The Speed Chronicles

Description

The fast-paced subject of speed has a long-standing literary legacy. The drug has historically tuned-up the lives of writers like Jack Kerouac, Susan Sontag, Philip K. Dick and scores more. Yet despite its forceful presence and lasting influence on pop-culture, few dare to write about it. Akashic now brings forth the first contemporary collection of all-new literary short fiction on the drug, featuring stories from the likes of James Franco, Sherman Alexie and William T. Volmann, among many more,

Joseph Mattson is the author of the story collection Eat Hell (Narrow Books) and the novel Empty the Sun (A Barnacle Book), which comes with a soundtrack by Drag City recording artist Six Organs of Admittance and was a finalist for the 2010 SCIBA Fiction Award. He is the literary editor of Two Letters: Collection of Art & Writing, Volume Two (Narrow Books), and his novel Courting the Jaguar will be published by Barnacle in 2011. Mattson has also been shortlisted for DZANC's 20 Writers to Watch list, an alternative to the New Yorker's 20 under 40 list. He lives in Los Angeles.

"Akashic launches a new series of crime anthologies, each focused on a different controlled substance, with this addictive volume." --"Publishers Weekly" "All told, "The Speed Chronicles" deserves great praise for the audacity of the topic, the depth of the discussion, the diversity of its voices, and plain, old, good storytelling." --"New York Journal of Books" "The Speed Chronicles represents a surprising range of experiences. The promise of the collection is that it will neither vilify nor romanticize its subject matter." --"Portland Mercury" "The perfect stocking stuffer for your uncle in AA." --"New York Observer" "The perfect stocking stuffer for your uncle in AA." --"New York Observer"