John O'Loughlin first got the idea of writing a collection of dialogues in 1978 after reading the French philosopher Diderot, one of the outstanding practitioners of the genre, and the results, several weeks later, were four fairly lengthy philosophical dialogues, which enabled him to continue developing the dualistic theories begun the previous year (1977) and included in both the mainly essayistic 'Between Truth and Illusion' (which contains his first ever philosophical dialogue) and the comparatively more aphoristic 'The Illusory Truth'. Their subject-matter ranges from book collecting as an art and the morality of films to the influence of astrology on writers and retrospective perspectives on history, and although they tend, on the basis of didactic disquisition rather than mere conversation, to be a touch one-sided, they are at least broad enough to be of some interest to the general reader, as well as deep enough to appeal to the more philosophically inclined.

Dating from 1981, this collection of essays is thematically more homogeneous than anything previously written by John O'Loughlin in the genre and reflects a newly-acquired optimistic outlook on evolutionary progress as something that should culminate in a future paradise having nothing whatsoever to do with the cosmic inception of life. Art, literature, music, sex, gender, history, technology and religion are the principal themes under consideration in this volume, and they're generally treated in relation to the author's philosophy of evolution, which owes not a little, in its origins, to the estimable likes of Friedrich Nietzsche, Oswald Spengler, and Teilhard de Chardin. As usual for his writings of this period, 'The Way of Evolution' ends with a series of maxims which both summarize and encapsulate its overall philosophy.

Divided into three parts, of which the first is by far the longest, this philosophical sequel to 'Between Truth and Illusion' (1977), expands on the dualistic theories therein outlined, abandoning the more literary approach of its predecessor for a paradoxically aphoristic bias in which the author began to develop an almost existentialist awareness of the extent to which many so-called truths are founded upon illusory concepts and, to that extent, are not really 'true' at all but convenient fictions masking the brute reality of natural facts.

A collection of literary essays on a range of subjects, from books and music to meditation and environment, which date from 1979 at a period in the author's life characterized by the philosophical influence of Oswald Spengler.

A two-book volume of autobiographical/philosophical fiction comprised of the novels 'Changing Worlds' and 'Fixed Limits', both of which feature the character Michael Savage in a variety of roles and sitatuations as he resolves, in the first book, to abandon clerking for writing, and struggles, in the second book, to establish a literary persona in the face of numerous obstacles. Dating from 1976, this was John O'Loughlin's first major literary project, and it shows the influence of authors like Joyce, Miller, and Sartre on his fledgling search for literary identity.

A philosophic-cum-romantic novel based around an interview that backfires and results in various complications for both the interviewer and his magazine, which are not without ironic and humorous overtones which require some kind of paradoxical resolution.

A collection of short prose with philosophical and occult overtones that shows the influence of philosopher-of-history Oswald Spengler in its title piece, 'A Visit to Hell', as well as much interesting theorizing about the nature of mankind.

A deeply philosophical novel with romantic overtones that stretches the imagination towards both comic and tragic situations in which the principal characters find their friendship tested by the conflicting pressures of ambition and class.

This title signifies an attempt by John James O'Loughlin to return to basics in philosophy and understand the connections and indeed interrelations of antitheses, polarities, opposites, and other such neat philosophical categories in relation to the relativity of everyday life. It is not an express attempt to expound 'the Truth' but, rather, a modest undertaking on his part to comprehend the paradoxes of the world in which we happen to live, and seek to unveil some of the illusions and superstitions which make the pursuit of philosophical truth such a difficult not to say protracted task. Hopefully the result of this undertaking is a franker and maturer approach to those very paradoxes which were the inspiration for this work and which led to some of its most striking contentions. Therefore if 'Between Truth and Illusion' cannot, by dint of its paradoxical nature, lay claims to being the Truth, it can at least be seen as the basis for a more realistic appraisal of the terms by which the pursuit of philosophical truth is made possible.

A young religious writer named Timothy Byrne accepts an invitation from a certain Lord Handon, an aristocratic admirer of his work, to spend New Year's Eve in the company of a select gathering at Rothermore House, Handon's country retreat, and he winds-up first dancing and then falling in love with one of his fellow guests, who happens to be an opera singer. Much debate and festivity take place before Timothy discovers that, in conjunction with the other guests, the real motive for their presence there is to learn of and offer their services to the 'Voice Museum', an extraordinary project situated in London's Piccadilly which houses voice recordings of famous people in soundproofed booths where, for a small sum, the public can sample words of wisdom and/or folly at the touch of a button. Thus it is that Timothy agrees to allow his voice to be recorded for future use by the museum's principal director, Girish O'Donnell - as, of course, do each of the other guests, all of whom are either established or budding talents in the arts. Meanwhile Lord Handon has been attempting to conduct a low-key relationship with Sarah Field, the opera singer, though with little success, in view of her preference for Timothy and knowledge of the viscount's secret - a secret which has more than a little to do with the strange nature of his relations, necessarily sublimated, with women. Equally unsuccessful are Handon's attempts to subvert Timothy Byrne's spiritual standing as a self-styled guru through his daughter, Geraldine, though, unbeknownst to anyone else, the writer has already undermined it through Sarah and has no need of further seductions Another of John O'Loughlin's philosophic-turned-romantic novels, this one is nevertheless somewhat bolder and freer than the others.

John O'Loughlin's first novel, written during the summer of 1976, is a largely autobiographical account of three days in the life of a clerk-turning-writer Michael Savage, whose disillusionment with the drudgery of office work has led him to quit his clerical job in London's West End in order to dedicate himself to a literary career ... come what may. In this respect Savage is a sort of Henry Miller, who doesn't believe in doing things by half-measures and consequently to him there is no sense in remaining a clerk when one has an imperative desire to become a writer and thus effectively 'change worlds'. For him it is a make-or-break situation, all the more poignant for its unfolding against a background of indifference or hostility from colleagues and relatives alike Of all this author's novels, 'Changing Worlds' is by far the most subjective, with long passages of interior monologue which often overlap, to ironic effect, with conversational or observational settings; though he has taken extra care to differentiate reflection from conversation by utilizing single quotes in the one context and double quotes in the other - a stratagem which, though unorthodox, has probably done more than anything to condition his preference, contrary to contemporary norms, for double quotes in relation to conversational passages virtually right the way through his fictional oeuvre. However that may be, it was probably the degree of this novel's subjectivity, combined with its revolutionary technique, that alienated most publishers (apart from 'vanity press' ones) when he first attempted to have it published, back in the late 1970s, and to this day he is proud of the fact that he was able to subvert literary objectivity to such a radical extent that ... the result is more philosophic than fictional, thus heralding his true destiny in the more unequivocally philosophical works to come

An artist is invited by his girlfriend to visit her parents in the provinces and, failing to get on with her father, duly finds himself being inveigled into inviting her mother to his London studio where, to his shame, he allows himself to be seduced by her whilst apparently teaching her to meditate. Thereafter things go from bad to worse for Matthew Pearce, not to mention his girlfriend's mother, whose tetchy and ailing husband has discovered what he believes to be concrete evidence of her infidelity. Yet Deirdre Evans is determined to capitalize on Matthew's previous hospitality, just as the latter is having serious doubts not only about her but, thanks in part to their affair, about his relationship with her daughter, Gwendolyn, as well Then, one evening, a female acquaintance of Gwen's turns up at his place and, before long, she precipitates him into a new and more passionate affair - in fact, the kind of affair he had been hoping for all along So now it seems he can dispense with both Gwen and her mother and take up with Linda instead - provided, however, that she can secure a divorce from her husband on grounds of incompatibility. For Linda Daniels is also a married woman, and, like Mrs Evans, the man to whom she is married proves himself to be no friend of Matthew Pearce Could that be the main motive for Pearce's willingness, bordering on recklessness, to enter into affairs with both women? The reader is left to decide this and so much else for himself in what is, by any accounts, an ironic commentary on human relationships and their social and ideological interactions

The first of three loosely-related novels written by John O'Loughlin in 1980 and dealing with art and artists, 'Thwarted Ambitions' is the tragic and, in a sense, pathetic account of a young artist by name of Robert Harding who is so obsessed with advancing his career ... that he becomes blind to the sexual machinations of Henry Grace, a wealthy and influential art critic, to seduce him whilst ostensibly posing as his admiring patron. For Henry Grace seems to be just the answer to Harding's professional ambitions, and the artist allows himself to be led from commission to commission by the older man without the slightest suspicion of what the latter is really up to. But it is Carol, Robert's modelling girlfriend, whose suspicions are first aroused and, together with both the writer Andrew Doyle, who is Harding's next-door neighbour, and an eccentric professional acquaintance of hers by name of Donald Prescott, she plots to thwart Grace's sexual ambitions - with tragic consequences for the critic, as things turn out in this far from implausible narrative