Brite poppy z

Contents

Work [ edit ]

Martin is best known for writing gothic and horror novels and short stories. His trademarks include featuring gay men as main characters, graphic sexual descriptions, and an often wry treatment of gruesome events. Some of Martin's better known novels include Lost Souls (1992), Drawing Blood (1993), and Exquisite Corpse (1996); he has also released the short fiction collections Wormwood (originally published as Swamp Foetus ; 1993), Are You Loathsome Tonight? (also published as Self-Made Man ; 1998), Wrong Things (with Caitlin R. Kiernan ; 2001), and The Devil You Know (2003). His "Calcutta: Lord of Nerves" was selected to represent the year 1992 in the story collection The Century's Best Horror Fiction . [ 2 ]

Martin wrote Courtney Love: The Real Story (1999), a biography of singer Courtney Love that was officially "unauthorized", but he acknowledged that the work was done at Love's suggestion and with her cooperation, including access to Love's personal journal and letters. [ 4 ]

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Martin moved away from horror fiction and gothic themes while still writing about gay characters. The critically acclaimed Liquor novels — Liquor (2004), Prime (2005), and Soul Kitchen (2006)—are dark comedies set in the New Orleans restaurant world. The Value of X (2002) depicts the beginning of the careers of the protagonists of the Liquor series—Gary "G-Man" Stubbs and John "Rickey" Rickey; other stories, including several in his most recent collection The Devil You Know (2003) and the novella D*U*C*K . chronicle events in the lives of the extended Stubbs family, a Catholic clan whose roots are sunk deep in the traditional culture of New Orleans. Martin hopes to eventually write three more novels in the Liquor series, tentatively titled Dead Shrimp Blues . Hurricane Stew . and Double Shot . However, in late 2006, he ceased publishing with Three Rivers Press. the trade paperback division of Random House that published the first three Liquor novels, and is currently taking a hiatus from fiction writing. He has described Antediluvian Tales . a short story collection published by Subterranean Press in November 2007, as "if not my last book ever, then my last one for some time." He still writes short non-fiction pieces, including guest editorials for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and a food article for Chile Pepper Magazine .

Martin has often stated that, while he will allow some of his work to be optioned for film under the right circumstances, he has little interest in movies and is not overly eager to see his work filmed. In 1999, his short story The Sixth Sentinel (filmed as The Dream Sentinel ) comprised one segment of episode 209 of The Hunger . a short-lived horror anthology series on Showtime. Of all his books, only Lost Souls is currently under option, by producer Paul Natale.

Critical essays on Martin's fiction appear in Supernatural Fiction Writers: Contemporary Fantasy and Horror (2003) by Brian Stableford [ 5 ] and The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004) by S. T. Joshi .

Personal life [ edit ]

Martin was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has written and talked extensively about his gender dysphoria and transgender issues. [ 6 ] He is a gay man, and has said, "Ever since I was old enough to know what gay men were, I've considered myself a gay man that happens to have been born in a female body, and that's the perspective I'm coming from." [ 6 ] In 2003, Martin wrote that, while gender theorists like Kate Bornstein would call him a "nonoperative transsexual", Martin would not insist on a pedantic label, writing "I'm just me". [ 7 ] In August 2010, he began the process of gender reassignment. and, in 2011 expressed that he would prefer to be referred to by male pronouns. [ 1 ]

He lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Athens, Georgia prior to returning to New Orleans in 1993.

Martin was the longtime partner of Chris DeBarr, a chef, but they broke up in 2011. His current partner is Grey Cross, a New Orleans visual artist and photographer.

On January 6, 2009, Martin was arrested at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in New Orleans as part of a peaceable demonstration in which churches in the Uptown area of the city were occupied to protest their closings. [ 8 ] In August 2009, New Orleans's Gambit Weekly publication published reader-poll results naming Martin in second place as an ever-popular "Best Local Author." [ 9 ]

Retirement [ edit ]

On June 9, 2010, Martin officially stated that he was retired, in a post entitled "I'm Basically Retired (For Now)" on his Livejournal. [ 10 ] He stated that he had 'completely lost the ability to interact with my body of work,' then went on to state that business issues were in part a cause of this issue. Along with this, he specifically mentioned being unable to disconnect from aspects of his life relating to Hurricane Katrina. He ended his statement by saying that he missed having relationships with his characters and that he did not feel the need to write for publication.

I was born in New Orleans on May 25, 1967. My parents are both from Kentucky, but my father had just received his first teaching job at the University of New Orleans, where he was a professor of economics until recently. My mother taught me to read by the time I was 3. Before I could write, I was telling stories into tape recorders ("The Bad Mouse," released on CD by Gauntlet Press, still exists as evidence). By age 5, I was making booklets about bats, writing stories like "Attack of the Mud Monster," and trying to read The Bell Jar .

When I was 6, my parents split up and my mother and I moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where I would live for thirteen years. (My father stayed in New Orleans, and I came back to visit a lot, so it has always felt like home.) I never stopped writing, but around age twelve I became really serious about it and began sending out stories, usually to wildly inappropriate markets like Redbook . In the meantime, I discovered the Beatles and Harlan Ellison, and was inspired to shake up my redneck high school with an underground newspaper (actually more of a broadsheet) called The Glass Goblin .

I sold my first story at 18, so I did experience the six years of rejection that is said to be average for writers -- I just started a lot earlier than most. That first sale was my story "Optional Music for Voice and Piano," to The Horror Show . a semi-professional magazine based in California. At its largest, The Horror Show 's circulation was only about 10,000, but it was widely read and respected by horror professionals -- a good place to start. I sold them several more stories over the next two years, and in 1987, editor David B. Silva invited me to be part of the "Rising Stars" issue, featuring two stories and an interview apiece from five new horror writers. Among them was my friend Brian Hodge -- we met through that issue of The Horror Show .

After the "Rising Stars" issue came out, I received a letter from Douglas E. Winter, who I knew at that time only as the biographer of Stephen King. He was working as a publishing consultant for a hardcover horror line being started by Walker & Company, he'd liked my stories, and he wondered whether I had a novel in the works. I'd just begun my freshman year at the University of North Carolina and was hating it. That letter decided my future. I dropped out of college and began working on what would become Lost Souls .

While working on the novel and waiting to see if anyone would buy it, I went through an array of jobs including candymaker, mouse caretaker, artist's model, short order cook, and stripper. Mouse caretaker is the one I always get asked about. Basically, I was a flunky at a cancer research lab at UNC, where I fed and cleaned up after thousands of mice. I'd do this in the daytime, then come home and write about Steve, Ghost, Nothing and the rest at night, getting drunk on cheap wine and liquor whenever possible.

Bibliography

Triads (with Christa Faust - 2004)

D*U*C*K (novella - 2007)

Short story collections

How I discovered P. Z.B.

The tale of an angste teen.

Some things in life we forget, never to remember again. Some things however we do not. They are stored in a special place. One that we can't always access, but comes to us when we need it most and lets us regress back into a time when bills and changing nappies were alien and getting wasted and dying are hair purple were everything!

I was sixteen. Sixteen and miserable. It seemed to be the "trend" back then in the "90's". I had left home, left college, practically left my mind. I spent all my time reading French poetry and pouring my soul out onto tattered pieces of paper. Long flowing tie dyed clothes were my "thing" and purple streaks in my blonde hair was just how I liked it. A mess? Hmm, we shall call it Beatnik!

His name was Richard, he was twenty-five, and so gorgeous you almost lost your eyesight when you looked at him. He was a bit of a hippy mixed with a delicious blend of grunge and a hint of vampire. For me, the perfect combination. And he was the one. The one who lent me the book. Lost Souls.

It almost sounds funny now when I think it. Like something out of a book. Still, I guess in a way it was. Chartreuse. Bright green Chartreuse. The drink of Vampires and all who walk the night. That was the drink we chose. We drunk the green liquid whilst sifting through the pages of Lost Souls, amazed by her descriptive ability and her talent for transporting you to New Orleans. You could smell it. New age Vampires. Brilliant!

That was it, I was totally blown away. I spent a week immersed in that book. It seemed like years although it ended far too suddenly. Reality, as always butting in and taking over. Uninvited may I add.

Steve and Ghost had become my best friends, and Nothing was like a little brother. Of course one can not help but fall in love with Zillah. Albeit reluctantly. Even longing for the filed fangs of the modern day Vampire to plunge into the soft folds of your flesh and make you feel alive. Drowning in the green of his eyes that matched the iridescent colour of the alcohol that was flowing down our throats.

Yes, sixteen was the age I was. Perhaps the best age. It's an age when you're not a child but nor are you an adult. A limbo age. A time when you want to feel everything. Live everything. Experience is you're second name and danger is something that's unheard of. Yes, sixteen was the age I was.

What happened to Richard? Well, I kissed the Prince and he turned into a frog. I cried rivers of tears. Wrote letters and got heavily stoned. That I found, was the cure. But I will always think very kindly of the nights spent in his room drinking and reciting poetry, but most of all for the introduction to Poppy Z Brite.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

Format: Mass Market Paperback

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.

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Poppy Z. Brite

I'm the author of eight novels, three short story collections, two nonfiction books, and some miscellanea. My earlier books -- LOST SOULS, DRAWING BLOOD, WORMWOOD, EXQUISITE CORPSE, THE LAZARUS HEART, ARE YOU LOATHSOME TONIGHT? (a. k.a. SELF-MADE MAN) -- tend toward the twisted, horrific, and frequently erotic. I still have a definite interest in this sort of thing, but my writing doesn't reflect it as much these days. My recent books -- THE VALUE OF X, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, LIQUOR, PRIME, and the forthcoming SOUL KITCHEN -- all have to do (in varying degrees) with a couple of young New Orleans chefs named Rickey and G-man, their families, and their restaurant, Liquor. I've been married to a chef for 16 years now and he's still bringing me new stories. We lost our home in Hurricane Katrina, but we are back in New Orleans and doing our best to help rebuild the city. I'll note new books,… Read more (please enable JavaScript to read more)