(no subject)

[flemmings]

Aaronovitch, well-read packrat that he is, probably knows all about Jack Parsons, rocket scientist and would-be magician, but I just learned about him. "Parsons came to believe in the reality of magic— or magick in Thelemic terms— as a force that could be explained through quantum physics." Granted Newtonian magic is a far more rational starting point than the unbelievable mishmash Crowley came up with, I think we've found the prototype of David Mellenby.

Comments

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

Huh. Also looks and sounds like prototype of Howard Stark (at least in Marvel Cinematic Universe). Except replace Thelemite with founding SHIELD.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I know not Howard Stark but googling suggests magic doesn't come into it that much. The thing about Mellenby was that he's specifically said to have been attempting to explain magic through quantum theory.

(Mellenby is one of those one-line throwaway names in vol 1 that turn out to be Terribly Important in later books. Is also said to have killed himself, like Parsons, but like Parsons maybe he was murdered or, unlike Parsons, maybe he never died at all etc etc etc)

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

I have finally picked up a copy of Rivers of London, so I may eventually catch up on all these interesting characters.