Cities of the Red Night
A Novel
by William S. Burroughs · first published 1981
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2recommended by
4HN commenters
2016–2022first – last mentioned
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Clem Snide, a private detective, has to solve a case of ritual murder. In the Gobi Desert 100,000 years ago, a red virus has erupted. And in the 18th century, gay pirates have set up their own republics in South America and are at war with the conquistadors. All three stories are merged at the end in a giant trans-time, trans-space battle.
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I highly recommend Of Captain Mission by Daniel Defoe. And Cities of the Red Night by William S. Burroughs :)
on “A lot we know about pirates is not true, and a lot of what is true is not known” ↗…favorite is a short essay called "The Discipline of Do Easy", around which Gus van Sant has made a narrated short film[1]. Book wise I enjoyed the Ticket That Exploded, Yagé Papers and the trilogy around Cities Of The Red Night more than Naked Lunch. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoOUBETTyMI
on “William S. Burroughs's Paintings (2015)” ↗While reading about William S. Burroughs' "Cities of the Red Night" I found out about Konstantīns Raudive's book "Breaktrhough". This book was about electronic voice phenomena (EVP) and the attempt at recording voices from the afterlife. Even if you don't buy into the…
on “Ask HN: Where to Find Obscure Literature?” ↗Sure. But then, anyone who'd do that could just include the code in the retrovirus ;) There's a trope in dystopian SF (and maybe first, in Burroughs' Cities of the Red Night) about specifically targeting particular races.
on “Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes” ↗From Cities of the Red Night by William S. Burroughs:[0] > As I study the picture I see an island in the sky, green as the heart of an emerald, glittering with dew as waterfalls whip tattered banners of rainbow around it. The shores…
on “Many of You Are Homesick–For a Place You’ve Never Been” ↗This reminds me of William S Burrough’s “Cities of the Red Night,” in which a deadly plague appears suddenly. The character Dr. Pierson is a heroin addict, and helps discover that heroin is prophylactic against the fever: “A top government official bluntly warned:…
on “Cannabinoids Block Cellular Entry of SARS-CoV-2 and the Emerging Variants” ↗