I rescued this book at the Calgary Horror Con because I couldn't stand to see it sitting there like an orphaned puppy, waiting for someone to pick it up. This kind of puppy, however, is for very special owners. It drinks human blood and shifts in and out of reality like a shadow in a strobe light.For those who have not been exposed to Poppy's work, this is an excellent primer for what is to come. And, honestly, if you haven't read at least something by Poppy Z. Brite,your horror education is sor [...]

Every once in a while you stumble across an artist who is in the wrong time… Poppy is one of those authors, and artist who seems as if she was born too late to be happy. From reading her stories you can envision her walking with the likes of Lovecraft and Poe. I assume they would discuss language, the beauty of the written word and the terrors of their hearts. Brite has a style that harkens back to the 1800’s when flowing language and beauty could be found in even the darkest of tales. This [...]

I actually have the original version of this, called 'Swamp Foetus'. Yes, I'm gloating.

This was my first Poppy Z. Brite read.There were some excellent stories here, my favorites being Calcutta, Lord of Nerves and The Sixth Sentinel.Great collection, and I'm glad I finally gave this author a read.

Gorgeous prose, unforgettable images. These stories are very dark, heartbreaking and visceral.

Poppy Z. Brite, Wormwood (Dell, 1994)This relatively early collection of stories (her first collection, and third published work, previously known as Swamp Foetus), collects stories written between 1986 and 1992. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the book is watching the progression between the earlier and the later stories; you can tell before getting to the end (each is dated) which are which, after an example or two of each.This isn't to say the earlier stories are bad, they're just ra [...]

Twelve stories of artists cursed with dangerous talents and intimacies shared even after death and further tales of Lost Souls's Steve and Ghost. In an otherwise useless introduction, Dan Simmons writes that Brite's "work may be described--perhaps even by her--as 'splatterpunk,' but it is not" (xxiv). Brite's (early) fiction is as lush as it is repulsive, often entrenched in the humid South, at its best taking the guts and gore of what might be splatterpunk to a level which is resonant and haunt [...]

Well to be honest, I have read all of the Poppy Z Brite Gothic horror novels and short stories. The Forward states that this is one of her first pieces of workor something to that effect.Ms Brite is one of my favorite writers - there are no boundaries with this woman, however I found these stories a little too cliche with the whole skinny, pale, thin, goth thing. It feels like she just started out when she wrote these stories and because I have read everything else by Poppy, it fell a little sho [...]

This wasn't the worst collection of short stories I've read, but they just did not appeal to me. I don't mind that they're dark and rather disturbing. No, it's more that they just did not seem to get to the point - the author's prose was descriptive and very apt to the subject matter. The anthology was published in the 90s but that does not hamper its style. There were a few bright spots - times when flashes of brilliance peeked through - I thought that 'Optional Music for Voice and Piano' was s [...]

I've been reading this collection of stories slowly over the past few weeks. I knew they were going to be gross due to what I know about the genre that Ms. Brite writes in, but some of them were downright icky. I only read this book because I wanted to try out something different for a change--and different is definitely what I got!Aside from the ickiness contained therein, I thought that most of the stories in this collection were mediocre. Some of them could have been better developed than the [...]

The third book I read as part of my Poppy Z. Brite (now Billy Martin) phase years ago. I do remember certain characters quite vividly and I really liked some of the stories. And some of the stories I just didn't connect with at all. I felt that some of the characters were a little bit flat -- it's hard to develop characters with a lot of depth in just a few short pages.I think the missing element here was Martin's classic New Orleans atmosphere that he's so well-known for. Some of the stories ha [...]

This was my first Poppy Z Brite book and I loved it. It combined two of my favorite things, short stories and horror. I was sucked into each story within just a few sentences. Poppy's power of description is outstanding, I was always a bit bummed when a story ended; each story could easily go on as a novel. There was a mixture of ghosts, psychic darkness, zombies, gore, emotional darkness, voodoo, dystopia, and humans in situations and with feelings so easy to relate to it's easy to imagine your [...]

One day I am going to go to New Orleans & see if the city truly is the witchy, pansexual, decadent place that everyone makes it out to be. But until then, here is another book under my belt by a NOLA writer. I appreciate Brite's unique voice & the love she has for her characters. This collection was a great way to kill an afternoon, but by the time I got to the last half of the book, I was already familiar with the characters & plot twists she had set up in the first half of the book [...]

Poppy Z. Brite has a writing style that is hauntingly unique. Her brutal imagery adds to the overall atmosphere of every short story. My favourite story is second to last"Calcutta, Lord of Nerves". Definitely a read for the open-minded who have a certain penchant for the macabre. Definitely a shining piece of work by one of the most brilliant writers of my time!

Some of these stories I really enjoyed and some of them were just ok and some of just didn't do anything for me. On the other hand, I found the prologue by Dan Simmons highly entertaining. Dan Simmons showed that he was arrogant old kook, and I'm exceptionally curious as to why he has/had such a boner for Poppy Z. Brite

I think Poppy Z. Brite is an excellent writer with amazing imagery in every sentence, but this was a little too gross for me. I enjoyed the poetic style but I didn't get much out of each story.

It's like living in a song by The Cure.

Poppy Z. Brite should re-write all the American classics and then I might be inclined to read one of them.

An 8,5/10 collection of (rather) short stories, most with a Southern/cajun touch, about various things hiding in plain sight on the fringes of our ordinary world.The good: highly original in ideas; very good expressive and descriptive (but not too much) writing; very believable and convincing ”facts”; powerful story-telling (one feels sucked into the dread); King-like quality, but even creepier.The bad: almost all the stories are about a couple of young emo male rockers, under different guis [...]

This was an easy page turner showcasing the then rising star of an author who has made a massive impact with Lost Souls and Drawing Blood, both novels featuring characters first seen here in the short fiction. I wish Poppy was a more prolific author as i am so eager to read more of her work. Be warned this is also published as Wormwood, same book different titles which really annoyed me when i bought both off of . Even so an excellent collection from a very dark fabalist.

Have you ever watched the movie Eraserhead?You know that feeling you have right after it ends and you just sit there in your corner of slight existential horror and churning, nagging fear of your own mortality and sanity?That's basically the feeling of reading these stories.It was the first time I had ever read something that could plant those feelings inside me and's indescribable.Pick this one up, please! Some of these will absolutely wreck you!

couldn't finish it. It reminds me of my own writing. that it's bad. It's dark, weird, emotional, etc. all things I write and love and can get behind - but like my own writing it is extremely amateur, in desperate need of editing and guidance and a clear actual plot of wtf is going on. You could literally divide this book up into its pages and stick it back together in any order and the stories would all basically meld together and make sense.

I really enjoyed this. The atmosphere in most of these stories drip with sex and violence and it is impossible to not let it engulf you. There's even two zombie stories in here that I really liked after I was convinced I was bored to death of zombies.Greatly recommended.

Gross, indecent, obscene. I loved it.

First book I've ready by Poppy. Amazing collection of short stories, that are not boring, but engaging and haunting.

A collection of short stories and a mixed bag. Worth reading for the following: ‘Angels’, ‘The sixth sentinel’, ‘Calcutta, Lord of Nerves’ and ‘The elder’. Hats off to Miss Brite who wrote her masterwork ‘Calcutta, Lord of Nerves’ at the tender age of 24. I give it 2.5 stars out of 5.

Je découvre Poppy Z. Brite version "nouvelles".Un chronique qui me rappelle à l'ordre, car je n'ai toujours pas écrite ma note sur "Alcool", mon coup de coeur 2010 (lu en octobre).Donc incursion dans le petit monde de Poppy Z.B cet univers fantastique, glauque et putride que j'avais côtoyé lors de ma lecture "d'Ames perdues".En entrant dans ce recueil, me voilà en terre un peu connue. La première nouvelle met en scène Ghost et Steve, les deux jeunes artistes du groupe Losts Souls, person [...]

SOUTHERN DISCOMFORTMy first introduction to the works of renowned horror writer Poppy Z Brite. NB: - I believe the US edition is entitled WORMWOOD.An intriguing introduction from Dan Simmons (Hyperion, Song of Kali)whets the appetite. He came across the works of Ms Brite via a reading of her tale "Calcutta, Lord of Nerves" at a SF conference and was blown away.That story is without a doubt one of the highlights of this collection. I myself am a sucker for tales of horror set in far off, exotic l [...]

It's that time of month again, when all those books I was halfway through a week ago get finished one after the other.I don't really tend to read short story compilations. The trouble with short stories and me (reading or writing them) is that just as I start getting into them, they wrap up. Also, in a collection of short stories, the anthology is only as good as its weaker piece. On the whole, though, this collection was invigorating and devastating and full of such gems of completely perfect w [...]

Okay, so First, I'm not clever enough to get why all of this super intelligent. It's obviously well-written, but that's about all of it that I picked up on. I've also only read Drawing Blood. I think a large part of me missing the "real" story was because I was so preoccupied trying to read signs of body dysphoria in Poppy Brite, ie how his writing might've changed in the "before" and "after." Of course, I should probably see what he has actually said about the subject, or to let it go. And what [...]