by Mary Jane Fenex and Matthew Rick

Ken Kesey's sitting at a table with a stack of books beside him, and a bag of markers, pens, and rubber stamps to assist him in the project of autographing copies of Sailor Song and The Sea Lion, his two most recent works. To his side is a blonde haired boy named Lutien who is helping Kesey on the project. The stamp in his hand is done in the style of Northwest Indian art.

"It's like this frog is appearing out of the fog..." Kesey is telling the child. "This is a fog frog." Introductions are made and then he resumes decorating copies of his books. "Go ahead. I'm ready."

Matthew Rick: Of the pieces you've done, do you have a particular favorite?

Ken Kesey: "Tricker the Squirrel" I think is the best piece I ever wrote. It's intricate and well wrought. The best long piece is Sometimes A Great Notion. I'll never come up with a better book.

by Matthew Rick

Once upon a time a young man of American
background thought he had discovered the Great
Secret, the Skeleton Key to the Cosmos, the Absolute
Answer to the Age Old Question asked by every
Wizard, and Alchemist and Mystic that ever peered
curiously into the Perplexing Heavens, by every
Doctor and Scientist and Explorer that ever wondered
about the Winding Ways of this world, by every
Philosopher and Holyman and Politician that ever
listened for the Mysterious Song beneath the beat of
the Human Heart.... the answer to "What Makes It All Go?"1.

Contemporary author, psychedelic pioneer or "beatnik in lumberjack country", Ken Kesey is an American writer and cultural figure who defies definition. He sprung onto the literary landscape in 1962 with an instant classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, followed it two years later with the towering masterpiece Sometimes A Great Notion, and then abandoned novel writing for 28 years to host a series of zany pranks and intrepid trips, interspersed with shorter written works at irregular intervals. The process of evaluating his life and work is, therefore, at least as erratic and whimsical as the man himself.