william s. burroughs • blade runner: a movie
SECOND EDITION PAPERBACK
In this trenchant science-fiction screen treatment written in the mid-1970s, William S. Burroughs outlines the coming medical-care apocalypse: a Dante-esque horror show brought to a boil by a mutated virus and right-wing politics, set in a future all too near.
"The fascination of William Burroughs’ Blade Runner doesn’t end with the mystery of its title, but it certainly begins there. What crucial word is missing, and why did he give it the subtitle “a movie”? And which came first, Burroughs’ book or Ridley Scott’s more famous film? The answer to that one, of course, is neither."
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY OLIVER HARRIS
Mr Harris is Professor of American Literature at Keele University and President of the European Beat Studies Network.
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Second printing / Second edition
NEW EDITION, NEW FORMAT, NEW FRONT COVER DESIGN
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96 pages. Format approx. 5"/129mm wide x 8"/198mm tall. Colour cover. Printed & bound in England. ISBN 978-1-910691-90-8
100 Numbered/signed/artwork copies
£40 plus shipping
88 pages. Pinched Crown format, approx. 7”/175mm wide, 10”/250mm tall. Handbound at the Tangerine workshop with acid-free boards, conservation glue and hemp cord; foil embossed front cover artwork; colour title page. ISBN: 978-1-910691-54-0
Quarterbound with Fabriano Tiziano 'oatmeal' paper covered boards and cloth spine; acid-free text paper; Fabriano Tiziano light blue endpapers; front cover artwork embossed in black.
AUTHOR PHOTO BY GERARD MALANGA
Includes a bound in high quality reproduction of Mr Malanga's photo of the author on Mohawk Superfine paper.
All copies SIGNED by Oliver Harris.
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26 Lettered/signed/signed artwork copies
£130 plus shipping
88 pages. Pinched Crown format, approx. 7”/175mm wide, 10”/250mm tall. Handbound at the Tangerine workshop with acid-free boards, conservation glue and hemp cord; foil embossed front cover artwork; colour title page. ISBN: 978-1-910691-54-0
Quarter bound with Fabriano Tiziano grey/blue paper covered boards and blue decorative cloth spine; front cover artwork embossed in black; acid-free text paper; specially commissioned artwork is Indigo printed onto Mohawk Superfine paper and forms part of the 3-page ‘stepped’ Fabriano Tiziano front endpapers — the other page colours being light grey and dark grey; Fabriano Tiziano dark grey endpapers.
SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED ARTWORK BY PETER BLEGVAD
Indigo printed onto Mohawk Superfine paper and bound into the book. Peter Blegvad’s cult comic strip Leviathan ran for seven years in The Independent on Sunday review. It was memorably described by Simpsons creator Matt Groening as “one of the greatest, weirdest things I’ve ever stared at”.
All lettered copies are SIGNED by Oliver Harris and Peter Blegvad.
LETTERED COPIES SENT OUT WITH A COMPLIMENTARY 'READING COPY' OF THE FIRST PRINT PAPERBACK
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"[Blade Runner: A Movie] is set in a near-future dystopian US, where free healthcare is available to all provided they undergo sterilisation and forego various other genetic liberties..."
—Guardian
"Reading Blade Runner: A Movie four decades on from its original 1979 publication, certain themes from Burroughs’ vision appear to be eerily prescient, with a government concerned about overpopulation and gaining control over the private citizen. This is achieved through the ability to withhold essential services including work, credit, housing, retirement benefits and medical care through computerisation..."
—Quietus
"[Blade Runner: A Movie is set in] a future where the only way to receive medical treatment is to be sterilized to stop any further progeny polluting the world. This draconian bargain leads to a blackmarket of doctors operating on patients who refuse to be sterilized."
—Dangerous Minds
"[The title of the film 'Blade Runner'] brings along with it a weird backstory that tells us something about how the Burroughs virus spreads around, infecting nearly everything science fictional and countercultural over the past half-century or so. That’s William S. Burroughs, of course, author of — among a few other things — a 1979 novelistic film treatment called Blade Runner: A Movie."
—Open Culture
Original review:
“Like The Wild Boys, Blade Runner: A Movie is a story of youthful discontent in a world gone insane, told in quick, razor-sharp scenes and snatches of dialogue, like bits of film found littering the floor of some hallucinatory projection booth. Burroughs’ near-future satire is fast, funny and inspired.”
—Mac Tonnies (1979)
William S. Burroughs was born on February 5, 1914, in St. Louis, Missouri, and became one of the founding figures of the Beat Movement. An addict for years, he crafted books like Junky and Naked Lunch, which were harrowing, often grotesque looks at drug culture. He is cited as a major influence on countercultural figures in the world of music as well and worked on several recording projects. Burroughs died in Kansas in 1997.
Oliver Harris’ life as a Burroughsian began in 1984 with a PhD at Oxford that nobody would supervise. He has since gone on to publish many essays and ten books, including William Burroughs and the Secret of Fascination and new editions of two Burroughs trilogies (Junky, Queer, The Yage Letters Redux and Restored versions of Nova Express, The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded), with another trilogy to come in 2020 (Minutes to Go, The Exterminator and BATTLE INSTRUCTIONS). He is Professor of American Literature at Keele University, President of the European Beat Studies Network, and the proud father of four daughters.
Peter Blegvad is a writer, illustrator, songwriter, broadcaster, teacher. Born in New York City, lives in London. His latest album is Go Figure. His comic strip The Book of Leviathan is published by Sort Of Books (in English) and is also available in French and Chinese. Artwork in lettered copies only.
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