able to confirm this was accurate.
Koman wrote a strange book, “The Jehovah Contract,” winner of a Prometheus Award, in which an assassin is hired to kill God. At some point in the novel, which I only vaguely recall, the protagonist has some sort of psychedelic like experience, and yells, “Fnord!” So the author did, at least, have knowledge of Discordianism.
2 replies on “An Amazing Discordian Discovery: The Lost Treasure of Eris”
Priceless !
I’ve been looking for a copy of “The Lost Treasure of Eris” for decades, after I saw a listing for it in a Loompanics catalogue back in the mid to late 1990s. Alas, the book was out of print when I tried to buy it.
I recall the catalogue listed this book’s author as Victor Koman, a sci-fi and fantasy author and Libertarian. I was never able to confirm this was accurate.
Koman wrote a strange book, “The Jehovah Contract,” winner of a Prometheus Award, in which an assassin is hired to kill God. At some point in the novel, which I only vaguely recall, the protagonist has some sort of psychedelic like experience, and yells, “Fnord!” So the author did, at least, have knowledge of Discordianism.