“Cities of the Red Night is not only Burroughs’ best work but a logical and ripening extension of all of Burroughs’ great work.”

“Cities of the Red Night is Burroughs’ masterpiece. In it, the world ends with a bang—and a barely perceived whimper, disguised by the wicked smile of one of the most dazzling magicians of our time.”

“One should approach Cities of the Red Night as the Wagneresque capper of all the five or six homosexual planet-operas Burroughs has scripted since he found a genuine new style in Naked Lunch…It’s as if we had gotten hold of a black ticket to his unconscious, and anyone who makes the trip will see sights and feel feelings that are unique and mind-bending beyond anyone else’s description.”

“Cities of the Red Night is the most complete and most devastatingly sardonic statement of William Burroughs’ apocalyptic vision. Through his mordant satire of cultural aspirations, homosexual eroticism, and political power, he focuses our gaze into the abyss. His cold, surgical language creates beauty through a terror that we are just able to bear…A modern Inferno.”