Tag: William S. Burroughs
-
D. Harlan Wilson’s excellent book on J. G. Ballard
Book Review by Bill Ectric D. Harlan Wilson has made a literary mark in the field of cultural theory, focusing on the loss of humanity in the inescapable rush of accelerating technology, with books like Technologized Desire: Selfhood and the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction and Cultographies: They Live. While his fiction tends to be disorienting (a trait his…
-
The David Roberts Interview
No one knew what to think when we first saw a band called the “Crawfish of Love.” The stage was strewn with surreal artwork, a manikin head, several TV sets turned on to random channels or static, guitar amplifiers, drums, and five musicians that looked like they were conspiring mischief among themselves. Andy King on…
-
Excerpts of: William Burroughs, “The Western Lands”
Today, instead of writing my own post, I’m sharing a post from Rudy Rucker’s blog, which begins: Some notes on the book’s contents. (1) The “Western Lands” of the book’s title come from Egyptian mythology about the afterlife. Supposedly, beyond the Land of the Dead, lies a heavenly Elysium: the Western Lands. (2) Burroughs…
-
Didion on Burroughs
1966 is calling. At a site called The Beat Patrol, I found a good review by Joan Didion, an author I really like, on William S. Burroughs, another author I really like. Originally published in 1966 in Bookweek, NOT the modern Book Week for children’s books), it begins: There sometimes seems a peculiar irrelevance about…
-
Rudy Rucker’s Tranrealist Manifesto
I first saw a link to this on John Shirley’s Facebook page. Rudy Rucker’s “Transrealist Manifesto” struck a harmonious chord in my perception of the writing craft. I especially like his statement, “Although reading is linear, writing is not.” Rucker goes on to explain why you don’t necessarily needs an outline: A book with no…
-
Adventure Time
Adventure Time might be the hippest cartoon on television. The art and animation are the stuff of dreams, the writing is witty (sometimes hilarious), but those two givens are only the beginning. Amid the zany adventures are moments of adolescent angst and parental regret, and sublimely understated songs that display a talent for lyrics, melody,…
-
Fortean Melancholia and Paranormal Mourning
Many thanks to Andrew Wenaus for his review of my novel, Tamper! Tamper is like the Hardy Boys in that it is a kind of mystery novel in clear/concise language, and it is like (William S.) Burroughs in the sense that there is a presiding desire to break free of some kind of invisible system…
-
The Persistence of J. G. Ballard
I was perusing the archives on one my favorite blogs, Literary Kicks, and found this article about J. G. Ballard from 2002. It caught my attention when I read that, “Among his influences Ballard counts such artists as Dali, Magritte, and Ernst, and he considers William Burroughs to be one of the most important authors of the last…
-
From Xanadu to the Interzone
From The Lazarus Corporation, Paul Hawkins talks with Michael Stevens about his book, The Road to the Interzone: Reading William S. Burroughs Reading. Paul Hawkins: This supposition that JL Lowes had regarding his work on Coleridge began to resonate with you Mike and you cover that in your essay The Bladerunner and The…