Esoterra was a zine which existed from the early 90’s up until the year 2000 chronicling the far-out of the far-out in culture. Emphasizing the importance of hidden and obscure voices, Esoterra easily found its self lodged on many bookshelves snugly between Simon Dwyer’s ‘Rapid Eye’ series, V. Vale’s ‘Re/Search’ books, and Adam Parfrey’s seminal ‘Apocalypse Culture’. Not many zines have been able to claim these important and controversial works as neighbors.
After Esoterra stopped publishing physical copies in 2000 they continued with online content. I’m not sure how many copies of each issue ever got printed but those that were became difficult to get. Lucky for us, earlier this year Creation Books published an anthology of “the best material from the magazine” – according to creator and editor Chad Hensley. Unfortunately, it’s not everything but what remains is pretty damn cool.
Esoterra: The Journal of Extreme Culture is packed to the brim with reflections on society from voices rarely heard and often ignored to the point of subtle silence. Highlights include a interviews with Adam Parfrey, Alan Moore, Iain Banks, Genesis P-Orridge, Peter Whitehead, Iain Sinclair, Boyd Rice, and Thomas Ligotti. There is also a pretty good piece on the Process Church, a piece of fiction by Thomas Ligotti entitled ‘The Nightmare Network’, Adam Parfey’s ‘Weird Sex Cults’, a short piece on necro-ethics by known necrophiliac Leilah Wendell, and some pre-Lords of Chaos pieces on Black Metal my Michael Moynihan.
Not everything within is amazing, I found myself skimming over a couple of pieces, but overall this book is fucking great. There are a couple of interviews that veer off into sketchy (or possibly sketchy) areas, but fuck, we’re talking about a book with an interview with a necrophiliac in it, so it shouldn’t come as a shock. I think that’s part of what I like about it. If you’re gonna explore “Extreme Culture” you don’t turn away because someone said something offensive. And I know people will disagree, wishing in some way to eradicate the voices and opinions that cause tension and challenge the nice, neat world we want to live in. If you feel that way, this book isn’t for you. What I really mean is that Esoterra is a well rounded exploration of the far-out, so next to the anarchist voice you have the elitist voice, next to the humanist you have the misanthropist, and next to the underground, writer/artist/musician you have the fucking necrophiliac.
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