I can still remember the thrill of finding Apocalypse Culture, way back in the late 80's. It promised something different, something radical, somthing downright weird. And, to a large extent, it delivered. It helped to spawn a diffuse, diverse, 'underground' that was interested in extremes: politics, crime, sex, occult. Serial killers, conspiracy theories, extreme behaviour, SM. All human life was here, sort of.
So, too many years later, what does this sequel give us? The world has moved on, and concerns which were fringe back then are now pretty mainstream. SM is a fashion statement for many. Serial killers are stock characters in film and TV. Conspiracy theories are everywhere. The concerns of Apocalypse Culture II are no longer the concerns of an obsessive sub-culture, but cross over to a large extent into the mainstream.
One response has been that the search for extremes has moved onwards. Michael Moynihan here sings the praises of neo-Fascist terrorists from Italy (so, they knee-capped the women who ran a left-wing radio station, but hey, these guys were spiritual). Or we look at weird religion or...
For the most part this is par for the course. There are no surprises here. We were told, way back in 1987, that there'd be no sequel. But I wouldn't blame Adam Parfrey if cash was part of the motivation for this book.
One thing stands out here, just as it did in the original, it is the power that Peter Sotos has to shock. He writes about child-sex, pornography, the murder of children, the gloating of the mass media. It's hard to read but harder to ignore. His is the only truly shocking, difficult, powerful writing in the entire book. Some things just can't be absorbed by popular culture.
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