Running Amok in a World of Literary Curiosities

Ever get the urge to read Ezra Pound’s radio speeches during World War II? Wonder where to find the best of Wyndham Lewis? Think no one will ever compile the letters of mass-murderer Charles Manson?

Don’t laugh. For your reading pleasure: Amok, a mail-order catalogue specializing in the literary obscure. Exotic books, banned books, out-of-print books, and most particularly, subversive books, that’s their specialty.

Publishing a new listing of titles every nine months, for an audience of about 3,000 readers in America and Canada, Amok circulates via a mailing list comprised of other mailing lists begged and borrowed from alternative record labels, arcane magazines and cult groups.

“We get orders from doctors, professors, satanists and lots of freaks,” said Brian King, one of the four young entrepreneurs who edit and publish the catalogue, at the Amok warehouse in Santa Monica. (The catalogue address is: P.O. Box 875112, L.A., Calif. 90087)

Magic (Black and White)

Among the exotica: government manuals on means of psychological control, revisionist histories, books on cults, anarchistic methodologies, magic (both black and white), and Surrealist, Dada and Modern art. The catalogue is a veritable treasure trove of the kinds of books you hear about for years and can never find--Michael Lesy’s “Wisconsin Death Trip,” for instance, or “Ezra Pound’s Radio Speeches of World War Two” (the speeches that caused him to be declared insane and locked up for the rest of his life).

“It’s not our intention to come off as some hokey pseudo-religion,” co-editor Stuart Swezey added. “We’re just trying to provide access to worthwhile written works that are otherwise unavailable. All it takes is a quick look at any best-seller list to see that there’s an entire chorus of voices that’s not being heard.”

Among the creative figures featured in and endorsed by Amok: French visionary Antonin Artaud, Italian film maker Pier Pasolini, French eroticist George Bataille, and the leading art theoretician of the moment, Jean Baudrillard. All the classic pulp writers are represented (Cain, Chandler et. al), as well as the creme de la creme of science fiction (J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick).

Silver Lake Location

The bulk of Amok’s orders come from New York, the Midwest and Los Angeles, but as of Saturday local readers now have first crack at their inventory with the opening of the Amok Store at 1067 Hyperion St. in Silver Lake. The store, launched with start-up money of $2,000 scratched together by the Amok four, is open Thursday through Monday from noon until 8 p.m., and carries videos along with the inventory featured in the catalogue.

“In selecting books, we operate on consensus and go on instinct a lot,” King said. “Anything subversive is in and so is anything we consider beautiful--Surrealist writings, for instance.

“We try to offer authors who have been shut out of society. James Joyce has been completely embraced by the publishing establishment, so we don’t carry him, but we do carry Wyndham Lewis, who was a contemporary of Joyce’s and was notorious for his hatred of him.” “There are many books we’d love to carry that are no longer in print,” Swezey added. ‘Renee Miller’s ‘Leaders, Dreamers and Rebels’ for instance, which is a book about messianic cults from before the time of Jesus up until Mussolini. Then there are books we’ve wanted to carry that refused to be listed in the catalogue--Catholic literature in particular. The Catholic church has published some fascinating anti-abortion books. The publishers we contact usually ask to see our catalogue before agreeing to be included, and though most of them have been quite supportive, the hard-core religious groups, survivalists and cults are suspicious.”

The first catalogue, which took about a year to prepare, listed 600 titles and came out in March of last year. The catalogues alternate between fiction and nonfiction, and the second one came out in February with 800 titles. The one scheduled for September will have 1,500 books.

A Wild Blurb

“If we think a book is important, we’ll continue to carry it even if it doesn’t sell a single copy,” he added. “An example of that would be this book called ‘Holy Blood, Holy Grail,’ which makes a case for the idea that Jesus didn’t die on the Cross--and hence wasn’t resurrected--and that he had a son by Mary Magdelene. I think the book didn’t sell because our blurb on it was too wild: ‘Jesus splits from the Cross and heads for the Riviera.’ That’s too tongue in cheek to convey that it’s actually a thoroughly researched, rather scholarly book.” Though it costs just 25 cents to print a copy of Amok and it sells for $1, this is hardly a money-making operation, and all four contributors maintain day jobs. Mariska is royalties manager for Island Records, Cordele owns a graphics house, Swezey is a typesetter and King does word processing for an entertainment firm.

Between the catalogue and the store it would seem that the Amok contingent--which includes roughly two dozen supporters who do volunteer work--would have more than enough to do, but expansion plans are in the works. Cordele intends to start Amok Press, to reissue out-of-print books and publish new works. Among the first volumes to roll off the press will be a collection of letters by Charles Manson, titled “The Manson Apocrypha,” and the first English translation of “Michael,” a novel by Joseph Goebbels. King also plans to launch Amok Video, which will carry everything from Indian musicals and Nazi propaganda films to biker flicks and a documentary on Paul Bowles.

Despite the reportedly high rate of attrition for independent bookstores in L.A., Swezey and King feel the Amok Store has a good shot at survival. “It’s true that bookstores don’t usually do well in L.A.,” Swezey says, “and the reasons why are fairly obvious. For one thing, the wealthy class here is primarily made up of people in the entertainment industry who are preoccupied with other art forms (music and movies).”

“Plus, it’s hard to afford the rents here unless you’re out in the middle of a field somewhere,” King says, “and bookstores depend on foot traffic for a lot of their business. But we think that what we offer is unusual enough.”