Great Demon Kings: A Memoir of Poetry, Sex, Art, Death, and Enlightenment

Everything you always wanted to know about sex & art in NYC in the ’60s (and Buddhism in the ’70s) but were afraid to ask because art history books never talk about it.

Twenty-five years in the making, and completed shortly before Giorno's death in 2019, Great Demon Kings is the memoir of a singular cultural pioneer: an openly gay man at a time when many artists remained closeted and shunned gay subject matter, and a devout Buddhist whose faith acted as a rudder during a life of tremendous animation, one full of fantastic highs and frightening lows. Studded with appearances by nearly every it-boy and girl of the downtown scene (including a moving portrait of a decades-long friendship with Burroughs), this book offers a joyous, life-affirming, and sensational look at New York City during its creative peak, narrated in the unforgettable voice of one of its most singular characters who recalls hiw romantic relationships with Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and his mythics projects such as Dial-A-Poem…