American writer (1957–2018)
Adam Parfrey |
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| Born | (1957-04-12)April 12, 1957
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| Died | May 10, 2018(2018-05-10) (aged 61)
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| Occupations |
- Journalist
- editor
- publisher
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| Years active | 1982–2018 |
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| Spouse |
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| Parent | Woodrow Parfrey (father) |
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Adam Parfrey (April 12, 1957 – May 10, 2018) was an American journalist, editor, and the publisher of Feral House books,[1] whose work in all three capacities frequently centered on unusual, extreme, or "forbidden" areas of knowledge. A 2010 Seattle Weekly profile stated that "what Parfrey does is publish books that explore the marginal aspects of culture. And in many cases—at least back when his interests were almost exclusively transgressive—he sheds light on subjects that society prefers to leave unexplored, carving a niche catering to those of us with an unseemly obsession with life's darkest, most depraved sides."[2]
Early life
Parfrey was born in New York City, but during childhood moved to Los Angeles with his parents, actor Woodrow Parfrey and Rosa Ellovich, a stage director of Jewish descent. After graduating high school, he attended the University of California, Santa Cruz,[3] and UCLA, before dropping out[2] to move to San Francisco, where he began a short-lived experimental magazine, IDEA.[2] That publication folded after two issues. In 1983 he wrote and performed in a play, The Wickedest Man in the World, about Gilles de Rais, a 15th-century French serial killer of children.[citation needed]
That year, Parfrey moved east to Hoboken, New Jersey, and began working at New York City's Strand Bookstore. In 1984, with Kim Seltzer and Strand co-worker George Petros, Parfrey launched EXIT magazine; he collaborated on three of the six published issues before leaving the publication in 1987.[citation needed]
Career
Amok Press
In 1987, Parfrey and Kenneth Swezey co-founded Amok Press in New York. (Amok Books, an unrelated imprint, was founded by Swezey's brother Stuart later that year.) Amok Press's first title was an English translation by Joachim Neugroschel of the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels's novel Michael (1929). This was followed by Parfrey's Apocalypse Culture, a collection of articles, interviews, and documents that explore various marginal aspects of culture. In total, Amok Press published eight books, including You Can't Win, by Jack Black, The Grand Guignol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, by Mel Gordon,[4] and Boxcar Bertha: An Autobiography, As Told to Dr. Ben L. Reitman.[5]
Feral House
Parfrey moved back to the west coast and while living in Portland, Oregon, founded another imprint, Feral House, in 1989.[6] Over the years, Feral House published titles by Steven Blush, Joseph P. Farrell, Phillip Thomas Tucker, John Zerzan, Alain Saury, Jennifer Robin, John Sinclair, Anton LaVey, Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind and others, as well as many titles Parfrey himself wrote or edited.[7]
In 2000, Apocalypse Culture II, a sequel to the 1987 book, was published.
In 2005, Parfrey co-founded the publishing company Process Media with Jodi Wille of Dilettante Press.[8]
Vice Magazine called Feral House a forerunner to 4chan and Reddit.[9]
Personal life
Parfrey left Portland and lived in Los Angeles for a time before decamping permanently to Port Townsend, Washington, where he resided for the remainder of his life.[citation needed]
Death
He died in Seattle on May 10, 2018, following complications from a series of strokes.[10][11]
"Father of Apocalypse Culture: An Interview with Adam Parfrey", in Chad Hensley's (ed.) Esoterra: The Journal of Extreme Culture. Creation Books, 2011, pp. 15–17. The interview is followed by an article by Parfrey entitled "Weird Sex Cults" (pp 18–21).
