Today, we are proud to announce the release of The Bunker Diaries, a memoir by Stewart Meyer about his time with William S. Burroughs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Meyer met Burroughs as a student at City College in 1974 and was mentored by him a few years later. This book shares many of his experiences in and around Burroughs’ Bowery Bunker.
The Bunker Diaries will appeal to Beat fans not just because it is another memoir but because it shares much of Burroughs’ wisdom about life and art. Meyer shows how Burroughs taught him to be a better writer through patient but often harsh criticism and applicable advice. Here is one of my favourites:
We also see Burroughs’ views on other matters, such as war, politics, and the conscious mind. Throughout the book, many familiar faces appear. We see Burroughs conversing with old friends like Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, and we also encounter the various shenanigans of Gregory Corso, Herbert Huncke, and Jacques Stern.
The book is not entirely focused on Burroughs and his Beat pals. We also see Meyer’s attempts to run a typesetting business while managing a heroin habit. It is not entirely tied to the Bunker, either, as we get to visit Burroughs at his home in Kansas when Meyer types the manuscript for The Place of Dead Roads.
The book concludes with an interview conducted by Beatdom regular, Leon Horton. This is the second time Horton has contributed an interview to one of our books. Last year, he did a lengthy interview with Victor Bockris for The Burroughs-Warhol Connection.
It was a privilege to edit this book and I am eager to see what readers think about it. Pre-ordered copies were sent out a while ago and should have arrived by now. If yours has not, then get in touch. If you have not yet ordered a copy, then it can be found on Amazon or through Bookshop.org. Water Row Books also has a few copies for sale.
An Important Note
It has recently been brought to our attention that there was a mistake with the files sent to Amazon for the Kindle edition of A Remarkable Collection of Angels. (This does not affect the print edition.) If you have bought the book on Kindle, please get in touch with us so we can help you with a refund or a replacement copy. We sincerely apologise for this issue. Note that this does not affect anyone who bought the print edition of the book. The Kindle file currently sold by Amazon is the correct one.
David. Just finished The Bunker Diaries in detail and it's a book I couldn't put down - again. Keep me in mind if you ever need a fledgling writer. I post on www.throopstreetpress.wordpress.com and here on Substack. Cheers. Paul Irv Schuett
I pre-ordered it and it arrived in pristine condition as all the books from Beatdom Publishers do. Sat down, out of the box and began to read it. Fantastic read. Thank you!