in 1995, shortly before his death, southern hired a new agent and began making arrangements for the republication of "candy" and "the magic christian" by grove. his final project was the text for a 1996 coffee table book about virgin records. he appeared at the yale summer writing program mid-year. franz douskey, a creative writer at yale, told a reporter from the yale daily that southern was giving a non-lecture, trying to gasp through calcified lungs. in october he made his last media appearance when he was interviewed for a documentary on cult scottish novelist alexander trocchi.