The zdark Side of Avalon Pagan Pedophiles

The Last Closet: The Dark Side of Avalon by Moira Greyland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I remember the impact Marion Zimmer Bradley’s book made upon me. It was one of my favorites and the only one of her books that I truly liked. This retelling of king Authrur has included elements of incest, homosexuality and forbidden loves. Not like Arthur did not have a romance with his sister in the original or that Lancelot did not fall for Guenivere. There was no homosexuality in the original, but if it were true all that stuff would be there.

Moira Greyland , a few years older than myself, lived through Hell. Being the daughter of Marion Zimmer Bradley is no cakewalk. Marion was abusive physically and sexually. Marion grew up on a farm near New York and her family was very abusive. Walter Breen, the husband and father, was an abandoned orphan.

The Boondoggle Affair happened at one of those Science Fiction conventions when it became known that Walter was molesting young boys. He would later meet Marion and they would settle down in Berkeley.

Moira and her two brothers grew up in a hippie / pagan version of Hell. Walter was a nusmatist or a coin expert. Very bright he was one of those types who was a little bit weird. He could not take care of himself and he had a penchant for young boys.

In the sixties he wrote a book called a Greek Love, where in he stated that homosexuality between boys and men was the norm. He also believed that young boys or girls for that matter should be able to choose on their own if they want sex with adults or other children. In Berkeley if one was not sexually liberated enough one was called a prude. According to Moira the parents wanted to raise her as a lesbian. Parents shunned things that made boys too masculine or women to feminine.

All the while growing up Moira was adware of how her father victimized young boys including her boyfriends. Moira herself was victimized by both her mother and father. The results of this lead to aa severe case of PTSD and a sojourn in a mental hospital.

For me this book was an eye opener. All along the way Pagans are coming up as perverts and child molesters. Kenny Klein was a most poignant example. Some example mentioned in her book mention Isaac Bonewitz who asked Marion if he could get sexual favors from Moira. Lewis Carrol used to photograph little girls naked.
It seems that strange attitudes regarding sex are not only tolerated in Pagan, Sci Fi and ren fair circuits but encouraged .


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