Just a reminder that next week I’ll be giving two talks in the Bay Area! The first is on Tuesday, May 27 in SF’s Mission district on the history of Nazi-Satanism. The second is in Berkeley on May 29, where I’ll talk about the role of 1980s/90s counterculture in the making of James Mason’s neo-Nazi terrorist tome Siege.

We could not find any bookstore that would host me, so we had to get the spaces for the talks ourselves—and this means doing our own publicity. And so if you could forward this to any Bay Area friends, that would be much appreciated!

“A Short History of Nazi-Satanism”
Tuesday, May 27, 7 PM (arrive early if you can!)
The Sycamore
2140 Mission St, back patio
San Francisco

Nazi-Satanism is just one of the many outlandish things talked about in connection with modern Satanism. And although the vast majority of Satanists reject National Socialism, a minority have embraced it—and their numbers are growing. Today, Nazi-Satanists are deeply embedded in a new international neo-Nazi terrorist milieu, and the ongoing arrests of adherents testifies to this.

This talk will go through the history of Nazi-Satanism, starting with the connections between San Francisco’s own Anton LaVey to neo-Nazis—including the contribution of Church of Satan members to the creation and dissemination of neo-Nazi terrorist ideologue James Mason’s book Siege and their infamous 8/8/88 event at The Strand Theater. This history will end with the role of the Order of Nine Angles on today’s real and aspiring neo-Nazi terrorists, from the infamous Atomwaffen Division—connected to five murders—to online child abuse and murder cults like 764 and the Maniac Murder Cult.

“Counterculture and Neo-Nazi Terrorism: How the Neofolk and Industrial Subcultures Helped Spawn Today’s Most Infamous Terrorist Manifesto”
Thursday, May 29, 7 PM
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
1606 Bonita St, Fireside Room
Berkeley

James Mason’s book Siege—which praises terrorism, serial killers, and Charles Manson—has become the go-to text for today’s aspiring neo-Nazi terrorist. At least a dozen murders can be connected to circles based on the book’s ideas. This talk will trace the origins of his ideas, and how members of the 1980s and ’90s counterculture—including those from the Bay Area—were responsible for their spread.

The talk will explain how Mason developed his ideas after a terrorist wing emerged out of a slew of 1970s neo-Nazi micro-parties, including San Francisco’s NSWWP. But in the next couple decades he was discovered and promoted by a clique of four 1980s and ‘90s counterculturalists: industrial and neofolk musicians Boyd Rice and Michael Moynihan, Satanist Nikolas Schreck, and Feral House publisher Adam Parfrey. Both Rice and Schreck lived in San Francisco, and the four were all members or associates of the Church of Satan, also based in the city.

We’ll also ask about how the 1980s and ’90s counterculture became complicit in this. What enabled the situation to arise? How were these four able to obscure their background, continue to function in the underground scene, and remain unaccountable? And what can be done differently in the future?