In 1987, Parfrey turned his attention to books, editing and publishing the definitive fin-de-temps collection, Apocalypse Culture. This tome captured the insanity of the late 20th century, and announced an aesthetic, scientific, anthropological and social interest in all things deemed forbidden by the dull homogeneity that is mainstream culture. The book - which appeared in two incarnations - included rants from anarchists, paranoia from conspiracy theorists, an interview with a necrophile and documents on becoming a werewolf.
Following the success of Apocalypse Culture, Parfrey was able to publish other titles, including The Tortures And Torments Of The Christian Martyrs. Translated from ecclesiastical Latin, this book - illustrated by contemporary artists including Savage Pencil and Daniel Clowes, and 'loathsome criminals' such as John Wayne Gacy and Charles Manson - details the numerous ways in which Christians suffered at the hands of the Romans. In his introduction to the book, Parfrey summarised his philosophy: part "tawdry thrill", as realised by the past masters of geek-and-peep Ripley and Barnum, and part"appeal to the Survival Instinct... that exults in the sublime good fortune of not squandering its life-force for the phantoms and myths that haunt the minds of weaker souls". Such a philosophy would permeate many Feral House publications, from the sensational crime scene photographs collected in Death Scenes to the narcotic information blur of Pills A-Go-Go.
As Feral House grew, so Parfrey published ever more books exploring and presenting neglected information from the fringes of society. Publications included a collection of writings by Situationist Guy Debord; numerous conspiracy theory/forbidden history texts like Alex Constantine's Psychic Dictatorship In The USA; Jim Keith's Secret And Suppressed and Charles Schneider's hymn to the golden age of masculinity Cad. Feral House also published books on, and by, some of the few genuinely outsider artists, including Rudolph Grey's Ed Wood biography Nightmare Of Ecstasy and the long-awaited Cosmic Retribution, the first collection of Joe Coleman's art.
Parfrey's own writings, collected in Cult Rapture, examine everything from the kitsch trash of the Keanes's big-eyed-kids paintings to the I CAN sex cult, and fecal rocker GG Allin, through to essays on the implications of the Oklahoma Bombing and the media-inspired Militia-paranoia.
When idiot-savant flick Forrest Gump began to do well at the box office, Parfrey began an attack on the absurd Hollywood idealisation of the retard-as-victim-as-genius. Remembering the film Freaks, in which the supposedly disabled outsiders celebrated their own exclusion from society and proudly held their own beliefs, Parfrey formed the band The Tards. The group's 7" 'We're Just Like You' is a must-have slice of grim humour. Parfrey also can be heard on SWAT's Deep Inside A Cop's Mind CD - a thoroughly misanthropic mock-celebration of the police, which includes contributions from Anton La Vey and hate-übermensch Jim Goad. The project was designed to upset and offend those would-be anarchist hipsters who blindly hate the police, and to simultaneously explore and expose the deranged bunker-mentality of inner city law enforcement. But Parfrey's musical triumph is on the hilariously grim Hatesville CD, on which he croons - in near perfect Barry White style - the immortal line, "imagine if they threw a love in, and no one came".
One of Parfrey's biggest successes to date has been the publication of the acclaimed yet controversial Lords Of Chaos by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Sederlind. The book won an award at the Fire Cracker Awards in Los Angeles in 1999, much to the chagrin of PC liberals who mistakenly believed that the book's authors were uncritically disseminating black metal crypto-fascist propaganda (in fact, the authors are more interested in Northern European Paganism). Humour mixed with a perceptive intelligence - and a gleeful sense of the possibilities of chaos - define Parfrey's response to the banality of such accusations; implicitly accused of fascism, he arrived at the awards in traditional Jewish garb, proudly acknowledging his ethnicity.
Now - with a sequel to Apocalypse Culture due for publication in April - Parfrey sits in his Los Angeles apartment, surrounded by books, art and records, sipping his Martini and waiting for more accusations of sleaze, exploitation, nihilism, and misanthropy. Much to the dismay of his critics, he is more than content to continue challenging conformity and stupidity, while enjoying the notoriety of being 'the most dangerous publisher in America'. His books and records, with their emphasis on the criminal and the anarchist, their gleeful cynicism and ultra-noir humour, announce Parfrey's celebration of the outsider, and his recognition that, in a world that has gone to the dogs, all you can do is laugh, bark and avoid the leash.
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