Mad, immortal stories now surfaced from the literary underground. Charles Bukowski’s stories have addicted legions of American readers, even though the high literary establishment continues to ignore them. In Europe, however (particularly in Germany, Italy, and France where he is published by the great publishing houses), he is critically recognized as one of America’s greatest realist writers. In Bukowski’s trademark semi-autobiographical short prose style, he addresses recurrent themes such as Los Angeles bar culture, alcoholism, gambling, sex, and violence. Many of the stories contain elements of fantasy and surrealism.

With all of Bukowski’s trademark humor and gritty, dark honesty, this 1978 follow-up to Post Office and Factotum is an uncompromising account of life on the edge.

Low-life writer and unrepentant alcoholic Henry Chinaski was born to survive. After decades of slacking off at low-paying dead-end jobs, blowing his cash on booze and women, and scrimping by in flea-bitten apartments, Chinaski sees his poetic star rising at last. Now, at fifty, he is reveling in his sudden rock-star life, running three hundred hangovers a year, and maintaining a sex life that would cripple Casanova.