The dark history of the Necronomicon—one of the world's most feared and fascinating books—told by the one man who saw it all...and lived to tell the tale.

The Necronomicon is one of the most controversial books ever published. The master of Gothic suspense, H.P. Lovecraft, wrote about a mystical and dreaded grimoire, known as the Necronomicon—an ancient text written by an Arab that, if it were to fall into the wrong hands, could have disastrous consequences. But no one thought the Necronomicon had any basis in the world outside of Lovecraft's fiction. Until...

Simon was a young man drawn to the mysterious world of the occult through his association with several Eastern Orthodox religions and his friendship with the owner of an occult bookstore in Brooklyn. In 1972 he stumbled upon a stolen text in a friend's apartment, unaware that what he held in his hands was the real Necronomicon—something long thought to be a creation of Lovecraft's brilliant mind and deft pen. After an arduous translation, done in the utmost secrecy (since the tome was in fact stolen), Simon and his close circle of friends unveiled the now-infamous grimoire to a clamoring public.

In Dead Names, Simon tells the amazing true story that surrounds the Necronomicon. From the main players' humble beginnings in the pageantry-filled and secret world of Eastern Orthodox religion, to the accidental discovery of the Necronomicon, to the Son of Sam murders, the JFK assassination, the brilliant William S. Burroughs, and the eventual suspicious deaths of almost everyone involved with the grimoire, this book is an enthralling account of a book steeped in legend, lies, and murder.

Simon is a student of magic, occultism, and religion since the mid-1960s and the editor of the Necronomicon, Simon was a frequent lecturer for the famed Warlock Shop in Brooklyn and the Magickal Childe Bookstore in Manhattan for more than ten years before his sudden disappearance in 1984, speaking on topics as diverse as religion and politics, occultism and fascism, ceremonial magic, demonolatry, the Tarot, the Qabala, and Asian occult systems. He also conducted private classes for the New York City OTO during this period, with a focus on Enochian magic, "Owandering bishops," and Afro-Caribbean occult beliefs. An ordained priest of an Eastern Orthodox church, Simon has appeared on television and radio discussing such topics as exorcism, satanism, and Nazism. The media events he organized in the 1970s and 1980s -- with rock bands, ritual performances, and celebrity appearances -- helped to promote the "occult renaissance" in New York City. After decades of study in European, Asian, and Latin American cult centers, this book marks his first public appearance in more than twenty years.