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 APOCALYPSE
CULTURE II
Ed. Adam Parfrey
Feral House
It's always nice to see a book that was supposed to be impossible
to create. In the preface of the revised
edition of Apocalypse Culture, editor Adam Parfrey writes
that "Placing a Roman numeral after a title like Apocalypse Culture
would be like the ham actor doing extra leg kicks and death rattles after
he's run through with a rectractable sword. How do you grind up a sequel
out of the End of the World?" Well, you did Mister Parfrey and a
damn fine job you made of it too. I was one of those kids in the late
eighties that got hold of a copy of the original edition, loved it and
never looked back. There were so many leads and ideas to follow that I'm
still doing it!
Apocalypse Culture II isn't the same revelation for me as the
first book but I guess for some innocent kid out there it will be. But
there is still a lot to keep you occupied: Conspiracy Theories, Kiddie
Porn, Necrophilia, Biological Warfare, Cannibalism, Satan, people who
just want their fifteen minutes of shame no mater what, Taboo Art etc.
There are contributions from people like Irv Rubin, Michael
Moynihan, Boyd Rice, Peter Sotos, Sondra London,
Ted Kaczynski, and Colin Wilson to name just a few.
If you can read ACII from cover to cover without objecting to
anything, well, then you're not thinking. That is always a problem with
books or films dealing with material like this. They will always wind
up with a bunch of people going "that is so gross…cool!"
One of the truly great aspects of Apocalypse Culture (along with
Rapid Eye and Amok Journal) is the sombre way things are
presented. This is miles away from petty tabloidism: it may be a grim
picture ACII paints, but who said that the end of the world would
be nice?
The original publication was divided into four different sections, but
the revised edition is in two. The sections help the reader to get a grip
of the material inside. When I got ACII in my hands it took some
time before I knew how to approach it. With a collection of essays I usually
like to read them in no particular order but I found that approach didn't
work with ACII. So I started all over again from page one and put
it down 48 hours later. Now I come back to it on regular basis to read
an article here and an article there. There really should be a
copy of Apocalypse Culture II in every hotel room! One thing that
surprised me was to find factual faults in ACII but I won't 'Video
Watchdog' it - it's too good a book for that.
JONAS KELLAGHER - 10 December 2000
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