Customer Reviews

Wormwood: A Collection of Short Stories

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a book. I stumbled across it accidentally, in its original hard cover form entitled Swamp Foetus. Once I read a few pages of the title story, I was hooked and I simply had to finish. I read the rest of the book in one sitting. The stories are dark and haunting, and sometimes the images are disturbingly graphic and morbid, with ample helpings of grave robbing, rotting flesh, exhumed corpses, etc. Especially good is the title story, about two androgynous goth beauties obsessed with death and always in search of the ultimate thrill. If you have a taste for the macabre and necro-erotic, this collection of stories is for you. The images and characters will stay with you long after you cease reading it.

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

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.

Last year, when I was barely fourteen, my friend let me borrow her copy of Wormwood. It's one of the best pieces of literature I have yet to read. Words cannot describe fairly the way this book left me feeling. I was literally thirsty for more, for anything else. I had never before read anything that I considered flawless until I found Poppy Z. Brite. The use of language, and the stories themselves, are stunningly perfect, at least in my eyes. If you write, or if you love amazing stories, you should love this.

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

I think Ms. Brite's is comparable to Harlan Ellison in her ability to mix startling imagery with vivid emotion. This book is a steal at such a cheap price.

I wasn't expecting short stories, but when i found out that a few of her stories had the same characters in it as the first two books, I was in love. I think it is ingenius to be able to write books with totally different themes, but be able to include the same characters, even if only as a cameo. She has impressed me yet again.

If you are already a Poppy Z. Brite fan, this colletion is a must read, and far better than her more recent collection: Are You Loathesome Tonight. If you have not yet read Brite, however, I recommend that you start with one of her novels, as her stories are a bit weaker and better appriciated once you are already familiar with her style. This collection contains some wonderful little gems--in fact, it's filled with them. Probably the best work in the collection--which also happens to be her most reprinted story--is "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood." "Georgia Story," is also a nice little piece and will be particularly loved by Brite Fans because it features Ghost and Steve from Lost Souls. The story which I feel has the best title, and is a great story on top of that, is "Footprints in the Water." Another great story which gets second place as far as best title is "Optional Music for Voice and Piano." I could go on and on like this, because I loved every story. This is a collection well worth owning. Previously titled Swamp Foetus.

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.

The characters in every story are just about the same; dirt poor teenage-young adult southern goth musicians, complete with homosexual lovers and no place to go. Some die, some don't, but who really cares. The couple things I did enjoy out of Wormwood were grizzly death scenes and well established, disturbing settings. A little black humor here and there at least contributed something towards overall enjoyment, but no enough. Variety would have helped out considerably, as would plots. Brite isn't a terrible writer, but dosen't do anything her pal Caitlin R. Kiernan couldn't do a hell of a lot better.