When my music fanzines Lollipop and Acts of Interstellar Torture had fizzled out by 1988, I could experience acute withdrawal symptoms. I was at this time very interested in both journalism and publishing; both already essential elements of my core identity. So, what to do? Start a new fanzine, of course.
By this time I was also very active in Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth (TOPY). One of the central tenets of this fine network/ occultural think tank was the active dissemination of information, whether it be high or low; occult or pop.
All of these things merged into the desire to start a new and specifically occultural fanzine: The Fenris Wolf.
Getting material together was not really a problem. I was writing away manically by myself, and the TOPY global network offered many great sources.
Some time in 1989 the first issue manifested itself. With its beautiful blue, screen-printed cover, it looked far more professional than anything I’d ever done before. It sold out quickly, and I swiftly made a second edition (which also sold out quickly).
Then there was issue no 2, which I made as a book. I simply had more material than what a magazine format would allow. By this time, 1990, I had started a TOPY-affiliated company called “Psychick Release PCP.” This became the “umbrella” for various kinds of releases (books, records, videos etc); The Fenris Wolf becoming its cornerstone.
Issue no 2 was also successful, and was distributed through the TOPY network and all the wonderful & kooky occult bookstores that were still around all over the world.
And then issue no 3, which had grown into a 200 page book, followed in 1993. Needless to say, I was very happy about this trajectory and the overall response.
In 1993, Psychick Release folded; as had “first era” TOPY in 1991. This in itself didn’t motivate me any less, but the workload in my new publishing structure, Looking Glass Press, never allowed for me to actively work with Fenris 4 (although I had already started collecting material for it). Wolfie basically went into a slow and long hibernation.
Then… Life! So many things happened! But this, as they say, is another story for another time.
In 2011, I had started a new company, Edda Publishing, together with Swedish artist Fredrik Söderberg. His amazing occult art needed a publishing home, and of course The Fenris Wolf had never really left my mind. A whirl-winding of Fenris work began anew.
The Fenris Wolf issue no 4 was warmly welcomed by old-timers and newcomers alike. Although there were hardly any wonderful & kooky occult bookstores around anymore, the internet compensated for that; allowing people all over the world to purchase copies of this now almost mythical beast of a journal.
This revitalized version made quite a splash, and it was therefore logical to me to repackage the first three issues into one volume as the next project. Which I did. It was wonderful to re-experience that material, which had packed such a punch almost 25 years earlier.
Fueled by enthusiasm, Fredrik and I rocked on with issues 5 to 7 (2012-2014). To me, it was wonderful to see how The Fenris Wolf wasn’t only well received but also how it attracted such great material by truly amazing writers.
At this time of peak publishing, Fredrik wanted to move in a different direction in his life and art. We folded Edda Publishing, and I integrated Fenris in my other publishing company: Trapart Books, Films, and Editions. Issue no 8 then followed in 2016, and no 9 in 2017.
Issue no 10, to be published early 2020, not only marks ten issues but also a 30 year publishing cycle. Even if you magically erase the 18 year interim silence, it still amounts to one issue every three years. Not a bad frequency!
And this is how it will continue: with a new issue whenever the time is right. The howling voice of occulture and magico-anthropology will continue to cast its spells of “delightenment” onto a readership in need of an intelligent joining of the dark dots.
The nine issues so far amount to 2300 pages of thought-provoking material. Although quantity is not necessarily a quality in itself, it still accumulates nicely in a kind of egregorian or mega-golemic way. Each little piece is part of a totality that’s on a magical mission.
You don’t need to read it all to be enthused or inspired. One single chapter can evoke the entire corpus and attitude of The Fenris Wolf. If, however, you indulge in the totality, you will very likely be changed in a most eclectically positive way.
The Fenris Wolf is not necessarily the destructive devourer of the sun at Ragnarök. Wolfie is also the facilitator of the brand new universe; one filled to the brim with wonder, intelligence, magic and delightenment.
Carl Abrahamsson, Stockholm, October 30 2019
The Fenris Wolf is available at: https://store.trapart.net
