The Fenris Wolf is an occultural journal edited and published by Carl Abrahamsson, from 1989 to the present day. The following text was written to celebrate the making of the tenth issue (2020), and the first cycle of 30 years of The Fenris Wolf.
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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
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Addendum 2024: Number ten was published in 2020, number eleven in 2022, and number 12 in 2024. All issues can be found HERE. Here follows a ”break-down” of all the fine authors featured in this unique anthology:
The Fenris Wolf 1-3: John Alexander, Helgi Pjeturss, Tim O’Neill, Carl Abrahamsson, William S Burroughs, Anton LaVey, Lionel Snell, Genesis P-Orridge, Phauss, Jack Stevenson, Terence Sellers, Stein Jarving, 93/696, Coyote 12, Carl Michael von Hausswolff & Leif Elggren, Frater Nigris, William Heidrick, Peter H Gilmore, ONA, Zbigniew Karkowski, Fetish 23, Ben Kadosh, Freya Aswynn, Austin Osman Spare, Rodney Orpheus, Nemo, Philip Marsh, Hymenæus Beta, Andrew M McKenzie, Beatrice Eggers.
The Fenris Wolf 4: Carl Abrahamsson, Hermann Hesse, Fredrik Söderberg, Peter Gilmore, Peter Grey, John Duncan, Ramsey Dukes, Tim O’Neill, Thomas Karlsson, David Beth, Payam Nabarz, Hiram Corso, Jean-Pierre Turmel, Kendell Geers, Z’EV, Robert Taylor, Phil Farber, Thomas Bey William Bailey, Ernst Jünger, Baba Rampuri, Aki Cederberg
The Fenris Wolf 5: Fredrik Söderberg, Carl Abrahamsson, Jason Louv, Patrick Lundborg, Gary Lachman, Tim O’Neill, Dianus del Bosco Sacro, Philip H Farber, Aki Cederberg, Renata Wieczorek, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Ezra Pound, Stephen Ellis, Hiram Corso, Mel Lyman, Gary Dickinson, Robert Podgurski, Frater Nigris, Peter Grey, Vera Mladenovska Nikolich, Kevin Slaughter, Lionel Snell, Phenex Apollonius, Phanes Apollonius, Anonymous, Lana Krieg
The Fenris Wolf 6: Carl Abrahamsson, Frater Achad, Kendell Geers, Vera Nikolich, Freya Aswynn, Marita, Aki Cederberg, Shri Gurudev Mahendranath, Gary Dickinson, Derek Seagrief, Tim O’Neill, Nema, Philip Farber, Robert Taylor, Michael Horowitz, Alexander Nym, Renata Wieczorek, Sasha Chaitow Sara George, Robert C Morgan, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Anders Lundgren, Anton LaVey – Appendices
The Fenris Wolf 7: Sara George, Carl Abrahamsson, Sasha Chaitow, Vanessa Sinclair, Kendell Geers, Stephen Sennitt, Antony Hequet, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Patrick Lundborg, Henrik Dahl, Philip Farber, Kendell Geers, Angela Edwards, Vera Nikolich, Jason Louv, Kasper Opstrup, Peter Grey, Timothy O’Neill, Stephen Sennitt, Alexander Nym, Antti P Balk, Kjetil Fjell, Derek Seagrief, Sandy Robertson, Adam Rostoker, Emory Cranston, Manon Hedenborg-White, Frater Achad
The Fenris Wolf 8: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Nina Antonia, Gary Lachman, Erik Davis, Vanessa Sinclair, Carl Abrahamsson, Charles Stansfeld Jones (Frater Achad), Kendell Geers, Jason Louv, Timothy O’Neill, Derek Seagrief, Alexander Nym, Stephen Sennitt, Henrik Dahl, Kasper Opstrup, Antti Balk, Aki Cederberg, Michael Moynihan, Friedrich Hielscher, Orryelle Defenestrate Bascule, Zbigniew Lagosz, Bishop T Omphalos, Johan Nilsson, Gordan Djurdjevic, Carey Hodges, Chad Hensley, Zaheer Gulamhusein, Ingo Lambrecht, Hagen von Tulien, N, Kadmus, Stojan Nikolic, Miguel Marques, Renata Wieczorek, Andreas Kalliaridis
The Fenris Wolf 9: Gary Lachman, Vanessa Sinclair, Katelan Foisy, Sharron Kraus, Demetrius Lacroix, Graham Duff, Ken Henson, Peter Grey, Val Denham, Claire-Madeline Culkin, Steven Reisner, Katy Bohinc, Olga Cox Cameron, Ingo Lambrecht, Elliott Edge, Charlotte Rodgers, Alkistis Dimech, Fred Yee, Robert Ansell, Ray O Neill, Derek M Elmore, Julio Mendes Rodrigo, Eve Watson, Carl Abrahamsson
The Fenris Wolf 10: Ludwig Klages, David Beth, Henrik Dahl, Peter Sjöstedt-H, Jesse Bransford, Max Razdow, Christopher Webster, Kendell Geers, Kadmus, Billie Steigerwald, Fred Andersson, Zaheer Gulamhusein, Charlotte Rodgers, Craig Slee, Damien Patrick Williams, Philip H. Farber, Thomas Bey William Bailey, Mitch Horowitz, Ramsey Dukes, Anders Lundgren, Peggy Nadramia, Nina Antonia, Jack Stevenson, Andrea Kundry, Joan Pope, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Vanessa Sinclair, Claire-Madeline Corso, and Carl Abrahamsson
The Fenris Wolf 11: Kadmus, Charlotte Rodgers, Kasper Opstrup, Elisabeth Punzi & Per Magnus Johansson, Hans-Peter Söder, Haukur Jonasson, Carlos Abler, Stephanie Moran & Anna Sebastian, Katy Bohinc, Tom Banger & Koshka, Simon Magus, Ugo Dossi, Siegfried de Rachewiltz, Katrina Makkouk, Vanessa Sinclair, Blanche Barton, and Carl Abrahamsson
The Fenris Wolf 12: Carlos Abler, Vicki Bennett, Jesse Bransford, Gustaf Broms, Aki Cederberg, Henrik Dahl, Val Denham, Gordan Djurdjevic, Emma Doeve, Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold, Kathelin Gray, Mitch Horowitz, Gary Lachman, Dave Lee, Ana Leorne, Matthew Levi Stevens, Anders Lundgren, Miguel Marques, Julio Mendes-Rodrigo, Peggy Nadramia, Alexander Nym, Devin Person, Robert Podgurski, Charlotte Rodgers, Derek Seagrief, Vanessa Sinclair, Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, Lionel Snell, Billie Steigerwald, Jack Stevenson, Thomas Bey Williams Bailey, Tom Banger, Anna Sebastian, Frater U.D., Karin Valis, Gabriela Herstik, Freek Wallagh, Hagen von Tulien
All issues can be found HERE.
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