Two books by the son of William S. Burroughs. Soul crushing sadness. While the Elder Burroughs' writing has an almost scriptural cadence to it, (Bill Jr, says "Naked Lunch" was transcribed), the Junior Burroughs writing is page after page of unrelenting despair and self-pity; well-written, yes, but Darker-than-Dark...In his afterword to the book the Elder Burroughs' describes his son's writing as illustrative of the Cultural Revolution and Dream that was the 60's. Bill Jr's writing shows the 60's as a nightmare and you may feel fortunate to wake from it after finishing the book. And, as so many "Revolutions" of the 20th century abysmally failed, perhaps this was one more revolution we can thankfully see fizzle and fade. In "Speed" Bill Jr. confidently predicts that the long-hair revolutionaries he sees are gonna shake up the world and never sell out...well... Fascinating book, well-written, haunting and exasperating, important addition for folks who collect the Elder Burroughs stuff. Just don't read this book with any sharp objects nearby...

I am a former Heroin addict. Although the author himself does not dive into the horrors of the addiction, he feels the same pain for speed that a Junkie will feel for Heroin. Burroughs, Jr. is a wonderful writer, and I will say even better than his old man. The second book, Kentucky Ham, does tend to fly off of the subject at the end, but his off-the-subject commentary is touching and real, and seems to fit just fine. If you want to understand yer local neighborhood Junkie better, read this book. Oh, hell, read it anyway.

I love and have loved these two books by Billy Jr for years. I have read them 3-4 times and swear they only get better w/each re-read. When you finish the last page of Kentucky Ham (having read Speed first and the second book subsequently) you feel like you and Billy had just hung out together for a little while. And it feels like that evey time you read his stuff. How sad that he was indeed "cursed from birth" and had such a short sad life but how intruiging it was!