Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Publishing

Adam Parfrey, RIP

The Feral House publisher exposes American minds to wide variety of fascinating and often disturbing culture.

Brian Doherty | 5.11.2018 3:25 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
Large image on homepages | Feral House Facebook
(Feral House Facebook)

Adam Parfrey, who founded and ran Feral House, a publisher dedicated to the obscure, strange, distinctive, and disturbing, died yesterday of complications from a stroke.

Feral House Facebook

I interviewed Parfrey for Reason back in 2002, and as we said then,

Parfrey says his goal is to act as "a facilitator for the important and overlooked." Yet he bridles at being written off as "underground." Indeed, the wide open feel of the contemporary cultural scene makes distinctions between the margins and the center less and less important. And larger, more mainstream culture has long noted what Parfrey has accomplished….Beholden only to its owner and audience—not to commissars in the public, nonprofit, and high-culture sectors—Feral House provides information and viewpoints that may alarm or even disgust many. It is able to thrive (or not) precisely to the degree that it provides entertainment or edification for all who care to partake.

His power as an editorial curator is largely responsible, either first- or second-hand, for any opinions or interest most people might have in topics ranging from the fascinatingly incompetent film director Ed Wood to the weirdness of satanic black metal, the baroque conspiracy theory known as "The Octopus" (and conspiracy theorizing in general), the bizarre European Christmas tradition of Krampus, America's curious post-pulp men's adventure mags, the Process Church, secret societies' hidden role in history, the curious big-eyed paintings of the Keanes, chemtrails, primitivism as a philosophy, and the Church of Satan.

After 9/11, he exhibited a temperamental lack of pollyannaism by issuing Extreme Islam, a collection of works from Muslim sources that presented an alarming vision of the potential danger from that world. As Parfrey told me, "One lesson is that we need to ask, what are the consequences of putting American troops in Saudi Arabia and keeping them there? Some Americans might think we should be able to put troops anywhere we want. But it's arrogant to believe there are no consequences to those actions. Or, if there are consequences, that we should just knock anyone who objects senseless."

Physical books seemed a potentially endangered species even back in 2002, but Parfrey remained dedicated to their aesthetic power. Publishers with a viewpoint and sense of mission are key to the spread of culture and the changing of outlook, and whether you found Parfrey more interestingly provocative or wildly perverse, his handprints are on our culture and will remain there. He was personally a winningly mordant fellow, and that I had an essay appear in a Feral House book—Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, a volume that showed his interest in peculiar culture extended beyond just the dark or perverse—was always a point of pride.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: Showtime's Cumberbatch-led Miniseries Is Pure Misery Porn

Brian Doherty is a senior editor at Reason and author of Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired (Broadside Books).

PublishingSecrecyConspiracy Theories
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Hide Comments (9)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

  1. BestUsedCarSales   7 years ago

    I didn't know he did Lords of Chaos. I remember when it came out. I just felt impressed anyone else was paying attention to Black Metal. And now, it's a big fancy genre, at least as far as underground metal goes.

  2. gormadoc   7 years ago

    Black metal isn't weird. Some of the dudes involved are crazy though.

  3. Chipper Morning Baculum   7 years ago

    RIP. Speaking of publishers of weird titles, is Michael Hoy still alive? My first introduction to libertarianism was finding a Loompanics Unlimited catalog wondering the streets of New York City when I was 13, so thanks for that, Mr. Hoy. Yeah, that was analogous to having your first sexual experience by accidentally stumbling into one of Caligula's parties.

    1. Zaphod Beeblebrox, Presid   7 years ago

      Mike Hoy is alive and well. He is a regular customer at my bookstore. As was Adam until a few days ago

    2. Zaphod Beeblebrox, Presid   7 years ago

      Mike will hear about your comment. That's a pretty awesome analogy.

  4. Ken Shultz   7 years ago

    I think my introduction to the Process Church was through the band Integrity:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gjRshRHEdM

    I'm sure I originally heard about them at some point in regards to Manson, but I can't say when.

    Their reconciliation of Christ with Lucifer seems to mimic similar solutions that arose from the theodicy of Zoroastrians over the centuries--from the Zuravan controversy to Manichean solutions. There are other surviving influences from those sources today with some varieties of Muslims sects still holding that Satan is simply doing God's work. ISIS called them devil worshipers.

    I stiff find the omnipotent God's reverence for free will the most compelling explanation. All God's creation, from subatomic particles and ideas to conscious beings and galaxies, it all seems to cry out for freedom.

    I'm not most people, but there were a number of other religious movements that were associated with the hardcore/underground in different ways. Krishnacore and Hardline got a lot of press, but there was also the former underground/punk members who became Russian Orthodox monks and put out a punk zine for the underground:

    http://deathtotheworld.com/

  5. Ken Shultz   7 years ago

    The most interesting stories are hardly ever read by anybody. The most interesting stories read by everybody are hardly ever understood.

    The internet destroyed the underground. Maybe there's still an underground in highly oppressive societies elsewhere, but I'm not sure having an underground is really possible anymore. He shouldn't have felt put off by being called part of the underground--especially if it turns out that it's something you just can't be anymore.

    1. SIV   7 years ago

      The internet is destroying everything excpt the internet. Ned Ludd was right.

  6. mradmin   7 years ago

    I wanted to thank you for this websites! Thanks for sharing. Great websites! for More visit:- YoWhatsApp & GBInsta.

Please log in to post comments

Mute this user?

  • Mute User
  • Cancel

Ban this user?

  • Ban User
  • Cancel

Un-ban this user?

  • Un-ban User
  • Cancel

Nuke this user?

  • Nuke User
  • Cancel

Un-nuke this user?

  • Un-nuke User
  • Cancel

Flag this comment?

  • Flag Comment
  • Cancel

Un-flag this comment?

  • Un-flag Comment
  • Cancel

Latest

Trump Wants Harvard To Hand Over Info on Over 10,000 International Students

Autumn Billings | 7.10.2025 5:18 PM

The People Who Wrecked N.Y. Schools Love Zohran Mamdani

Matt Welch | 7.10.2025 5:03 PM

The Department of Homeland Security Says Trump's Immigration Enforcers Are on a Mission From God

Jacob Sullum | 7.10.2025 3:15 PM

Trump's 50 Percent Copper Tariff Will Drive Up Prices for Tech, Homes, Military Equipment, and More

Eric Boehm | 7.10.2025 2:30 PM

Did the Secret Service Surveil James Comey Without a Warrant After '86 47' Post?

Joe Lancaster | 7.10.2025 2:00 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!