Kentucky Ham

Kentucky Ham, first published in 1973, was the second novel by William S. Burroughs, Jr., the son of Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs. Like its predecessor, Speed, the book is an autobiographical novel based upon Burroughs' own life. In this case it covers a range of events, such as time spent in a prison farm in Kentucky, working on a fishing boat in Alaska, and visiting his father's old haunt, Tangiers. Burroughs Jr. went on to write a third novel, Prakriti Junction, but it was never completed. Jennie Skerl, the academic who has published critical reviews of Burroughs' father's work, the Beats and Jane Bowles, befriended Billy and reported that his third novel included material about his liver transplant in 1976. Material...