“In 1972, in a book called In Search of Dracula, professors Florescu and McNally revealed the existence of a historical prince born in Transylvania named Dracula. It has taken them over 15 additional years of research and travel to some of the most desolate spots in the world to unearth the complete history of this multifaceted prince, the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula. Known as Vlad Dracula the Impaler, this prince was legendary even in his own time for committing crimes that were excessive in both nature and number. He created a bloodcurdling ‘forest of the impaled’ to dissuade an invading army from attacking his capital… Whether hero or monster, Vlad Dracula finally can be understood only in the context of his times… any fictional creation pales by comparison to this true tale.”

Publisher: Little, Brown
Paperback: 261 pages
Illustrated

A collection of 43 short essays that range in topic from autobiography to social commentary to ruminations on science to literary criticism. Discursive and linear, these reflections offer a rare glimpse into the sensibility of a novelist whose style is largely defined by allegory and the now-famous cut-up method. While the expository presentation may be unique (though Burroughs, it seems, is either incapable or unwilling to disengage from allegory altogether), the disposition isn't; his singular brand of indigenously American Libertarianism—caustic, scatological, hilarious, wistful—is evident throughout: “Most of the trouble in this world has been caused by folks who can't mind their own business, because they have no business of their own to mind, anymore than a smallpox virus has.” There's a commonsense approach that informs his assessments of fellow writers as well. Of Beckett, he states: “If the role of a novelist is to create characters and the sets in which his characters live and breathe, then Beckett is not a novelist at all. There is no Beckett; it is all taking place in some grey limbo, and there is also no set.” Highlights include “Bugger the Queen,” a scathing attack on British royalty; “My Experiences With Wilhelm Reich's Orgone Box”; and “The Limits of Control.” MDG

Publisher: Little, Brown
Paperback: 216 pages

“My mother, Eva, was the Baroness Erisso. She came from a long line of Austro-Hungarian aristocrats, the von Sacher-Masochs. Her great-uncle was Leopold Baron von Sacher-Masoch, whose novel Venus in Furs had given rise to the term masochism. During the war, Eva and my grandparents, Flora and Arthur, lived in the Hungarian Institute in Vienna, where they were more or less free from harassment by the Nazis. My grandmother was Jewish, and the family was in great danger throughout the war (and even greater danger after the Russians invaded Austria in 1945). Eva was raped by occupying Russians soldiers, got pregnant and had an abortion. She was worn out by the privations of the war, and then along came my father, Major Glynn Faithfull, who was working as a spy behind the lines with British Intelligence.” Into this world was born Marianne Faithfull, who was to become the angel of Swinging London. Her first single, “As Tears Go By,” was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and became an international hit. She settled into a love affair with Jagger, however her increasing passion for drugs would soon leave her a street junkie living among the remains of a wall bombed out during WWII. From these depths, she managed to reinvent herself artistically and take hold of her demons. Told with a survivor’s frankness, Faithfull’s tale is populated by the likes of Dylan, the Beatles, Kenneth Anger, Madonna, James Fox, Anita Pallenberg, Brian Jones, Keith Richards, and especially Mick Jagger. Roughly two-thirds of the book is devoted to her years in the Rolling Stones Women’s Auxiliary, however, this is, after all, the part of her tale which most readers will hunger for. While never appearing evasive or less than forthright, her descriptions of Mick are told with the class befitting a women of her breeding. JAT

Publisher: Little, Brown
Paperback: 310 pages
Illustrated

“An insider’s account, based on three years of research, discusses the near-epidemic proportions of prostitution in Asia, noting that 8 percent of Thailand’s prostitutes are HIV positive and pinpointing its sources to political corruption and parental dysfunction.”

Publisher: Little, Brown
Paperback: 320 pages
Illustrated