Customer Reviews

Cult Rapture: Revelations of the Apocalyptic Mind

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Set aside assurance or lack thereof for the veracity of the specific elements of the stories. Read "Cult Rapture" as it is: an engaging National-Geographic type of narrative but with cocks and pussies and people who indulge their whims or who wait for space brethren. There is no less fact checking as far as the reader knows than with an ordinary newspaper article. Concerns with all verifiable contents to assure oneself of the reality of the people and activities depicted in the articles deflects the reader's attention from benefiting from and being amused by the material. The stories have the "ring of truth" which should make anyone's obsession with fact checking evaporate, though such may not be the case with all of Parfrey's writings or editorial anthologies. Neat cover, groovy fronticepiece, fun to read.

Where other reporters are afraid of letting their opinions be known, Adam Parfrey, in his exploration of the fringes of society, is fearless. At times he does seem a bit mean, but come on, he is printing what everyone is thinking! Included in this collection are tongue-in-cheek reports on women sexually obsessed with Elvis, the history of big-eyed waif velvet paintings, the Unarians (who prophesized that the Space Brothers would land in their UFOs and save the world in 2000 -- are they still around?), Bo Gritz (the man who Rambo is based upon) and, yes, a group that encourages the empowerment of the handicapped through sex. There are other articles on various charlatans and conspiracy theories,including an excellent one on Waco (Fact: did you know that every ATF agent killed at Waco worked as security for Bill Clinton while he was governor?!?). My personal favourite is an interview with Shelby Downard, my all-time favourite "paranoid" (I can't wait until his collected works are released in 2002 by Feral House!).

One of the best things about Adam Parfrey's articles are the subtle sarcasm that abounds. While one man recounts his ardour for Russian mail-order brides, Parfrey, without shame reveals his opinion of this man as a travesty. Not all the subjects in this collection of articles are treated as rudely though. Parfrey investigates anything weird from millenialists to congenital human oddities with an open-mind. Photographs adorn the articles, making this book more alive in the reality of the strange.

This is similar to (although not as good as) the Apocalypse Culture books where you have a collection of compiled articles on subjects or people that are from the fringes of mainstream belief.

Overall this was worth reading but one big annoyance is the condescending, smirking attitude Parfrey has towards some, if not most, of the people and subjects being discussed. This attitude seems to be a very common thing that west coast and Jewish types (Parfrey is both) have towards anybody that doesn't share their world view. Which is really funny because one of the essays in this, "How to Frame a Patriot", does a great job of pointing out how a writer can subtly twist words around in order to defame the person they are writing about. I don't want to seem like I'm being too hard on Parfrey though because I enjoy a lot of his work and think his Feral House is argueably the best publishing house going right now.

I am David Brandenburger. My (deceased now) wife & I are the sources/subjects of "May I Touch Your Scar", in this book. Parfey makes some stuff up, takes things people said, either out of context, or alters their words to suit his own pervertions of thought. While sex INSTRUCTION was a small part of what we taught people (adults only), it was NOT our main focus. To refer to us as, "a sex cult for cripples" is ludicrious. Please contact me for further information if anyone is interested. E-mail to irhp@phonl.com a Thank you.