September 28, 2006

Craig Heimbichner reviews The Carnivals of Life and Death

The rest of this review will be available in Paranoia magazine.

At last James Shelby Downard’s autobiography has emerged from the underground like a Cowan from a Masonic crypt, breathing with vitality and tales of the bizarre. Feral House has edited this account which was previously only available in a rough but thorough form from Downard’s protégé, Michael A. Hoffman II (it’s still available and makes for an interesting comparison for savants of Downardia). In addition, the book is enlivened with an introduction by Adam Parfrey, recounting his personal experiences with Downard and giving an insightful framework to the reader who is—to put it mildly—in for a wild ride.

Downard needs no introduction to scholars of the occult and excavators of the arcane, having established himself with an explosion in 1987 with his landmark deconstruction of the Kennedy assassination, King Kill 33, co-authored with Hoffman and published by Parfrey’s Amok Press. Downard’s essay sailed light years beyond prior investigators, and Downard rapidly became an underground cult figure (Marilyn Manson even wrote a song based on Downard’s work).

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