Edward Bunker - Winner of
the Macallan Gold Dagger 2000 for non-fiction with
Mr Blue: Memoirs of a Renegade

ABOUT THE BOOK

Edward Bunker’s life is beyond the imaginings of most fiction writers. He was born in Hollywood, California, the son of a stagehand and Busby Berkeley chorus girl, whose early divorce propelled him into a series of boarding homes and military schools. From the age of five he repeatedly ran away, roaming the city streets at night. A proud character, combined with an IQ of 152, resulted in a series of altercations with the authorities. He became the youngest ever inmate of San Quentin at the age of seventeen, and there he learned survival skills and faced down the toughest prisoners in the system. He was befriended by Mrs Louise Wallis, a former star of the silent screen and wife of movie mogul, Hal Wallis, who produced films starring Bogart, Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and George Raft. She introduced Bunker to her circle of friends, including Jack Dempsey, Tennessee Williams, Aldous Huxley and William Randolph Hearst, whose guest he was at San Simeon.

A parole violation resulted in a spell crossing America as a fugitive on the FBI’s most wanted list. His eventual capture led to Folsom prison. Encouraged by the example of Dostoevsky, Cervantes and Caryl Chessman, and by the kindness of Mrs Wallis, he determined to write his way out of prison. Bunker’s first published novel, No Beast So Fierce, viewed by many including Quentin Tarantino as the finest crime novel ever written, changed his fortunes. It was filmed as Straight Time, starring Dustin Hoffman. He has written three other novels, The Animal Factory, Little Boy Blue and Dog Eat Dog, (all published by No Exit) admired by writers as diverse as William Styron and James Ellroy. He received an Oscar nomination for the screenplay of Runaway Train, and has appeared in a score of films, most notably his legendary role as Mr Blue in Reservoir Dogs. This blistering narrative is a memoir like no other.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

"What a life! What a writer! What a book!" - Jeff Bridges

"...compulsively readable piece of real-life southern Californian noir" - The Times

"A scalding experience - and a literary triumph in the tradition of Dreiser, farrell and James Jones. This is an important book." - Roderick Thorp (author of Nothing Lasts Forever)

"Bunker belongs to the majestic and uncompromising tradition of Jean Genet and Hubert Selby Jnr, who have introduced us to victim literature. Bunker's novel is the culmination of those innocent tales of puberty in America that began with Huck Finn and brought us to Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. In Mr Blue: Memoirs of a Renegade he has taken us to the end of the line. he has introduced us to the most endearing, fascinating and violent child we are ever likely to meet" - Norman Bogner (author of Arena)

"Integrity, craftsmanship and moral passion...an artist with a unique and compelling voice" - William Styron

ESSENTIAL TRIVIA

It took Edward Bunker 17 years, six novels and over a hundred short stories before his first book was published - as well as surviving on the proceeds of crime, he used to sell his own blood to raise the money to send his writing to publishers and magazines.