The place of dead roads

William Burroughs's surreal fable set in America's Old West features a cast of notorious characters: The Crying Gun, who breaks into tears at the sight of his opponent; The Priest, who goes into gunfights giving his adversaries the last rites; and The Nihilistic Kid himself, Kim Carson, who with a succession of beautiful sidekicks sets out to challenge the morality of smalltown America.

With a narrative of fantastical proportions and a rich, dry, growling humour, The Place of Dead Roads continues Burroughs's exploration of society's controlling forces - the State, the Church, women, literature, drugs - with a style utterly unique in twentieth-century literature.