Rapid Eye Volume 2 by Simon Dwyer

Simon Mckenzie Dwyer was a curious fellow. A pub brawler and a football hooligan. A Plymouth Argyle supporter with a tender soul and ferocious intellect.

Initially started as a fanzine in 1979, Rapid Eye quickly became something bigger and more fully formed. Dwyer had started Rapid Eye as a zine after he moved to London amid the cultural tumult of post-punk in 1978. Developed through the eighties, it culminated in 1989 with the first of three ambitious coffee-table volumes.

Here we have the second of three volumes of Simon Dwyer's collected interviews and writings from hallowed contributors such as Victor Bockris, Richard Kern, Colin Wilson, Genesis P-Orridge, Anton LaVey, Alex Sanders, Paul Mayersberg, Timothy Leary, and Aaron Williamson. Alongside articles and essays on Death Art, Neoism, Numerology & Serial Killers. Nearly half of the rest of the volume is given over to Dwyer’s own ‘Plague Yard’ piece, an epic, heady journalistic romp through the Altered States of America. In his 1997 obituary for The Independent, Paul Cecil frames ‘The Plague Yard’ as something which could have been Dwyer’s stepping stone towards firmer literary repute. More dedicated to his creation than himself, Dwyer decided to simply include it as a contribution to Rapid Eye.

Rapid Eye, and the passionately curious and affirmative spirit of Dwyer which is infused into every page of these volumes seems in some ways to be lost to time. There is very little about Dywer and Rapid Eye online comparatively to other compendiums of alternative culture from the same period such as RE/Search publications. I would highly recommend reading the beautiful obituary for Simon written by his widow, Fiona Dwyer. You can find it here in full.

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Cover: Piss Christ by Andres Serrano

Edited by Simon Dwyer

Published by Annihilation Press, 1992