Wormwood: A Collection of Short Stories (Mass Market Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The name of Poppy Z. Brite is well known to most horror fans. What some do not know, though, is that Brite hit the ground running as a fiction writer, and some of her best work so far is right here in this collection of a dozen tales (originally published as Swamp Foetus) she wrote between ages 18 and 24. The exigencies of long plot development and evolving characters that sometimes bog her down in the novels are absent from the short story form, where Brite's extraordinary talent for compressed, redolent imagery combines with her keen sense of narrative structure to create perfect little objets d'art. Stories like "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood," "Calcutta, Lord of Nerves," and my favorite, "The Sixth Sentinel," are too exquisite to be missed.

Product Description

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 an alley in Calcutta. Reprint.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dell; 1st THUS edition (December 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440217989
• ISBN-13: 978-0440217985
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #239,855 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quiet and tight., May 10, 2004

By	Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gothic Horror At Its Best, November 30, 2001

By	Sebastien Pharand (Orléans, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars His mouth will taste of wormwood... wow, January 6, 2000

By	Christine Weinman (Los Angeles, Ca) - See all my reviews

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.