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Qhe!: The Taming Power WW (pseudonym of William Bloom) (1974, Mayflower)


In marrying the revolutionary charisma of Che Guevara with the transcendental appeal of the mystic East, the Qhe! series marked a semi-serious attempt by a commercial publisher to drag in a younger generation of readers. Accredited to the mysteriousWW, the author was actually WilliamBloom, a former International Times publisher and the editor of MacMillan’s Open Gate youth imprint. In spite of the author’s hipster credentials and his hero’s ability to combine hippy meanderings with action adventure, Qhe! only made it through four adventures before retiring to his mountain hall. Bloom’s writing career appears to have taken a


nosedive thereafter with him eventually remerging from extensive psychotherapy and ritual work to compose NewAge texts and lecture at Findhorn.


Despite Bloom’s background being a million miles away from that of your average hack writer of the time, his prose and general plot is for themost part prettymuch what you would expect in an action adventure thriller. Tough guy slaughters enemies in a 100 gratuitous ways. Tough guy outmanoeuvres secret government agents. Tough guy fucks his way out of trouble. Tough guy wins the day against impossible odds, etc, etc.


Where Qhe! does differ in its approach is its immersion in counter cultural clichés concerning magik and lost kingdoms, as well as in its unabashedly leftward tilt. Very few thrillers of the time (or currently for that matter) have a tantric hero whose mission is to steal weapons of mass destruction in order to force power-crazy governments of all stripes to disarm. Usually the hero is doing just the opposite, and in turning the formula upside down Qhe! is a worthwhile read. The plot developments in which the inscrutable hero conquers the power of LSD, enters various realms of the cosmos, leads anti- war demonstrations and performs occult rituals whilst explaining the principles of numeracy are of course worth the cost of entry alone.


“‘You are a fool then and leave me no choice,’ Mazvanov said bitterly. ‘But nevertheless, I will tell you what I am going to do with your already suffering body and perhaps after I have told you will change your mind.’ He produced a syringe and two phials from his pocket. ‘This is a recipe of my own making. After you have been injected, you will be placed in airtight steel coffin, in which you will be able to see nothing, hear nothing and feel nothing. The coffin will then be lowered into a tank of water and you will lose all sensation of weight – in fact you will lose all sensation…’


‘Like a circus’ said Qhe.


‘Yes my friend just like a circus. If,’ he shrugged, ‘it were not for these drugs. And it is, I am afraid, a combination that will wreck your excellent mind. In this phial, we have a concentrate of drynamil amphetamine – a drug that will give your muscles and body a total speed rush of energy, about which you will be able to do nothing in your coffin like chamber. An impressive recipe don’t you think?’ ‘Haute cuisine’ Qhe agreed. ‘And the treat in your other phial?’


‘You still laugh, your Majesty’ Mazvanov said sadly. ‘I assure you truly, this is not the time. And in this other little bottle, a sufficient dose of LSD-25, which,’ he shrugged ‘will increase your every thought, emotion and feeling a million times. Surely now you will change your mind?’” (pages 109)


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