Omnicide II: Mania, Doom, and the Future-in-Deception

Omnicide II: Mania, Doom, and the Future-in-Deception

Jason Bahbak Mohaghegh

July 2023
Urbanomic/Sequence
Paperback 115x175mm, 316pp.
ISBN 978-1-7336281-6-7

Desire moves from curiosity to fascination to obsession to mania. Mania focuses on its object-objective, consigning the rest to nothingness. At the limit man releases extraordinary potentialities and also turns destructive and self-destructive. Mohaghegh does not aim to bring inner subjective structures to light; instead he identifies the objects of curiosity-obsession-mania. He explores explosions, demons, fire, books, blackness, drowning, headlessness, sleeplessness, blindness, wind, silence, nakedness, idols, scars, caves, imperfection, pain, blood, weeping, ruins, claws, deserts and many more.

 —Alphonso Lingis

In a new work in which conceptual elaboration, storytelling, and poetics are fused in the infernal heat of the desert, the cycle of Omnicide is closed with a philosophy of doom, deception, and the game, plunging headlong into the inevitable, the fatal, and the infinite.

A series of controlled combustions fuelled by fragments drawn from the poetry and literature of the Middle-East, Omnicide II introduces us to a new cast of manic visionaries, from the Selemaniac to the Crystallomaniac, the Bibliomaniac to the Aeromaniac. In his relentless cataloguing of the myriad figures and portents of omnicidal doom, Jason Bahbak Mohaghegh resumes the offensive of those writers, artists, and thinkers for whom the fiercest creative incandescence is only kindled in the shadow of certain doom.

Amid war-cries and lullabies, mages, wolves and pelicans, sabres and crystals, drones and soul-stealers, in settings ranging from the opium den to the Qatari luxury hotels, with his unique style and methodology, his dizzying breadth of references, and his implacable will to follow the most deranging lines of thought and evoke the most startling images, Mohaghegh draws the reader into territories disturbing and unfamiliar, atmospheres delicate and grotesque, moods morbid yet life-affirming, in a book that evokes fever and exudes dead calm.

The utterly absorbing music of this writing both lulls and disquiets—a contemporary Necronomicon, an inexhaustible treasury of recipes for disaster, catastrophe, ruination and destruction, all in the name of the most intense creation.

CONTENTS

Mania Tabula

Foreword: In Praise of Perpetual Imminence by Robin Mackay

Introduction: Book of the Eleventh Hour (Philosophy of Doom)

Part 2
Selamania (Light Flashes)
Neuromania (Nerves)
Tremomania (Trembling)
Ataxomania (Disorder)
Eruptiomania (Explosions)

Part 3
Uranomania (Heaven, Divinity)
Vatomania (Premonitions, Prophecies, Prophetic Figures)
Apeiromania (Infinity)
Zeusomania (Fate)
Hademania / Stygiomania (Hell)
Daimonomania (Demons)

Part 4
Pyromania (Fire)
Fumimania / Capnomania (Smoke)
Pyrexiomania (Fever)
Frigomania / Cheimatomania (Coldness)
Crystallomania (Crystals)

Part 6
Graphomania (Writing)
Linguomania (Language)
Bibliomania (Books)

Part 7
Chromatomania (Colour)
Leukomania (Whiteness)
Melanomania (Blackness)

Part 8
Ombromania / Pluviomania (Rain)
Antlomania (Floods)
Thalassomania (Oceans)
Bathymania (Deep Water)
Aquamania (Drowning) / Kymomania (Waves)
Ablutomania (Washing, Bathing)

Part 9
Dysmorphomania (Physical Deformity)
Decapomania (Headlessness)
Teratomania (Monstrosity) 

Part 10
Eremiomania (Stillness)
Clinomania (Staying Bedridden)
Somnemania (Sleep)
Insomnemania (Sleeplessness)

Part 11
Typhlomania (Blindness)
Achluomania (Darkness)

Part 12
Aeromania (Air)
Animania (Soul)
Respiromania (Breath)
Anemomania (Winds, Drafts)
Etheromania (Sky)
Nephomania (Clouds)
Aviomania (Flight)
Basimania (Falling) / Trypomania (Holes)

Part 13
Phonomania / Acousticomania (Sounds, Voices, Noise)
Questiomania / Erotetomania (Questions)
Silentomania (Silence) 

Part 14
Gymnomania (Nakedness)
Ommatomania (Sight, Eyes)
Faciemania (Faces)
Iconomania (Images, Portraits, Icons)
Idolomania (Idols)

Interlude: Book of the Opium Den (Philosophy of Smoke)

Part 15
Praecidomania (Mutilation)
Tomomania (Surgical Operations)
Stauromania (Crucifixion)
Xyromania (Razors, Knives)
Trypanomania (Needles)
Cicatromania (Scars)

Part 16
Agromania (Open Spaces, Holes, Abysses)
Clithromania (Confined Spaces, Caves) / Claustromania (Enclosure)
Anginomania (Extreme Tightness) 

Part 17
Atelomania (Imperfection)
Peccatomania (Sins, Crimes)
Subteromania (Undergrounds)

Part 18
Algomania (Pain)
Pathomania (Disease)
Molysmomania (Contamination)
Narcomania (Drugs)
Iomania (Poison)

Part 19
Necromania (Death)
Thanatomania (Death-Magic)
Coimetromania (Cemeteries)
Klaiomania (Weeping)

Part 21
Choreomania (Dancing)
Melomania (Music)

Part 22
Dendromania (Forests, Branches)
Nebulamania (Fog, Mist)
Brontomania (Storm, Thunder, Lightning)
Spectromania (Ghosts) 

Interlude: Book of Poor Games (Philosophy of Play)

Part 23
Chronomania (Time)
Atemania (Ruins)
Petramania (Ancient Monuments) / Geomania (Stones)
Osmomania (Smells, Odours) 

Part 24
Politicomania (Power Structures)
Misomania (Hatred)
Haematomania (Blood)
Phobomania (Fear)
Polemomania (War)

Part 25
Geumomania (Taste, The Mouth)
Aceromania (Sour Things, Bitterness)
Limomania (Hunger, Thirst)
Geliomania (Laughter)
Zoomania (Animality)

Part 26
Haphemania / Chiraptomania (Touch)
Dermatomania (Skin)
Amychomania (Claws, Fangs, Horns)
Mechanomania (Machines)
Ergomania (Work)

Part 27
Nihilomania (Nothingness)
Eremomania (The Desert)
Taphemania (Being Buried Alive)
Athazagoramania (Forgetting)

Epilogue: Book of the Liar (Philosophy of Deception)

Select Bibliography

Omnicide II: Philosophy of Doom with Jason Bahbak Mohaghegh
Acid Horizon podcast

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Exaltations in the Dead of Night with Jason Bahbak Mohaghegh
Wake Island podcast

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On Literature and Mania
by Javier Padilla

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