Wormwood: A Collection of Short Stories
by Poppy Z. Brite
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Book Reviews of Wormwood: A Collection of Short Stories
Book Review: Exquisite!
Summary: 5 Stars
Poppy sent me a signed copy of the limited edition Borderland Press hardcover when it was publish'd in 1993, and I was utterly mesmerized with the originality & excellence of each tale. Her paperback publisher was too gutless to call the mass pb edition SWAMP FOETUS and changed its title to WORMWOOD. "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood" was written as homage to the magnificent weird fiction of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, inspir'd by what some dismiss as his "minor" story, "The Hound." Poppy lovingly describes the pleasurable horrors that Lovecraft could not name when he wrote his tale in October 1922. She writes of it with absolute conviction:
Louis's sharp face snapped toward me. His eyes were painfully sensitive to light, so that even in this gloaming he wore tinted glasses and it was impossible to see his expression. He kept his fair hair clipped very short, so that it stood up in crazy tufts when he raked a nervous hand through it. "No, Howard. Think of it: our own collection of death. A catalogue of pain, of human frailty--all for us. Set against a backdrop of tranquil loveliness. Think what it would be to walk through such a place, meditating, reflecting upon your own ephemeral essence. Think of making love in a charnel-house! We have only to assemble the parts--they will create a whole into which we may fall."
That is, for me, an almost perfect paragraph. It sings, it expresses exactly what the narrative needs to express at that point. It lays groundwork for the remainder of the story.
Each story in this book is unique, and in their way they are perfect expressions of horror. How I miss her short stories, these lovely gems of pain and outsideness, of beauty and lust and terror. Each tale is a kiss of genius from one of the genre's great talents.
Book Review: Gothic Horror At Its Best
Summary: 4 Stars
Wormwood, Brite's collection of gothic short stories, serves as a reminder that Brite is one of the most original, most powerful, most interesting voice in modern horror fiction. All of her stories are enthralling and intriguing. Even in her short fiction, her characters are three-dimensional and fully formed. And her poetic prose is always affecting.This collection of 12 stories is just wonderful to sift through. And of course, some of the stories are better than the rest. My two favourites, Angels and How To Get Ahead In New York, brings back the charcters Steve and Ghost, the two protagonist of Brite's first novel, Lost Souls. Ghost is Brite's most interesting character; I would gladly live through many more adventures with him. It was a real pleasure to meet him again, even under the form of short ficiton (though I have to admit that I do crave another novel with Ghost as the main protagonist).
The story Optional Music for Voice and Piano is probably the best story in the book. It tells the story of a singer who's voice has the power to affect others in the most nefarious ways. And the stories The Ash Of Memeory, The Dust of Desire and The Elder are also worth more than one reading.
It is obvious that Brite is highly inspired by music in all of its forms and shapes. All of her stories are about the power and the beauty of music. But her prose also reads like music; it is always poetic, always beautiful, always telling and very musical.
Miss Brite deserves to become a major voice in horror fiction. This collection of short stories just serves to prove that she is one of horror's best kept secret, a secret which is more than ready to erupt into something greater.
Book Review: Quiet and tight.
Summary: 4 Stars
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 raw. And raw is not a bad thing. In fact, it can be quite charming, especially when one encounters another two Steve and Ghost stories ("Angels" and "How to Get Ahead in New York"), which also happen to be two of the longest in the book. It's rather odd to have watched an author create her own shared world and remain its sole inhabitant.
Steve and Ghost aside, there's a lot of fun stuff here for the discriminating fan of viscerally atmospheric (if that makes sense) horror. Brite's tales are not for the squeamish, but she never treads into the realms of Robert Deveraux (or, for that matter, her own novel Exquisite Corpse). Even the zombie story, which is a genre that basically invites excess gore (especially since Peter Jackson's wonderful film Dead Alive), has more of a quiet, dignified air about it (albeit one with some language that may make some neophytes squirm a bit in a different way).
Very good stuff. It's easy to say in hindsight this is the beginning work of a very gifted author, so imagine I'm saying it in 1994 and have amazing powers of presentiment. *** ½
Book Review: More Steve and Ghost
Summary: 5 Stars
I stumbled upon a copy of Love In Vein, the vampire erotica collection edited by Poppy Z. Brite. I thought it would be silly, certainly of lesser merit than something Anne Rice could have edited. Boy, was I wrong. I loved it. So, then I thought, if this is what the lady can EDIT, think of what she can WRITE.
So, I came to Amazon.com and looked up her novels "Lost Souls," and "Drawing Blood." I bought them both, and loved them. After that I wondered what of her work I could read next. "Exquiste Corpse" sounded kind of freaky, (sorry, Poppy.) But "Wormwood", despite a strange and dare I say, gory-looking cover, sounded good. Then I read that there were two stories in this collection featuring Steve and Ghost. Of course I bought it.
I wish there was another full novel about Steve and Ghost. I mean I would read about them doing such boring things as TAKING OUT THE GARBAGE and SMOKING ANOTHER JOINT or STEVE GETS IN A CAR CRASH AND CRACKS UP THE T-BIRD.
Luckily, Poppy didn't take advantge of that when she published this. The stories are good. There were other good ones that didn't feature Steve and Ghost. They are scarier than Stephan King and more erotic than Anne Rice. With Poppy, what more could you ask for? She's one of the best. She would be the best if only she would write another novel about Steve and Ghost. Or another story collection featuring only them.
Plus, in New York, Steve has to fight hobos, and has a chance to buy severed human heads.
Buy, this, you won't regret it.
Book Review: ...rimmed in blood and ash
Summary: 5 Stars
For fans of Poppy Z. Brite's early works in gothic horror, this collection of short stories is a killer starting point. As Dan Simmons describes in his tongue-in-cheek intro here, Brite excels in creating deadly scenes through a very "sensual" writing style - that is, she creates moods by deftly describing sights, sounds, and smells with a furiously exotic and descriptive use of language. Like the best of horror, Brite's stories are not necessarily scary in a slasher sort of way, but instill a sense of creeping dread that stays with you long after your reading experience is over. Even better, most of the stories in this volume were written by Brite at quite a young age, giving the world a preview of an emerging talent that has now delivered the goods for close to two decades. These stories show Brite laying waste to overused horror archetypes and taking them in surprising new directions, including a creepy update of the weird twins device in "Angels," a new look at the desires of ghosts in "The Sixth Sentinel," and a very disturbing take on zombies in "Calcutta, Lord of Nerves" which repositions the undead as society's disadvantaged rejects and outcasts. At a young age, Brite also displayed raw talent in the art of character development, the most notable example here being "Optional Music for Voice and Piano," a tale of a singer with a talent that becomes bigger than himself, with tragic results. Poppy Z. Brite has had an important influence on modern horror writing, and instead of reading imitations, you should get it from the source. [~doomsdayer520~]