''Exterminator!'' is a short story collection written by William S. Burroughs and first published in 1973. Early editions label the book a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

. It is not to be confused with ''The Exterminator'', another collection of stories Burroughs published in 1960 in collaboration with

Brion Gysin Brion Gysin (19 January 1916 – 13 July 1986) was a British-Canadian painter, writer, sound poet, performance artist and inventor of experimental devices. He is best known for his use of the cut-up technique, alongside his close friend, the ...

. The collection contains a number of Burroughs' most popular short pieces, such as "Twilight's Last Gleamings", "The Discipline of DE", "Wind Die, You Die, We Die", "Ali's Smile", and "The Coming of the Purple Better One". The title story is about an insect

exterminator Exterminator may refer to: *A practitioner in pest control Competition *Exterminator (horse) (1915–1945), racehorse, the winner of the 1918 Kentucky Derby *X-Terminator, a competitor in '' Robot Wars'' Fiction * Exterminator!, a 1973 short s ...

, a job Burroughs himself once held. Some of the stories, such as "Ali's Smile", had previously been published in other books and magazines such as '' Rolling Stone'', '' Village Voice'', ''

Evergreen Review ''The Evergreen Review'' is a U.S.-based literary magazine. Its publisher is John Oakes and its editor-in-chief is Dale Peck. The ''Evergreen Review'' was founded by Barney Rosset, publisher of Grove Press. It existed in print from 1957 until 19 ...

'', and ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

''. "Ali's Smile" was also later included in '' Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology''. A different story entitled "Twilight's Last Gleamings" appears in the later collection, '' Interzone''.

Adaptations and homages

In the 1980s, actor Ed Asner recorded a spoken word adaptation of "Wind Die. You Die. We Die", while Burroughs and

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...

recorded a musical version of one of the stories as '' The "Priest" They Called Him''. Certain aspects of the short story "Exterminator!" were used in the 1991 film version of '' Naked Lunch'', with the main character William Lee (a Burroughs stand-in) holding the titular job at the film's beginning. Al Columbia's 1994 comic book series '' The Biologic Show'' takes its title from a phrase used in the story "Short Trip Home". The passage from which the phrase originates is quoted at greater length in an eponymous short story from the comic's first issue.

Story list

''Exterminator!'' contains the following stories: # "Exterminator!" # The Lemon Kid # Short Trip Home # Davy Jones # The Evening News # Astronaut's Return # My Face # Wind Die. You Die. We Die. # End of the Line # The Drums of Death # "Johnny 23" # The Discipline of DE # The Perfect Servant # Ali's Smile # Twilight's Last Gleamings # The Coming of the Purple Better One # "What Washington? What Orders?" # From Here to Eternity # The Teacher # They Do Not Always Remember # Friends # Seeing Red # Old Movie # Electricals # SPUT # Reddies # The "Priest" They Called Him # My Legs Señor # The End # Cold Lost Marbles 1973 short story collections Short story collections by William S. Burroughs Viking Press books {{1970s-story-collection-stub