 1989 Cherry Valley Editions paperback edition. |
|
| Author | William S. Burroughs |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | short stories, poetry |
| Publisher | Cherry Valley Editions |
| Publication date | 1989 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0916156842 |
Tornado Alley is a collection of short stories and one poem by Beat Generation author, William S. Burroughs, written during the later years of his career and first published in 1989. The first edition of the book included illustrations by S. Clay Wilson.
Notable pieces in the collection include the crime melodrama "Where He Was Going", which Burroughs said on his album Dead City Radio was inspired by the writings of Ernest Hemingway (the story title is taken from a famous quotation from Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro), and the poem "Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986".
The collection is dedicated to 1930s gangster John Dillinger, "in hope that he is still alive."
Both "Where He Was Going" and "Thanksgiving Day" were performed by Burroughs on his 1990 spoken word/musical album, Dead City Radio, with "Thanksgiving Day" also being performed by Burroughs in a music video to promote the CD. In both the CD and video versions of "Thanksgiving Day", which was retitled "A Thanksgiving Prayer", Burroughs appends the dedication to Dillinger.
Stories
The stories contained within Tornado Alley are:
- Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986 (poem)
- Jerry and the Stockbroker
- To Talk for Joe the Dead
- Dead-End Reeking Street
- The FUs
- Book of Shadows
- Where He Was Going
| Works by William S. Burroughs | |
|---|---|
| Novels and Novellas: | And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (unpublished) • Junkie • Queer • Naked Lunch • The Soft Machine • The Ticket That Exploded • Dead Fingers Talk • Nova Express • The Last Words of Dutch Schultz • The Wild Boys • Port of Saints • Blade Runner (a movie) • Cities of the Red Night • Ghost of Chance • The Place of Dead Roads • The Western Lands • My Education: A Book of Dreams • The Cat Inside |
| Short story collections: | Interzone • Exterminator! • Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology • Tornado Alley • The Burroughs File • The Third Mind |
| Essay collections: | The Electronic Revolution • The Third Mind • Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology• The Adding Machine: Collected Essays |
| Non-fiction: | The Yage Letters • The Job • Letters to Allen Ginsberg • The Burroughs File • Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs |
| Recording: | Dead City Radio |
| Films: | The Junky's Christmas • Ah Pook is Here • Naked Lunch |
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