The Lotus Crew

Dope, duplicity, and violence fill this gasser of a novel from a protégé of William S. Burroughs

Set in the scorched cityscape of the Reagan-era Lower East Side of Manhattan, The Lotus Crew is Stewart Meyer’s harrowing yet humorous tale of loyalty and betrayal in the face of heroin addiction. Two street junkies, the introverted Alvira and the gregarious Tommy, team up to spark a street-retailing crew pushing the best heroin in town. In the abandoned buildings and back alleys of an Alphabet City that is as dangerous as the Wild West, the stamp of the Triad crew on a glassine bag of dope means it’s a smoker. The duo is wildly successful until someone counterfeits the Triad seal and triggers a reaction from Tommy that leads to violence—and to a rude awakening for Alvira.

Author Biography

Stewart Meyer was born in Brooklyn, New York. At age twelve he discovered Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer in a used bookstore on Flatbush Avenue and decided to become a writer. He attended the City University of New York and audited William S. Burroughs’s lecture series on creative writing. This led to a lifelong friendship with Mr. Burroughs and to an opportunity to observe a master writer going from draft to draft.

Meyer’s first novel, The Lotus Crew, was originally published in 1984. He is currently at work on a second novel, The Heist Broker, and a memoir, Memory Chips and Reconstituted Pebbles. He lives in New York City.