Feral House

History

Feral House was founded in 1989 by Adam Parfrey in Los Angeles, California. The name was suggested by Boyd Rice. It is now based in Port Townsend, Washington. Feral House was formed out of the collapse of his previous publisher, Amok Press, which Parfrey had founded with Ken Swezey in 1986. After the publisher collapsed, Swezey founded his own publisher, Blast Books.

On March 30, 1989, Stuart Swezey (Ken Swezey's brother) and Brian King of Amok Books (related to but distinct from Amok Press) wrote a letter to LA Weekly saying that Amok Press was defunct. In response to Stuart Swezey and King, Parfrey and Ken Swezey penned a letter to the LA Weekly that denied they were defunct, and said that Feral House and Blast Books would be imprints of Amok Press. This was not the case and both publishers succeeded Amok Press.

The company's first book was a 1989 republication of The Satanic Witch by Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan. This was financially successful for Feral House. The publisher became known for its taboo and strange publications, including the collected works of the Unabomber, works about Charles Manson, works by serial killers, conspiracy theorists, and neo-Nazis. Feral House was in talks with neo-Nazi James Mason to publish a book about neo-Nazi George Lincoln Rockwell, intended to release in 1990, but this fell through. It published a variety of political extremist material. Parfrey maintained that just because he published someone did not mean he agreed with their views. Early publications of Feral House expressed mostly far-right political views, though this expanded over time. Its motto is "Refuses to be Domesticated".

In 1996, they attempted to launch Feral House Audio, a release label. Only one recording was ever released, Varg Vikernes's Filosofem. Feral House was sued for publishing a 1998 book about the Oklahoma City bombing. The book accused an FBI official and argued the government had known the attack was going to happen. Parfrey was forced to destroy all copies of the book, apologize, and disavow the theories espoused.

Following the death of Parfrey in 2018, Feral House continues to be run by Parfrey's sister, Jessica Parfrey, and Christina Ward. In 2021, they put out a call for "writers who identify as Women, People of Color, LGBTQ, and others who have felt excluded from traditional publishing", in an effort to introduce more diverse authors into their lineup.

Influence

Feral House became a significant company in several underground circles, but soon developed mainstream influence as well. Their books have inspired several mainstream films. Tim Burton's film Ed Wood was based upon the Feral House title, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr. Burton's 2014 film Big Eyes was also based on a Feral House book. The Feral House title American Hardcore: A Tribal History by Steven Blush has been made into a feature documentary of the same name, released by Sony Classics in the fall of 2006. The 2018 film Lords of Chaos was also based on a Feral House publication. Despite this growing influence, Feral House continued to publish neo-Nazi materials, though their political topics widened over time.

References

Works cited

References

1. "About Us".
2. Black, Bob. (1994). "Beneath the Underground". [[Feral House]].
3. Bolles, Don. (1991-03-21). "Local Heroes: Read 'em and weep". [[LA Weekly]].
4. Swezey, Stuart. (1989-03-30). "Apocalypse". [[LA Weekly]].
5. Parfrey, Adam. (1989-04-20). "Running Amok again". [[LA Weekly]].
6. Roberts, Sam. (2018-05-14). "Adam Parfrey, Publisher of the Provocative, Dies at 61". [[The New York Times]].
7. Haber, Matt. (2021-06-07). "Years After Its Founder's Death, Cult Publisher Feral House Is Still Celebrating the Bizarre".
8. Umland, Samuel J.. (2015). "The Tim Burton Encyclopedia". [[Rowman & Littlefield]].
9. Guerrasio, Jason. (2006-09-22). "Fast, Cheap and Out of Control".