I imagine Eddie Bunker slow smoking a cigarette while blank staring out a dirty window in a dirty motel room in a dirty city called LA.  Eddie feels fear and outspoken rage towards normal society because they refuse to accept him as a valid human being.  Eddie understands the concept of urban survival and has made a cognizant decision to become the predator and not the prey.  A stolen hand gun sits on his left and a typewriter sits on his right.  Today Eddie chooses the typewriter.

***

I like Edward ‘Eddie” Bunker a lot.  His prose isn’t anything particular and you won’t find University professors discussing his work to bubblegum eyed freshman.   The work is still enjoyable.

He spent the first half of his life surviving mean streets and concrete cages, evading the law (including being on the FBI’s Most Wanted list), and writing from his prison cell.

Urban survival in LA taught him to be predatory, violent and apathetic towards fellow humans.  Acclimation to his harsh reality resulted in rejection from society.  Overwhelming feelings of alienation and rage followed.  These concepts are static in his writing.

If I had to choose one of his books to recommend, I would suggest “No Beast So Fierce”.  “Animal Factory” being second.

Any young person with MTV glossed images of LA dancing in their soft little heads should read Eddie’s work.  Greater people have broke themselves against this city’s teeth.

You aren’t very special.  You won’t make it out alive.