Sacred Literature and Theater > The Happenine Book > The Killers

Publication of Adi Da's "The Killers"

During the latter years of His human lifetime, Adi Da called for His Orpheum Trilogy to be published by a reputable publisher other than Adidam's own Dawn Horse Press, in order to garner the proper recognition for His Literary Work, and the widest possible distribution.

Guided by Adi Da's Instructions, a number of devotees professionally associated with the literary world have been working to make that happen for several years now. In the last two years, they focused their attention on getting excerpts from the Orpheum published in literary magazines. This is a common way for authors to raise their profile in the literary community, and can be a benefit in ultimately interesting a publisher in a full-length work.

These efforts have finally met with success! "The Killers" is a chapter in The Happenine Book, and also the first literary work ever written by Adi Da. It appeared in the August 28, 2014 issue of the literary magazine MAKE — making this the first time an excerpt from The Orpheum has ever been published in a wider sphere than Adidam.

photographer: Bill Hogan, Chicago Tribune

The piece was illustrated by a haunting photograph taken by Adi Da in the woods near Tat Sundaram.

Photo: Adi Da Samraj, March 28, 2000 (© 2014 ASA)
click on image for enlargement

MAKE magazine is a small but high-quality, biannual literary publication based in Chicago. You can get a sense for the magazine from these reviews:

The difficulty in describing MAKE to an unfamiliar reader comes in that it isn’t just one thing—in fact, it is so many different styles and artistic approaches rolled into one magazine that, to the reader, it provides a pleasing sense of writing-whiplash. A veritable grab bag of a literary magazine, MAKE includes non-fiction, fiction, poetry, interviews, reviews, novel and memoir excerpts, and art portfolios. Published by MAKE Literary Productions, NFP and based out of Chicago, the contents of this issue are experimental and traditional, strange and familiar, complicated and straightforward. . . It seems as though MAKE is truly the literary magazine that has something for everyone.

Cortney Philips
Review of MAKE, Winter 2011, The Review Review

The Fall/Winter 2010-11 issue of MAKE is dedicated to the spirit of play. And the work presented within is most definitely playful – both in its layout and its content. But don't assume that because its framework is built around play that it must also be somehow unsophisticated or impetuous. As the editors point out at the start, "the seemingly lighthearted subthemes are all tempered by profound solemnity." MAKE explores the youthful pastime of play, but in the end offers up very grown-up compilation of literary work.

Jennifer Vande Zande
Review of MAKE, Fall/Winter 2010-11, New Pages

MAKE has published a number of important writers over the years, and the editors are delighted to be publishing Adi Da's work. This is a small but important first step in the larger project of publishing The Orpheum.

"The Killers" is an ideal piece to lead with, as it was Adi Da's first work of fiction (and, indeed, His earliest writing of any kind), written in 1962 when He was at Stanford University.

Adi Da at Stanford

It was also the first time that the character Raymond Darling appeared in His writings, and the story artfully foreshadows some of the events and settings of The Mummery Book.

They. Possessed. Rag dolls, paper cuts leaping without poise, screaming, punching one another as they ran free into the forest. In the early of July. Why they rose so early in the morning? They rose as if transfigured by an inner dawn. Then to act some guilty progress through the mist and trick the dawn of summer half asleep — of summer half at play who never counted on deception in the heat, but blew light bubbles at the water’s edge, and churned the wheezing sun at ease until the buckless poachers with their picks and fire come to rest their packs and grief, like axe heads in the ice, to crack the brief somnambulance of summer tales that walk beneath the winter’s cold and droning sleep.

from "The Killers", by Adi Da Samraj

The August 28, 2014 issue of MAKE magazine (Issue #15, entitled Misfits) is now available. It has a limited print run, and may become a collector's item.

You can order it here. (Note: the "Buy" button on the issue #15 page does not work at the time we are writing this, but the order link we've provided here does work.)

MAKE Issue #15 cover by David Alvarado

click on image for enlargement