Occasionally a book comes back from the printer, and though you know it well, you’re surprised by the greatness of the result… You knew it would be good, but not this wicked good.

The book in question here is Al Ridenour’s image heavy historical survey, The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil. It’s designed by the great Sean Tejaratchi, and printed on heavy paper stock with excellent result. You can see its video trailer here: https://vimeo.com/178244669 … and you can purchase it over hereabouts: http://feralhouse.com/the-krampus/

What is this European weirdness? What are all the costumes about? You might want to check this book before all those creepy parades hit your town.

Another book, just back from the printer, that’s getting quite a bit of attention is from an unexpected source for Feral House, and that is Harley Flanagan, and his kick-ass memoir, Hard-Core: Life of My Own, with an Introduction by Feral House author Steven Blush. As a kid Harley made the scene with Joe Strummer, Allen Ginsberg, Lemmy Kilmister, Debbie Harry, and even Andy Warhol. How did the Hardcore scene start? Where did the Lower East Side go? Harley is the best first-hand voice on the subject. Don’t miss him this coming week, in Brooklyn on Tuesday, October 4, from 7 to 9 pm, at Powerhouse on 28 Adams Street. You’ll be able to hear Harley and get him to sign your copy at this event.

By the way, our dead rock star coloring book volumes are now available, both the amazing Bowie compilation, and the Lemmy Kilmister / Motörhead book, where you can “Color the Ace of Spades”. The Lemmy book is only available from Feral House for the next few months. See here: http://feralhouse.com/lemmy-kilmister-of-motorhead-color-the-ace-of-spades/

Feral House and Process Media titles have come in from the printers, and many people praise their excellence!

We’re talking about Mike (Ugly Things) Stax’s extraordinary Swim Through the Darkness about the rise and heart-rending downfall of the extraordinary songwriter Craig Smith / Maitreya Kali….

I’m so happy to have signed up this book, though I had no foreknowledge of the protagonist…. It’s the life’s work of Mike Stax, and just the other day the brother of Craig Smith contacted Mike S., so new revelations should be soon forthcoming. Don’t miss the book launch party at Hollywood Blvd.’s Egyptian Theater on Sunday Sep 25 at 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm that includes a screening of the never-seen television pilot “The Happeners” that starred the elusive Craig Smith. Many great guests will also appear there. Don’t miss it! https://www.facebook.com/events/173366759760586/

Also, rare tracks by Craig Smith / Maitreya Kali can now be accessed here: http://feralhouse.com/swim-through-the-darkness/

You can also see the video trailer for that book on that page…

The long-expected memoir of Harley Flanagan is just now reaching Amazon and bookstores… People who have received their copies are praising the book to the heavens. Harley will be appearing at a book party at Handsome Dick Manitoba’s bar at 99 Avenue B in the East Village, Manhattan, on September 27 from 7-9 pm!

BTW, it was great to see many Feral House fans at the recent Esoteric Book Conference, and those who met Christina Ward at the Brooklyn Book festival. Do any friends out there have a suggestion for our appearance at any other book festivals? Let us know at info@feralhouse.com …

Beast wishes,

As editor of Ugly Things magazine, Mike Stax often introduces us to unfairly forgotten figures of 60s pop music… His biggest investigation of late has been into the tragic life of one Craig Smith, later known as Maitreya Kali…. For Process Media, Mike has put together the extraordinary book, Swim Through the Darkness: My Search for Craig Smith and the Mystery of Maitreya Kali.

Part of the mystery, as promised by the book’s title, was what Mike Stax discovered in his relentless search…. it does not contain what one might call a happy ending for the subject of his book, but it is indeed a fulfilling search, as Mike uncovered an amazing story about a realm of American culture that we probably never considered or knew much about, such as the dynamics of singing on mainstream ‘60s television program like  The Andy Williams Show, or what happens when such a television star becomes an LSD advocate, creates a band produced by Mike Nesmith, a man whose own television series (The Monkees) provides context for another television series (“The Happeners”) in which  Craig Smith is cast.

We must admit that the story is at times ugly, but what’s the 60s LA scene without its tragic fill?

This book will not be available from Amazon and other places for at least a few weeks, but right now we have copies available from Feral House fully discounted: $15 for a $19.95 book.

A preview video and ordering instructions for the discounted copies can be found here: http://feralhouse.com/swim-through-the-darkness/

As far as other Feral House / Process Media news, we’ve seen the folded and gathered signatures of the David Bowie and Lemmy Kilmister coloring books… and they’ll be available within a few weeks. Meanwhile, there’s not much time left for contributions to the Prince and Muhammad Ali coloring books. We hope you make it! We’ve got some great submissions, but not enough of them yet. The amazing Darius James is serving as the Editor of the two volumes. Look here: https://www.facebook.com/TheFeralHouseColoringBook/

Have y’all heard of The Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle? It’s coming real soon (September 10th and 11th!). Did you know that Feral House / Process Media will vend its wares there? It’s free to get into the book fair, and we look forward to communicating with you. See here: http://esotericbookconference.com/

At the time when all political parties had their conventions, cases of the new Process Media publication arrived at our front door. The book is Dr. Joseph P. Farrell and Gary Lawrence’s Rotten to the (Common) Core: Public Schooling, Standardized Tests, and the Surveillance State. Yes, we’ve heard doctrinaire Christians complain of the content of textbooks, and taking the trouble to pass state laws restricting the content of historical or religious studies. These sorts of complaints are not the focus of this book. Rotten to the (Common Core) uncovers the way the State instructs children more than the pedagogy of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The revelations here are both astonishing and troubling, particularly in light of the restrictive discourse on display at both the Republican and Democratic conventions.

Today you can purchase this book here: http://feralhouse.com/rotten-to-the-common-core/

This bright and dry summer we’ve sent books to the printer: coloring books about David Bowie and Lemmy Kilmister. We’ve also announced the upcoming publication of two additional coloring books to the series, highlighting the lives of the recently deceased Muhammad Ali and Prince. We invite all of you to contribute. We’re very pleased to say that the great Darius James, author of Negrophobia: An Urban Parable and That’s Blaxploitation! is along for the ride as editor of these two new Feral House coloring books.

If you’re interested in contributing to these coloring books, look over here: https://www.facebook.com/TheFeralHouseColoringBook/notes

We’re also pleased to announce that Feral House / Process Media will be vending once again on September 10 and 11 at the great Esoteric Book Conference, which meets in Seattle. Master of the Mysteries author Louis Sahagun is presenting his riveting and entertaining discoveries about proto-spiritualist researcher, Manly P. Hall. Read this interview with Sahagun to learn more about Hall and his Secrets of All Ages.

Visiting the book venders and art galleries are free of charge. Here’s further information: http://esotericbookconference.com/

These creepy-crazy political days, we’re reminded of Feral House books that remark upon the murder, theft and lies that occurred under both Republican and Democrat Party administrations.

I’m thinking of The Octopus, Psychic Dictatorship, War Is a Racket, Packing Inferno, The Essential Mae Brussell and Why Bother — all Feral House titles that bring out the insidious undercarriage of modern politicking, and its doublespeak reminiscent of the diner scene in the Five Easy Pieces movie.

Voters can now hold Hillary Clinton between their knees as she hugs and kisses Henry Kissinger, and tells us to think of her as a true progressive, and not a war machine and Wall Street whore whose task is now to punish Bernie Sanders and his constituency.

Customers have been wondering where they can order the new Grand Guignol tome by Mel Gordon. Bookstores or Amazon won’t be able to offer it for a good number of weeks now, perhaps months. But luckily you can obtain a copy today directly from the Feral House website:

Buy the Book… and you can see the book trailer here:

See the Trailer

Here are some revelations from an original Grand Guignol performer named Maxa in a piece she wrote called “I am the Maddest Woman In the World”….

Maxa discusses her unique career in this excerpt

Our Feral days are busy with putting together titles for future seasons. We’ve already announced the books about David Bowie and rock saint Lemmy (Motörhead) Kilmister, for which we’ve received great contributions from both professional and amateur artists. Now we’re putting out the word for other coloring book titles. One about the famed Prince and the Greatest Man, Muhammad Ali.

We’ve asked the famed author Darius James (Negrophobia) to help put these tomes together for us. Here’s from Darius’ pen:

Yes, as with the Bowie and Lemmy books we’re compensating for accepted contributions. If you’re interested in contributing, please contact us at the following email address: submissions@feralhouse.com

 See this post for details on how to submit your work.

Hope you’re all as excited about this as we are.

 Beast Wishes,

 The Feral Man Adam Parfrey

Just to let our Feral friends know that we’ve had great fun with the forthcoming David Bowie and Lemmy (Motörhead) Kilmister coloring books. We had great contributions both from professional and amateur artists. The Bowie and Lemmy volumes will be available for sale in September of this year.

The success of these two titles has inspired us to release two further coloring books for the following  publishing season:

One will be PRINCE and the other the Greatest One, MUHAMMAD ALI! Both Prince and Ali have led significant and influential lives… There’s a hell of a lot to draw from for coloring book pages.

We’re now open for contributions for both coloring books!

As with the Lemmy and Bowie books, we will pay a $50 fee for every accepted image for either the Prince or Muhammad Ali editions. You can send in as few as one image, or you can have us look at as many as four images for each title.

Here are the guidelines/requirements for future coloring books:

1) The final printed art is 7.5″ wide by 10″ tall
2)  Line Art. Coloring books are composed of line drawings that invites people to color in the images…
3) For reproduction purposes, please scan the images at 7.5″ wide by 10” tall. The line art work should be scanned at a minimum of 600dpi up to a maximum of 1200dpi.

One is the biography by Los Angeles Times staffer Louis Sahagun about the extraordinary Manly Palmer Hall, the man who singlehandedly introduced Americans to Western (and Eastern) esoterica in dozens of books, including “The Secret Teachings of All Ages” and at his Philosophical Research Society.  Mr. Hall had followers like Bela Lugosi and long time LA mayor Sam Yorty. The famous Father Yod of the Source family cult / commune also consulted with the occult scholar.

The new edition of Master of the Mysteries includes material on Manly Hall’s niece, who introduced her famous uncle to cocaine and how it was dealt.  The new edition also includes correspondence between Manly and his long-time love, and the strangest notions taken on by the Source family, including the burial of potatoes endowed with spermatozoa and female sexual excretions. (The Burpee seed company was never the same…)

And we also present a greatly expanded edition of the Feral House book about ‘60s sleaze literature, Sin-a-Rama. Today, Dangerous Minds presents a feature article about our beloved title: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_delightfully_sleazy_sex_paperbacks_of_the_1960s

If anyone wishes to own either or both of these two titles, you will receive a $5 discount for them today if you order them from feralhouse.com