William S. Burroughs was an American writer who fatally shot his wife in Mexico while playing William Tell.

“The Stray Bullet: William S. Burroughs in Mexico” (University of Minnesota Press, paper, 176 pages, $17.95) was initially published in 1995 in Mexico. Jorge Garcia-Robles’ book, now translated into English by Daniel C. Schechter offers insights into William and Joan Burroughs, why they were in Mexico and the world that surrounded them.

Garcia-Robles depicted Burroughs — whose mother’s family had ties to the Coweta County area — as one who wound up in Mexico for pragmatic reasons and who largely lived in Mexico without being touched particularly by any aspect of its culture.

“The fact is that Burroughs could be somewhere without being there at all,” he wrote. “Burroughs was in Mexico, but he remained far, far away from it.”

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