Novelists interested in occultism

[Nefastos]

Yesterday I bought Umberto Eco's book The Cemetery of Prague, that seems to use occultistic themes like many other books of his. What other writers focusing occultism do you read, and what are their merits/downfalls?

Some other novelistis that border on occultism are Gustav Meyrink (author of Der Golem) and Edward Bulwer-Lytton (author of Zanoni). And then there is fiction written by occultists, as well; e.g. Helena Blavatsky's Nightmare Tales. Just this week I read for the first time Dion Fortune's novel The Secrets of Dr. John Taverner as a Finnish translation from a theosophical site. Many if not all of these are old enough to be legally available on-line.

Please make a recommendation, if you have some interesting pieces of occult fiction in mind.

[v-a]

I bought three months ago Huysmans Là-Bas. I have not started to read it, but by reviews i got idea it is more straightforward satanism than occultism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A0-Bas

[obnoxion]

Huysmans Là-Bas

A fine satanic classic.

[Necrosophiacos]

Dr. Nefastos
You probably find this interesting as well, the author is a lifelong practicing occultist and a friend.
Blessings of Death by Devlin Westbrook
Praise the Shadows By Devlin Westbrook
They are available here.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blessings-of-De ... 626&sr=8-1

[Wyrmfang]

Yesterday I bought Umberto Eco's book The Cemetery of Prague, that seems to use occultistic themes like many other books of his.

Eco is interesting, and actually his Foucault´s pendulum was one of the books that brought me to occultism. The ironic thing is that actually this book (as many of Eco´s other writings) was, as far as I know, meant to be understood as a refutation of occultism (a fact which I never noticed as a teenager when I didn´t know Eco´s background). At least Eco is a famous critic of parapsychology.

[Sothoth]

Gustav Meyrink has a novel "The Angel of the West Window" in which a practicioner of tantric occultism falls under a seductive spell of a goddess awakened in his previous lives.

[Nefastos]

Nefastos
You probably find this interesting as well, the author is a lifelong practicing occultist and a friend.
Blessings of Death by Devlin Westbrook
Praise the Shadows By Devlin Westbrook

Thanks! I'd love to check these out.

Dr.

Huh, thanks, but it seems my doctorate will be much delayed if I quit my university studies before reaching even a candidate's degree, as seems mighty probable right now

[Tlazoltecuhtli]

Herman Hesse. His works vibrate with spirituality and contain a lot of mystical teachings.

[Jiva]

Arthur C. Clarke is a fairly obvious candidate. Aside from 2001: A Space Odyssey, my favourite book of his is called Childhood's End as it deals with psychic abilities in a more direct manner than any other books of his I've read. A summary of the plot can be read on wikipedia with many aspects of the book aligning closely with occult philosophy e.g. stereotypical devils as psychopomps, a significant plot point being revealed by scientists messing around with an Ouija Board, humanity rapidly evolving mentally and so on. Essentially I believe Clarke was channelling a similar form of energy as Lovecraft without necessarily knowing it.

[Nefastos]

Right now I'm trying to read Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out. I have advanced to page 155/248, but the price is high: so terrible writing I haven't endured since The Da Vinci Code.

But I'm trying to wrestle with this, because it's interesting as a part of history of Western occultism. The book was written in 1934, and the main idea is that the author took Golden Dawn's & Crowley's formal teachings as real to the letter. E.g. all occultists are known by their grades, starting with Neophyte and ending with Ipsissimus, and these grades are hard spiritual facts of someone's power.