On a relentless Los Angeles summer day, you walk barefoot over broken glass and melting tarmac to meet your connection, praying that he will extend your line of credit to one more bag of heroin. You are alone, penniless, and wracked by violent withdrawals. Last night you robbed a psychotic crack dealer named Shakespeare, and had to abandon your apartment for fear of reprisals…
Welcome to Hollywood, and welcome to Digging the Vein.
Tony O’Neill’s brutal debut is based upon his own experiences as an addict and sideman to acts as diverse as the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Kenickie and Marc Almond. Through the eyes of his anonymous narrator you will experience a side of Hollywood that few tourists will ever see: Digging the Vein is an unsentimental journey through the underbelly of L.A.’s drug subculture.
Reviews
“A noir to stand up with Dante and Bukowski … a reservoir of self-awareness and not an ounce of self-pity. His evocation of the haunted landscapes of Los Angeles resounds with the gnarled grace of vintage Tom Waits… This stuff will probably kill you – let’s do another line.”
“Reading it I could taste the LA smog. Here pain comes at you like a Mack truck – relentless and unavoidable. Don’t blink. Keep reading.”
— Dan Fante (Wrecking Ball Press)
“A blistering account of addiction, love, hope and the downside of the American Dream…”
— Dazed and Confused (Wrecking Ball Press)
“Digging The Vein will appeal to all Tony O’Neill fans … It’s another pitch dark classic.”
— Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting (Apple Books)
“This book will take you inside the mind, heart, spoon, pipe and needle of a junkie. Tony has cooked down the life of an addict and injected it into these pages. It brought me back to the street, back to the hell of craving and the bliss of getting a fix.”
— Noah Levine (Everand)
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