Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #143655 in Books
• Published on: 1996-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 256 pages

Synopsis
A collection of erotic horror stories follows the adventures of solace-seeking lonelyhearts on a North Carolina highway, behind a dusty Georgia carny show, in a Baton Rouge mausoleum, and in an alley in Calcutta.

Customer Reviews

Warning for Potential Purchasers
This book was formely entitled Swamp Foetus. Do not purchase if you already possess the latter.

Traditional horror with a PZB twist...
As a huge fan of Poppy Z Brite's novels, I was eager to read this collection of earlier work - I'd read her later collection of short stories, Self Made Man just prior to this and was just as impressed as I had been by her novels. This collection disappointed me slightly though, not because the stories aren't fascinating, dark and extremely well crafted, but because they differ from Poppy's later work which I so enjoy. I suppose there's less homoeroticism, less gore and more traditional horror, more subtlety - which I did enjoy, but just hadn't quite expected. Brite's prose style is consistently vibrant and intriguing - particular favourites include both stories featuring Ghost and Steve (of Lost Souls), His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood and a story about a goth girl living with a ghost, the name of which I can't remember and I don't have the book to hand! This would be a great introduction to Brite's work, but those who've read practically everything else she's done may be surprised, although not at all unpleasantly so - my disappointment in this book soon changed, as the different style only serves to illustrate how Poppy has grown as a writer, and truly found her own style. Horror and PZB fans alike will love this book.

A terrific selection of short stories...
After reading exquisite corpse, I enjoyed it so much, I decided to buy Wormwood, purely because I was curious to read some of her earlier works and see how she, as a writer, has evolved.

Now, I have got to get this off of my chest now! There is one gripe I have with this novel (especially now after I have read Lost Souls too...) But a lot of the characters feel a bit... well... samey. A lot of them seem to have very similar physical traits and characteristics, such as black hair, green eyes, and somewhat androdynous in appearance - but this can be forgiven because these early writings show how she has grown as a writer, yet still retained the ability to retain the reader's curiousity of the dark unknown. This isn't for people who are new to her work, primarily because new readers will see the repetitive character descriptions, and think Poppy Z Brite is a one trick pony.

Some of the better stories in this collection, I believe, are "The Sixth Sentinel", "Calcutta, Lord of Nerves" and "Angels", where the writing is so evocative it can take you from the fetid swamps in New Orleans to the desolate back streets of India and make it feel so real in your mind. Also, I feel these tales are better examples of her skill in developing a variety of characters (rather than a lot of the others following the mould described above). It is a shame she didn't excercise this range in the rest of the stories, but it can be forgiven as a lot of these can be seen as works in progress and a lot of writers when they first start out make many drafts with one specific character in mind.

I would, however, recommend this book to Brite fans, and to people curious about her work for very different reasons, but hopefully with the same level of enthusiasm! Take this book with you next time you are on a camping trip, because these are more grown up scary camp fire stories with a breath of originality.