First I would like to mention that this book is still in print, but under a different tittle. It is called "Wormwood."

This is an excellent book of short stories by the amazing Ms. Brite. THese short pieces do a great job in showing how Poppy thinks and writes, and give you a good grasp of her style. They do not hold up to the very high standards of her novels though. If you are to read her short stories and dislike them, don't give up and discredit her until you've read a novel of hers (I suggest starting with Lost Souls.)

This book is more than text and paper; it is an invitation into a world created by the Queen of modern Gothic literature. I have read all of Ms. Brite's works, and this first glimpse in original form is perhaps her best...A TRUE AND LITERAL MASTERPIECE! I kept it in bed for weeks.

This is truly THE MASTERPIECE from Ms. Brite. It took me a couple of years to track down a copy. It was DEFINITELY worth the time, trouble, and money! I would encourage true fans of gothic and horror to get a copy to read at any price!

May I first say that this book is not about vampires? That would be some of Ms Brite's other works, most noticably Lost Souls and Love in Vein.
This book is about Zach, a computer hacker who looks like Edward Scissors Hands and is running from the FBI, and Trevor, a 'weirdly socialized' artist whose mother and younger brother were murdered by his father, who then commited suicide, when Trevor was young. These two interact in a way that carries the entire story. I loved them and it.

This book is the beest. the greatest book about vampires

After a hiatus of a few years, Poppy is back with a brilliant new short story collection, through Subterranean Press. There's no picture of the book here, so I will give a short description of it: Teal. It's teal. It's very, very teal. The dustjacket shows a very *odd* looking cat (you can see it at the Subterranean Press Website), and the interior pages are oddly textured, giving the book an overall quirky and endearing feel. Like all of her books through Subterranean, the front page is signed.

And as for the stories...

Dispatches from Tanganyika: A Foreword--Reminds me of the forward to Neil Gaiman's "Smoke And Mirrors." Here you will find brief notes Poppy has written on many of her stories, as well as an...explaination for her new (remarkable) writing style.

The Devil You Know--Cute. This story is nowhere near as "horrific" as many of her earlier short stories. Instead, it wonderfully reflects the front cover's "quirkiness."

O Death, Where Is Thy Spatula?--Reintroducing Dr. Brite, coroner of New Orleans and Poppy's alter-ego. (You may remember Dr. Brite from "In Vermis Veritas" in her previous short story collection.)

Lantern Marsh--Very sweet, and vaguely Ray Bradbury-esque. An odd story of childhood and change. Not scary at all.

Nothing Of Him That Doth Fade--This is the only story that really left me cold. It's definately not one of her best--Brite admits as much in the forward.

The Ocean--A dark story of Orpheus in modern times. Poppy's kind of, um, *intense* about people who think that this is a vampire story. Because it's not.

Marisol--More fun and games with Dr. Brite in the kitchen of New Orleans. This story gives a strong message out to all us reviewers out there...be careful what you say!

Poivre--Not really fiction at all. This is more of an anecdote about an incident that happened at one of the author's favorite restaurants. Very cute, really.

Pansu--Hysterical. Just very, very funny. Spoofs "The Exorcist." When I first heard descriptions of this story ("An ancient demon from the East seeks the pleasures of the flesh...") I thought that this would be a serious story. It's really definately NOT.

Burn, Baby, Burn--I forget what this story was based on, but it was good. Very "Firestarter."

System Freeze--Written in the same world as "The Matrix." It's okay. Not being a big fan of the movie, I'm not one to judge.

Bayou de la Mère--We get to see Rickey and G-Man (of "The Value of X" fame) on vacation in this short piece. G-Man is still trying to reconcile Catholisism and his sexuality, making this a very poignant piece.

The Heart of New Orleans--Probably one of the BEST things Poppy has ever written, and the last Dr. Brite story in here. This story is humerous and sad and really, really shows the true heart of New Orleans. Anne Rice, eat your heart out.

A Season in Heck--A little taste of what's to come, methinks. This story takes place at Rickey and G-Man's restaurant, Liquor. However, Our Couple is not the focus of this story. No, this tale concentrates on Paul, a young line chef in the restaurant, and who has a *terrible* crush on G-Man. Bad boy!

All in all, this is an A+ collection from one of my personal favorite authors. Her new, sparser, more honest voice makes all of these stories seem a little more realistic than her earlier volumes--not in the sense of the supernatural, but in the sense of human behavior. Poppy remains one of the few authors who can take me from laughter to tears and back again in ten pages, and this collection is proof of that.

Louisiana Breakdown is an impressively written and thoroughly entertaining novel by Lucius Shepard that blends superstition and lore with faith, potions, and machinations. When a new figure arrives in a small Louisiana because his BMW breaks down, he becomes caught up in the town's tradition of appointing a ten-year-old Midsummer Queen every twenty years. A dark fantasy, Louisiana Breakdown is commended as an imaginative and thought-provoking tale of the fantastic.

To the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, Ligotti pushes up to the very limits of the horror story. Not in the sense of pain and bloodshed -- has anybody really outdone 120 Days of Sodom? -- but in his depiction of a dark and hopeless universe. Taking his place in a genealogy of pessimists that professedly includes Poe, Lovecraft, Kafka, and many others (Schopenhauer? Gombrowicz? Celine?), in his stories Ligotti suggests, hints at, describes and even outright lectures on a universe in which value is an old and unfunny joke, and reality is pain and degradation with a badly fitting mask. It's not that such a theme breaks new ground -- Ligotti is the first to admit his debts -- it's just that he is very good at and utterly relentless about it.

Supernatural horror story writers operate in a dialectic of hope and despair. Depending on scope and intent, their stories show individuals or humanity or the universe itself threatened by evil which, again depending on their outlook, can or cannot be defeated. Stoker's Dracula can be put down by vigilant Victorian savants, but in Lovecraft the entire universe is poised to devolve into the blind idiocy of Azathoth, and his protagonists' only hope is to live out a quiet life and die quietly before the descent begins. The figures that populate Ligotti's stories don't even have that option. The mask is already slipping, and it is impossible in any case to pretend to separate oneself from the general horror. The limit that Ligotti comes up against is just that the horror story DOES exist in and as a dialectic. This is an issue that he takes up, rather playfully, in his introduction on "The Consolations of Horror," wherein he identifies among other things, catharsis and emotional inoculation, schadenfreude and sadism, and even just sheer entertainment as the "consolations" or virtues of horror fiction.

What Ligotti ultimately calls the consolation of this fiction seems to be a kind of Existential revelry in bleakness. But what he mentions, veers away from, comes back to, and generally dances around is a matter that he sets forth in his first sentence: transcendence. Because he weights his version of the dialectic so heavily to nihilism and despair, it is clearest in his fiction that there IS a dialectic. The universe may be wretched and debased, pain in its essence and its end, but it is transcendentally so. If it is meaningless, it is a transcendent meaninglessness, not the meaninglessness of the final stage of entropy. The supernatural horror story intimates that there are mysterious depths, if no unimaginable heights, a unity however foul, forbidden knowledge that grounds itself in reality. In this universe, consciousness can be at the center of things even if it is just as the punchline to a cosmic joke. Thinking along these lines, the horror story is the last refuge of Tragedy. But what if reality is only surfaces, unity is less than an illusion, and all knowledge is local knowledge?

Not that I am suggesting that Ligotti is blind to something. If there is anything to what I have said, I am sure that this supremely self-conscious writer is already aware of it. In interviews, Ligotti has clearly stated that he has made choices in the service of putting over a particular vision of pessimism and nihilism: the authors he has chosen to take after, his notable and much-noted style, his steadfast adherence to shorter forms -- Ligotti himself has derived a lineage from the essay/fiction/prose poem genre that Poe perfected in stories like "The Fall of the House of Usher." I would put him in the grand tradition of the rant, which may sound trivializing but is not truly meant so. It is a tradition that I admire, even down to Lovecraft's breathless italics, and which I think takes in writers as distant as Pope and his Dunciad or Henryson and his Confession. In any case, Ligotti has ably defended himself against criticisms, dismissing claims that his writing tends to be plotless as the unwillingness of readers to look past the foreground; Ligotti refers to his plots as submerged. This appears to be brilliantly true in a story like "Conversations in a Dead Language," although in fairness to the critics it does seem that sometimes his fictions are set pieces forcibly yoked by atmosphere and thematics.

This is a fine collection -- a sort of "greatest hits," if you will, from the man who I would consider the best author of short horror ever. Ligotti taps into a fertile territory of the subconscious with an intellecual vigor that is frightening in its intellegence. His stories are densely packed with narrative information, often cryptic, and sometimes difficult to read, but they are always rewarding. As with any visionary author, his stories cannot be lumped in with any concrete genre, although horror comes closest to describing Ligotti's style; still, though, there are many cases where he spills over the boundaries into a more philosophical, surreal form that I'd not even be sure how to categorize. While there are the definite imprints of Lovecraft, James, and Campbell on these stories, there are also hints of Pynchon (although some might disagree with me on that) and Kafka. This is a collection of stories taken from his three released collections ("Songs of a Dead Dreamer," "Noctuary," and "Grimscribe"), as well as a group of new stories that are very good as well. My only small complaint is that some stories, I suppose by necessity, had to be left out; but I do miss the inclusion of such Ligotti greats as "Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story" and "Professor Nobody's Little Lectures." Also missing from this collection are the brilliant short-short stories that form the last pages of Noctuary. Still, these are small quibbles, and as an introduction to the work of this luminary of modern storytelling, one can hardly do better than to buy this book

I don't know where to start. Ligotti is the best living writer of horror. As I understand it, he doesn't write to make money.

It shows.

When I went to Africa for two years, his books were the only ones I brought with me (OK, I exagerate. I also brought a paperback of the best of Lovecraft). I wish that "The Nightmare Factory" were available then. I bought this book for the "Teatro Grottesco" section. However the inclusion of nearly all of his previously printed tales makes this collection one of those "trapped on a desert isle" books that you can't live without.

I have two copies of "The Nightmare Factory". One stays by my bedside and helps me survive frequent nights of insomnia. The other is my loaner copy. It's getting a little beat up from being passed around so much. Everyone I've lent it too wants their own copy.

If you like reading novels where little Timmy's puppy gets run over by a lawnmower and then comes back fron the dead to give vapors to the squirrels and little Timmy's evil step-daddy drinks to much beer and lowers his mommy's self-esteem, then YOU NEED LIGOTTI!

YOU NEED THIS BOOK!

Think of it as salvation by dread.

Reading crappy novels makes you a self-absorbed wuss.

Reading Ligotti makes you a scholar of your own damnation.

Ligotti makes you want to read (or reread) such masters as Nabokov, Bruno Schulz, and Thomas Bernhard.

Ligotti made me a Current 93 fan.

I'll shut up now (but only on condition that you buy this book).

When you get sick of crawling around the maze of your own life a fast paced romp in Poppy's world is just what the doctor ordered. A fun, extremely personal examination of love, lust and pain killers destined to leave the angry reader not at all unhappy with their stock in life. You'll never think about mirrors the same way again.

This is a book for anyone who loves Poppy Z. Brite--and even those who hate her. Anyone who has read anything by Brite (whether they liked it or not) probably wondered who Poppy Z. Brite really is. Guilty but Insane is Poppy's own reflection on who she is, what she has expierenced and her stories. This is the type of book that lets you into the mind and feelings of Poppy. The format of the book is wonderful to read. The book is devided into 21 "chapters" that give Poppys view on things ranging from AIDS, drugs, her writing, New Orleans, Mardi Gras and places shes visited. This book is highly personal and written in an incredibly likeable style. Poppy wrote this book just like she was talking to a friend--it is easy to read, easy to understand and very easy to get lost in. If you like Poppy this book will let you know about her life and I guarentee you will find it fascinating. If you dislike Poppy (for whatever reasons) this book will help you understand who she is and why she writes the type of stories she does. This is an honest Poppy book that does not tell fictional stories--only the honest truth of who Poppy Z. Brite is. I also want to note that my copy is not a copy purchased from amazon.com it is a signed rare limited edition that may slightly differ from other copies.

Poppy Z. Brite's first short story collection shows a great deal of potential but ultimately fails to live up to its own possibilities. Far too often this author will give her readers a lovely mise en scène... and then do nothing with it. In most Brite stories, the writing is like a string of polished jewels, but nothing much actually *happens*. Fans of her novel "Lost Souls" will appreciate that there is a Steve and Ghost story; however, it is in fact a dismally predictable love-among-freaks tale... it's moving, but you see the ending coming a mile away. Brite's much-lauded "Calcutta, Lord of Nerves" is beautifully phrased and believably set, but again, anticlimactic... basically a chase scene. Of the stories in this volume, "His Mouth Shall Taste of Wormwood" and "The Ash of Memory, The Dust of Desire" are probably the best. The former is another variation on Brite's hackneyed "perverse young gay gothboys in lust" theme, but it plays out with the inevitability of a classic ghost story

Wormwood is a collection of short stories that Poppy Z. Brite wrote mainly in the late 80's and early 90's. Many fans of Poppy consider her short stories to be better than her novel, but I can't agree. In this medium you feel like you've only had an appetizer of her amazing talent, left with only a morsel of an idea.

I enjoyed about half of this collection, including "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood," "Xenophobia," "Calcutta: Lord of Nerves," and "How to Get Ahead in New York."

Fans of her first novel, "Lost Souls" will be pleased to learn that two of the stories feature Steve and Ghost. I recommend this book to Poppy fans, but if this is your introduction, I would start with her novels.

Wormwood is a fascinating timeline of one of the best authors around expanding her talent, and exploring the dark worlds that she creates. Good work, all in all.

There are times when I am reading a Poppy Z. Brite novel and I feel bogged down waiting for action, utterly bored with the nth sexcapade of the main characters. This might be why I love this book of short stories more than anything else she's written. While some stories show signs of youth, more often Ms. Brite's fluid prose is utterly seductive and disturbing. Where other writers either clunk along or try to poetry us to death, Poppy Z. Brite maintains the perfect balance between plot and style. Her stories are scary, menacing and beautiful at once. She says what needs saying and then breaks off leaving the images to fester in our minds for days, weeks, years. Possibly one of the most worthy-of-repeat-viewings collection in short story history

Poppy Z. Brite is an author of extraordinary talent! She is brilliant! Her writing is basically the only I've ever read where I actually experience ALL 5 senses! I've never read an author who could make me feel, taste, touch, see, and EVEN SMELL things so clearly before. It's hard to pin-point how she does this so well, but who needs to pin-point it, anyway? Poppy is a writer who TRULY understands our dark sides, and in reading it you may understand it more yourself. As for this novel, her first, it is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read -- and I read it fast, a little depressed after finishing it, wishing it could be a never-ending story. As for the content of the book, it takes the reader through the lives of two members of the band, Lost Souls, and a family of non-traditional vampires: Zillah, Malochai, Twig, and Nothing. Nothing is, more-or-less, the main character. He is a teenager who's just discovering his roots. Basically, to understand the book, you merely nee

Several years ago I walked into a book store and my eyes fell upon Poppy Z. Brites Lost Souls. At the time it was her only novel. I bought the book initially just based on the fact that I liked the cover art. Now my original copy is held together with duct tape. I love this book. It is fascinating, original, dark, erotic, and in my opinion one of the best horror books out there. I have re-read this book more times then any other. I still get hooked into the story line and feel for the characters that I have grown to love. This novel explores many topics that are fairly common in horror fiction. Yet, Poppy breathes new life and fascination into both vampires, misguided youth, and rock n' roll. This book is almost the modern day tale of vampires. I recommend it to all dark horror lover, vampire fans, and anyone who loves a well crafted and executed story. If this is your first time trying Brite--be warned her words are potent, strong, and filled with images. This is the original Poppy book. I urge you to give it a try, and maybe, just maybe, a few years from now you will find your copy of this book held together with duct tape from too many late night readings.

Sometimes a book hits you so hard that you don't have words to describe the emotions it evoked. Lost Souls, poppy Z Brite's first novel, is definitely one of those books.

We are given three sets of main characters. The first is the trio of vampires, Molochai, Twig and Zillah. The are dirty, redneck vampires, rough and rotten. The second charter, who can't really be a set all on his own, is Nothing. He is Zillah's baby, but they don't know that when they become lovers. The third set of characters is the Missing Mile Crew, Steve, Ghost, and Ann. Ghost has ESP in a very big way. Unfortunately he finds that he can't help everyone. Sometimes he can only feel their pain and turn from it before it swallows him too.

I don't care what anyone says about Steve. he wasn't a bad guy. he went too heavy on the drinking and that caused him some problems, but he wasn't a villain like some other reviewers *coughs* *one star hinted. Sure, he raped Ann, but the sad part was that he still loved, he tried to make things better.

The story is fairly twisted and you have to be in a sort of dark mind set to read it, but you don't have to be a goth. you also don't have to be a social outcast. if you like a book with characters you can love and feel for, or if you liked something with twisted, dark romance, or just something different, I defiantly recommend this.

I stumbled across this book like some people stumble upon Christ or Buddah. It was there at the right time just when I needed it. The first thing that caught my eye as I scanned the cover was the relationship between Zack and Trevor. Being a closeted and confused 19 year old I knew I could buy it with out looking "gay". When I got it home I started reading it and didnt put it down until I was finished. It felt like Poppy had gotten right inside that corner of my head I thought only I knew about. The feeling of loss, love, madness, disconecction. It wasn't just the gay aspect either. Trevors struggle with his ghost of a father, Zacks inability really to connect with the world except through hacking, Parker, Birdland, comics, it's all here. It's the first book I ever read that made you feel like it came with it's own Jazz soundtrack.(I later read Poppy's Lost Souls..it introduced me to the Cure) It's also the only book I've ever read that takes you into a cartoon underworld. (Litterly!!) When I was done I knew beyond all shadows I would make it..and that their was someone out there waiting and looking for me. Buy this book..give it away as gifts..hell, give it away on the street corner. Magic..pure one hundred perecent hit you in the soul magic.

All I can say about this book is that it moved me. Drawing Blood was actually the first book I ever read by Poppy. I was lost in her words from the first moment I opend the book. I have never been much of a fiction reader but when I read Drawing Blood I felt as if I were in it. It hits pretty close to home, myself being from North Carolina. I wished there was such a place as Missing Mile . After I read Drawing Blood I went out and got Lost Souls and had the same reaction. I even Had vivid dreams about Birdland Trevor and Zach. Her characters have such life. They have real personalitys. The gay sex in this novel was done so great that it made me change some of my veiwes on love between two males. I highly recommend this book for people who are thinking about getting Into Poppy. Even though it is not her first book she ever wrote it is definatly a good one to start with!

This is the first book I've read by Poppy Z. Brite, and it definately won't be the last. It's an electrifiying book that's sure to please your horror senses.
The story is about Trevor McGee, and how his father murders his mother and little brother and himself in their house and how he goes back to visit it later (don't worry, I didn't give anything away that the book description doesn't say anyway). He meets Zach, a computer hacker, and becomes Zach's lover. He revisits his old home that his family was murdered. At times this book is startingly, and overall really good. Check it out if you're into horror, or even if you're not.

I have read everything Poppy Z. Brite has published and was hyped when Exquisite Corpse came out. I was completely enthralled with Andrew Compton. His whole story was like a "true crime" stoy and I loved that! The AIDS awareness was done well I thought, but maybe slightly over kill. No pun intended. Although I tried I could not conjure feelings for ill fated Tran, however. And I thought the end was a bit of a let down as I wanted Something Big to happen. But it also left it open to your imagination as to how anyone could go on after something this horrific happening to them, around them or to someone they loved. I recomend this book to steadfast fans of Poppy Z. Brite, but I would not offer it to a friend as I do not feel it is her best work. LostSouls and Drawing Blood are at the top of that list.

I cannot for the life of me understand why I love this book. Homosexual serial killers? Not really my cup of tea. However, Exquisite Corpse was fantastic! I have never read anything quite like it before. It challenged my narrow world view, consumed my mind as I read it, and afterwards it left me in a stunned stupor. The book is immensely readable, Brite has a real talent for the nuts and bolts of language. She can hold the reader in the palm of her hand, and then squeeze, leaving them gasping for breath, but begging for more. As much as I love this book, I know it isn't for everyone. After I finished it, I recommended it to all my friends and family. I found that approximately two out of three people, that I persuaded to pick it up, either liked or loved the book. The third person in general was disgusted. The beauty of Exquisite Corpse though, is that within a very short period of time, you will know if you are that third person.

So you're a Poppy Z. Brite fan? Read Drawing Blood? Read Wormwood? Read Lost Souls? Consider yourself able to handle anything she could possible deal out? Think again. Do not read this book just because you loved her other work, and certainly don't read it if you've never read her other works. There are things in this book that you can never un-read; she makes you feel things you can never forget. Granted, all you hardcore fans out there won't head this warning- I certainly wouldn't have. So do go right ahead, and when you are done you will know what I'm refering to. All of which is not to say that this is not an incredible book- as always, Poppy Z. Brite is the master of descriptions so vivid that they make you feel, smell, or taste her words. And that is what makes this book so profoundly disturbing and so utterly unforgettable.