Adam Parfrey (1957-2018) *61

was an American journalist, editor, and the publisher of Feral House books, whose work in all three capacities frequently centered on unusual, extreme, or "forbidden" areas of knowledge.

Parfrey attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, then moved to San Francisco, where he began a short-lived experimental magazine, IDEA. That publication folded after two issues. In 1983 he wrote and performed in a play about Gilles de Rais, “The Wickedest Man in the World".

That year, Parfrey moved to the east coast 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 in 1987.

That year, Parfrey co-founded Amok Press in New York with Kenneth Swezey. Amok's first title was an English translation by Joachim Neugroschel of Joseph Goebbels's 1929 novel Michael, followed by the publication of Apocalypse Culture, a collection of articles, interviews, and documents that explore various marginal aspects of culture. It has been reprinted twice: in 1990, and in 2001 by Parfrey's imprint, Feral House. In 2000 the sequel Apocalypse Culture II was released. The book has been widely campaigned against and has been banned in many countries. The partnership of Parfrey and Swezey as Amok published nine books, including You Can't Win, by Jack Black, The Grand Guignol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, by Mel Gordon, and Boxcar Bertha, with an intro by Kathy Acker. In 2005, Parfrey co-founded the independent publishing company Process Media with Jodi Wille of Dilettante Press.

Parfrey died in Seattle on May 10, 2018, following complications from a series of strokes.

Post a comment / Comments guidelines