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His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood
Contains four short stories from Swamp Foetus:
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood
The Sixth Sentinel
Calcutta, Lord of Nerves
How To Get Ahead in New York
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood
The Sixth Sentinel
Calcutta, Lord of Nerves
How To Get Ahead in New York
88 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
13 people are currently reading
482 people want to read
About the author
Poppy Z. Brite
164 books3,656 followersPoppy Z. Brite (born Melissa Ann Brite, now going by Billy Martin) is an American author born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Born a biological female, Brite has written and talked much about his gender dysphoria/gender identity issues. He self-identifies almost completely as a homosexual male rather than female, and as of 2011 has started taking testosterone injections. His male name is Billy Martin.
He lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Athens, Georgia prior to returning to New Orleans in 1993. He loves UNC basketball and is a sometime season ticket holder for the NBA, but he saves his greatest affection for his hometown football team, the New Orleans Saints.
Brite and husband Chris DeBarr, a chef, run a de facto cat rescue and have, at any given time, between fifteen and twenty cats. Photos of the various felines are available on the "Cats" page of Brite's website. They have been known to have a few dogs and perhaps a snake as well in the menagerie. They are no longer together.
During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Brite at first opted to stay at home, but he eventually abandoned New Orleans and his cats and relocated 80 miles away to his mother's home in Mississippi. He used his blog to update his fans regarding the situation, including the unknown status of his house and many of his pets, and in October 2005 became one of the first 70,000 New Orleanians to begin repopulating the city.
In the following months, Brite has been an outspoken and sometimes harsh critic of those who are leaving New Orleans for good. He was quoted in the New York Times and elsewhere as saying, in reference to those considering leaving, "If you’re ever lucky enough to belong somewhere, if a place takes you in and you take it into yourself, you don't desert it just because it can kill you. There are things more valuable than life."
Born a biological female, Brite has written and talked much about his gender dysphoria/gender identity issues. He self-identifies almost completely as a homosexual male rather than female, and as of 2011 has started taking testosterone injections. His male name is Billy Martin.
He lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Athens, Georgia prior to returning to New Orleans in 1993. He loves UNC basketball and is a sometime season ticket holder for the NBA, but he saves his greatest affection for his hometown football team, the New Orleans Saints.
Brite and husband Chris DeBarr, a chef, run a de facto cat rescue and have, at any given time, between fifteen and twenty cats. Photos of the various felines are available on the "Cats" page of Brite's website. They have been known to have a few dogs and perhaps a snake as well in the menagerie. They are no longer together.
During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Brite at first opted to stay at home, but he eventually abandoned New Orleans and his cats and relocated 80 miles away to his mother's home in Mississippi. He used his blog to update his fans regarding the situation, including the unknown status of his house and many of his pets, and in October 2005 became one of the first 70,000 New Orleanians to begin repopulating the city.
In the following months, Brite has been an outspoken and sometimes harsh critic of those who are leaving New Orleans for good. He was quoted in the New York Times and elsewhere as saying, in reference to those considering leaving, "If you’re ever lucky enough to belong somewhere, if a place takes you in and you take it into yourself, you don't desert it just because it can kill you. There are things more valuable than life."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
October 3, 2015
Good day, Ladies and Gentlemen, today we’d like to introduce you to a new pair of literary specialists, just graduated from Bullford, and full of things they want to say.
With no more ado, I shall hand over the discussion to Asterisk and Obstalisk.
ASTERISK: Thank you! Yes, we certainly have a lot to say.
OBSTALISK: *burp* Yeah! What are we gonna talk about today?
ASTERISK: We’re going to use some short stories (or perhaps a short story) by Poppy Z.Brite to wax forth on some aspects of Gothic fiction, or even maybe Southern Gothic fiction, because she actually falls into the latter genre.
OBSTALISK: Huhuhuhuh *snort* you mean that goth lady who isn’t a lady anymore.
ASTERISK: What do you mean, not a lady?..oh, that. Shut up, Obstalisk!
OBSTALISK: Why? It’s true! She’s not hiding it, she’s...
ASTERISK: *Gives O a backhander* We’re not here to gossip, but to talk about literature. I would like to talk about how Poppy Z. Brite uses sensual and conceptual contrasts and liberal use of metaphors and imagery in His Mouth will Taste of Wormwood to add a fresh, poetic and disturbing element to her rendering of the Southern Gothic style, and uses contrasts as a method of heightening a sense of the transgressive.
OBSTALISK: Yuck! Those stories are all yuck yuck yuckyuck ! Good Goodreads people, don’t listen to him, these are... *OW!*
ASTERISK: The titular piece is obviously styled after the Gothic genre of fiction, since it contains typical ingredients of the latter. Jerrold Hogle, in a book called The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction, defines some of the key characteristics of Gothic fiction as follows:
...a Gothic tale usually takes place in an antiquated or seemingly antiquated space – be it a castle, a foreign palace, an abbey, a vast prison, a subterranean crypt, a graveyard, a primeval frontier or island ...
OBSTALISK: Oooh, and she does use places like graveyards and crypts and deserted scary temples with huge sexy scary goddesses – hey almost as scary as that huge Ahmah-zone dame! -and deserted train stations...
ASTERISK: Within this space, or a combination of such spaces, are hidden some secrets from the past that haunt the characters, psychologically, physically, or otherwise at the main time of the story.
OBSTALISK: Ghosts, you mean.
ASTERISK: Well, not only ghosts. Jerrold says: These hauntings can take many forms, but they frequently assume the features of ghosts, specters, or monsters (mixing features from different realms of being, often life and death) that rise from within the antiquated space, or sometimes invade it from alien realms, to manifest unresolved crimes or conflicts that can no longer be successfully buried from view. It is at this level that Gothic fictions generally play with and oscillate between the ..
OBSTALISK: OMG, you’re making my head hurt, shut up shut up shut up!!!
ASTERISK: As Jerrold Hogle says: It is at this level that Gothic fictions generally play with and oscillate between the earthly laws of conventional reality and the possibilities of the supernatural – often siding with one of these over the other in the end, but usually raising the possibility that the boundaries between these may have been crossed, at least psychologically but also physically or both...
OBSTALISK: Stop! What do you mean!!~!??
ASTERISK: I mean they have ghosts and zombies and vampires and so on, but that the...
OBSTALISK: What has vampires and ghosts and zombies?
ASTERISK: Gothic fiction does.
OBSTALISK: So are the Twilight books Gothic fiction then?
ASTERISK: Ermmmm errrr... Obstalisk, please stop interrupting me!!
OBSTALISK: No really, they have vampires... okay, I don’t know if they have zombiez, but don’t werewolves count? They’re way cooler than zombiez anyway!
ASTERISK: Tssk! Now where was I? I was saying you get terror gothic and you get horror gothic. And I was wanting to say that the titular story of this little selection is a good example of classic Southern horror gothic. In the story, a lot of the language used is of a florid, descriptive nature, reminiscent in its decadent flair of Oscar Wilde.
It is also strongly reminiscent in style and setting of the classic gothic fictions of Poe and Lovecraft.
OBSTALISK: Wait! Hold on, what's the difference between Southern Gothic and Northern Gothic?
ASTERISK: No, no, no "Northern" Gothic. Southern Gothic is set in the US South, like, for instance Tennessee or Mississippi, or New Orleans, or...
OBSTALISK: Oooh, ok, where you get voodoo stuff.
ASTERISK: Well, it doesn't have to include voodoo, actually. In much of Souhtern Gothic, the "horror" is more of a psychological nature. Lovecraft and Poe were both technically Southern Gothicers, depending on how you define it... because,well, it's difficult, because the stories were not ...well, Poe's stories are sort of set in a no-man's land.
...and Poppy Brite's stories are set all over the place, even one in India. But anyway, the first story in the book, the titular story of the collection, is definitely set in the South, in New Orleans. That's sort of a special sub-genre of Gothic fiction which I find very interesting.
But what I was going to say before I got interrupted, is: This is what Jerrold Hogle says about horror Gothic: it confronts the principal characters with the gross violence of physical or psychological dissolution, explicitly shattering the assumed norms (including the repressions) of everyday life with wildly shocking, and even revolting, consequences.
OBSTALISK: Revolting, yes! You can say that again, the stuff she writes is really revolting, don’t listen to Asterisk’s boring twaddle, she writes about dead people and zombiez eating live people right through into their innards, and...
ASTERISK: Well, of course it is revolting, that is the entire point!
OBSTALISK: In any case, is this a review of Jerrold’s book, or of Poppy’s stories?
ASTERISK: Sigh, whatever. Well, if old Jerrold didn’t make it clear enough, then maybe I can tell you what another expert says, and THIS guy is big into gothic lit. Among many writings on Romanticism and Gothic fiction, he wrote a book called Gothic (Gothic: The New Critical Idiom ).
According to Fred Botting:
“ [In classic gothic fiction] the excesses and ambivalence associated with Gothic figures were seen as distinct signs of transgression. Aesthetically excessive, Gothic productions were considered unnatural in their under-mining of physical laws with marvellous beings and fantastic events.
Transgressing the bounds of reality and possibility, they also challenged reason through their overindulgence in fanciful ideas and imaginative flights. Encouraging superstitious beliefs, Gothic narratives subverted rational codes of understanding and, in their presentation of diabolical deeds and supernatural incidents, ventured into the unhallowed ground of necromancy and arcane ritual.
The centrality of usurpation, intrigue, betrayal and murder to Gothic plots appeared to celebrate criminal behaviour, violent executions of selfish ambition and voracious passion and licentious enactments of carnal desire. Such terrors, emerging from the gloom of a castle or lurking in the dark features of the villain, were also the source of pleasure, stimulating excitements which blurred definitions of reason and morality ...
OBSTALISK: zzzzz...zzzzzz ... .ZZZZZZ ....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
ASTERISK: Hey! Cut that out! *kick*
OBSTALISK: OW! Hey! But you’re boring! Boooooorrring.
ASTERISK: *sulks* Well, that wasn’t me, that was Fred Botting. And I don’t find him boring at all!
OBSTALISK: Well, I do, so shut up already and talk about the guts and the zombiez and the voodoo and the...
ASTERISK: In the stories, we are made privy to rather shocking revelations, and this is where the typical Gothic element of dissolution, of moral decay and depravity comes into play, and one of the core elements of gothic fiction, namely transgression.
In Brite’s work we see elements of transgression in the themes of the flouting of moral taboos, the supernatural and a preoccupation with death. Brite keeps using contrasts to heighten the sense of transgression, interspersing her text with incongruent images where she juxtaposes wholesomeness with decay, where the ugly and dissolute is emphasised as it is contrasted with the pure and beautiful. The narrators in the stories tend to use a lot of imagery and metaphorical language, erm,...
OBSTALISK: Stop talking like the two people you just quoted! Can’t you just be a regular guy and say these stories are as depressing as shit! They want to make you just ... I dunno, creep back into bed and put your head under the covers... they make you uncomfortable like maggots are crawlin’ under your skin...
ASTERISK: Ah, now that you mention that, I noticed that throughout the stories, the narrator intermingles areas and objects of anxiety with that of tranquillity and beauty: this creates a feeling of growing unease in the reader, and heightens the emotional response in the reader, very similar to that which is invoked by the imagery of poetry.
OBSTALISK: Lalalalala!! I’m closing my ears, and I want to tell you, Goodreaders, that you mustn’t read these stories, they are yucky yucky yuck yuck
ASTERISK: Aha! Well, I think in that case, we can confirm that the author successfully weaves a web of contrasting metaphor that has the result of invoking an emotional response in the reader that is quite similar to the reading of poetry, and that the macabre juxtaposed with the sublime leaves the reader with a disturbing sense of unease.
OBSTALISK: Lalalalalalalalala
ASTERISK: ...and I think these stories should be awarded 4 stars.
OBSTALISK: WHAT!!! Are you NUTS!!! These should not get even one star!!
ASTERISK: Hmmm, would you be willing to compromise on 3 stars then?
OBSTALISK: Well, for a family-size box of KenXcensoredX Fried Chikkun...
ASTERISK: Done!
With no more ado, I shall hand over the discussion to Asterisk and Obstalisk.
ASTERISK: Thank you! Yes, we certainly have a lot to say.
OBSTALISK: *burp* Yeah! What are we gonna talk about today?
ASTERISK: We’re going to use some short stories (or perhaps a short story) by Poppy Z.Brite to wax forth on some aspects of Gothic fiction, or even maybe Southern Gothic fiction, because she actually falls into the latter genre.
OBSTALISK: Huhuhuhuh *snort* you mean that goth lady who isn’t a lady anymore.
ASTERISK: What do you mean, not a lady?..oh, that. Shut up, Obstalisk!
OBSTALISK: Why? It’s true! She’s not hiding it, she’s...
ASTERISK: *Gives O a backhander* We’re not here to gossip, but to talk about literature. I would like to talk about how Poppy Z. Brite uses sensual and conceptual contrasts and liberal use of metaphors and imagery in His Mouth will Taste of Wormwood to add a fresh, poetic and disturbing element to her rendering of the Southern Gothic style, and uses contrasts as a method of heightening a sense of the transgressive.
OBSTALISK: Yuck! Those stories are all yuck yuck yuckyuck ! Good Goodreads people, don’t listen to him, these are... *OW!*
ASTERISK: The titular piece is obviously styled after the Gothic genre of fiction, since it contains typical ingredients of the latter. Jerrold Hogle, in a book called The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction, defines some of the key characteristics of Gothic fiction as follows:
...a Gothic tale usually takes place in an antiquated or seemingly antiquated space – be it a castle, a foreign palace, an abbey, a vast prison, a subterranean crypt, a graveyard, a primeval frontier or island ...
OBSTALISK: Oooh, and she does use places like graveyards and crypts and deserted scary temples with huge sexy scary goddesses – hey almost as scary as that huge Ahmah-zone dame! -and deserted train stations...
ASTERISK: Within this space, or a combination of such spaces, are hidden some secrets from the past that haunt the characters, psychologically, physically, or otherwise at the main time of the story.
OBSTALISK: Ghosts, you mean.
ASTERISK: Well, not only ghosts. Jerrold says: These hauntings can take many forms, but they frequently assume the features of ghosts, specters, or monsters (mixing features from different realms of being, often life and death) that rise from within the antiquated space, or sometimes invade it from alien realms, to manifest unresolved crimes or conflicts that can no longer be successfully buried from view. It is at this level that Gothic fictions generally play with and oscillate between the ..
OBSTALISK: OMG, you’re making my head hurt, shut up shut up shut up!!!
ASTERISK: As Jerrold Hogle says: It is at this level that Gothic fictions generally play with and oscillate between the earthly laws of conventional reality and the possibilities of the supernatural – often siding with one of these over the other in the end, but usually raising the possibility that the boundaries between these may have been crossed, at least psychologically but also physically or both...
OBSTALISK: Stop! What do you mean!!~!??
ASTERISK: I mean they have ghosts and zombies and vampires and so on, but that the...
OBSTALISK: What has vampires and ghosts and zombies?
ASTERISK: Gothic fiction does.
OBSTALISK: So are the Twilight books Gothic fiction then?
ASTERISK: Ermmmm errrr... Obstalisk, please stop interrupting me!!
OBSTALISK: No really, they have vampires... okay, I don’t know if they have zombiez, but don’t werewolves count? They’re way cooler than zombiez anyway!
ASTERISK: Tssk! Now where was I? I was saying you get terror gothic and you get horror gothic. And I was wanting to say that the titular story of this little selection is a good example of classic Southern horror gothic. In the story, a lot of the language used is of a florid, descriptive nature, reminiscent in its decadent flair of Oscar Wilde.
It is also strongly reminiscent in style and setting of the classic gothic fictions of Poe and Lovecraft.
OBSTALISK: Wait! Hold on, what's the difference between Southern Gothic and Northern Gothic?
ASTERISK: No, no, no "Northern" Gothic. Southern Gothic is set in the US South, like, for instance Tennessee or Mississippi, or New Orleans, or...
OBSTALISK: Oooh, ok, where you get voodoo stuff.
ASTERISK: Well, it doesn't have to include voodoo, actually. In much of Souhtern Gothic, the "horror" is more of a psychological nature. Lovecraft and Poe were both technically Southern Gothicers, depending on how you define it... because,well, it's difficult, because the stories were not ...well, Poe's stories are sort of set in a no-man's land.
...and Poppy Brite's stories are set all over the place, even one in India. But anyway, the first story in the book, the titular story of the collection, is definitely set in the South, in New Orleans. That's sort of a special sub-genre of Gothic fiction which I find very interesting.
But what I was going to say before I got interrupted, is: This is what Jerrold Hogle says about horror Gothic: it confronts the principal characters with the gross violence of physical or psychological dissolution, explicitly shattering the assumed norms (including the repressions) of everyday life with wildly shocking, and even revolting, consequences.
OBSTALISK: Revolting, yes! You can say that again, the stuff she writes is really revolting, don’t listen to Asterisk’s boring twaddle, she writes about dead people and zombiez eating live people right through into their innards, and...
ASTERISK: Well, of course it is revolting, that is the entire point!
OBSTALISK: In any case, is this a review of Jerrold’s book, or of Poppy’s stories?
ASTERISK: Sigh, whatever. Well, if old Jerrold didn’t make it clear enough, then maybe I can tell you what another expert says, and THIS guy is big into gothic lit. Among many writings on Romanticism and Gothic fiction, he wrote a book called Gothic (Gothic: The New Critical Idiom ).
According to Fred Botting:
“ [In classic gothic fiction] the excesses and ambivalence associated with Gothic figures were seen as distinct signs of transgression. Aesthetically excessive, Gothic productions were considered unnatural in their under-mining of physical laws with marvellous beings and fantastic events.
Transgressing the bounds of reality and possibility, they also challenged reason through their overindulgence in fanciful ideas and imaginative flights. Encouraging superstitious beliefs, Gothic narratives subverted rational codes of understanding and, in their presentation of diabolical deeds and supernatural incidents, ventured into the unhallowed ground of necromancy and arcane ritual.
The centrality of usurpation, intrigue, betrayal and murder to Gothic plots appeared to celebrate criminal behaviour, violent executions of selfish ambition and voracious passion and licentious enactments of carnal desire. Such terrors, emerging from the gloom of a castle or lurking in the dark features of the villain, were also the source of pleasure, stimulating excitements which blurred definitions of reason and morality ...
OBSTALISK: zzzzz...zzzzzz ... .ZZZZZZ ....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
ASTERISK: Hey! Cut that out! *kick*
OBSTALISK: OW! Hey! But you’re boring! Boooooorrring.
ASTERISK: *sulks* Well, that wasn’t me, that was Fred Botting. And I don’t find him boring at all!
OBSTALISK: Well, I do, so shut up already and talk about the guts and the zombiez and the voodoo and the...
ASTERISK: In the stories, we are made privy to rather shocking revelations, and this is where the typical Gothic element of dissolution, of moral decay and depravity comes into play, and one of the core elements of gothic fiction, namely transgression.
In Brite’s work we see elements of transgression in the themes of the flouting of moral taboos, the supernatural and a preoccupation with death. Brite keeps using contrasts to heighten the sense of transgression, interspersing her text with incongruent images where she juxtaposes wholesomeness with decay, where the ugly and dissolute is emphasised as it is contrasted with the pure and beautiful. The narrators in the stories tend to use a lot of imagery and metaphorical language, erm,...
OBSTALISK: Stop talking like the two people you just quoted! Can’t you just be a regular guy and say these stories are as depressing as shit! They want to make you just ... I dunno, creep back into bed and put your head under the covers... they make you uncomfortable like maggots are crawlin’ under your skin...
ASTERISK: Ah, now that you mention that, I noticed that throughout the stories, the narrator intermingles areas and objects of anxiety with that of tranquillity and beauty: this creates a feeling of growing unease in the reader, and heightens the emotional response in the reader, very similar to that which is invoked by the imagery of poetry.
OBSTALISK: Lalalalala!! I’m closing my ears, and I want to tell you, Goodreaders, that you mustn’t read these stories, they are yucky yucky yuck yuck
ASTERISK: Aha! Well, I think in that case, we can confirm that the author successfully weaves a web of contrasting metaphor that has the result of invoking an emotional response in the reader that is quite similar to the reading of poetry, and that the macabre juxtaposed with the sublime leaves the reader with a disturbing sense of unease.
OBSTALISK: Lalalalalalalalala
ASTERISK: ...and I think these stories should be awarded 4 stars.
OBSTALISK: WHAT!!! Are you NUTS!!! These should not get even one star!!
ASTERISK: Hmmm, would you be willing to compromise on 3 stars then?
OBSTALISK: Well, for a family-size box of KenXcensoredX Fried Chikkun...
ASTERISK: Done!
September 29, 2020
The random volumes of Penguin 60s that I’ve collected at book sales - and which make such perfect travelling companions on the road - continue to deliver and more. Here are four impeccably crafted slivers of gothic fantasy that invoke Lovecraft, Poe and Rice, imbued with the cool detachment of Tartt and Easton Ellis. Monstrous, intriguing and unsettling, the tales in this slight sampler extend the energy of Southern gothic to new levels. Fabulously entertaining.
January 30, 2021
This is the second time I have read this book - this time as part of the wider (and complete Penguin 60 collection). I stand by my comments made the first time around read the book however I will note that on a number of times I have promised myself to read more by this author - I think now is the time to make true that promise.
This is another of the penguin 60s collection I picked up and one I have been eager to read. Poppy Z Brite has been an author I have heard referred to many times and as such I was keen to explore.
The stories are suitably dark and disturbing as I would have expected - I am not sure if these are taken from a larger anthology or collection but they are so atmospheric with such an ease and confidence I have not seen for some time I raced through them eager for.
They are hard to describe since in doing so would give away their impact and would not do them justice all I can say is that I wish I had read them sooner.
That said as part of reading the work of a new author I like to explore their lives and their other works and I must admit that the life of Poppy Z Brite is as colourful and incredible as you can imagine. IF ever you ask yourself where does a particular author get their inspirations from all can say is that this is the creation of one amazing imagination.
This is another of the penguin 60s collection I picked up and one I have been eager to read. Poppy Z Brite has been an author I have heard referred to many times and as such I was keen to explore.
The stories are suitably dark and disturbing as I would have expected - I am not sure if these are taken from a larger anthology or collection but they are so atmospheric with such an ease and confidence I have not seen for some time I raced through them eager for.
They are hard to describe since in doing so would give away their impact and would not do them justice all I can say is that I wish I had read them sooner.
That said as part of reading the work of a new author I like to explore their lives and their other works and I must admit that the life of Poppy Z Brite is as colourful and incredible as you can imagine. IF ever you ask yourself where does a particular author get their inspirations from all can say is that this is the creation of one amazing imagination.
February 24, 2014
Poppy ALWAYS gets 5 stars, and that's just how it is.
February 2, 2017
This book contains four short stories taken from the book Swamp Foetus, and published as a Penguin 60.
The first two stories are set in New Orleans, the third in Calcutta, India, the final story in New York.
All are tales in the fringes of society, dealing in the supernatural and with darker sexual themes.
I really enjoyed the writing style of the first three stories - they were very atmospheric, very descriptive, and written in dark situations.
I never like giving plot summaries on short stories, as it takes too much from the story, but lets just say tomb robbing, heads in jars, absinthe, the lord of Nerves, open graves, sorcerer's jewellery, the Goddess Kali, buried treasure, New Orleans swamps all feature in this short book.
The first three stories were 4*, the last only 2*, but 4* overall.
The first two stories are set in New Orleans, the third in Calcutta, India, the final story in New York.
All are tales in the fringes of society, dealing in the supernatural and with darker sexual themes.
I really enjoyed the writing style of the first three stories - they were very atmospheric, very descriptive, and written in dark situations.
I never like giving plot summaries on short stories, as it takes too much from the story, but lets just say tomb robbing, heads in jars, absinthe, the lord of Nerves, open graves, sorcerer's jewellery, the Goddess Kali, buried treasure, New Orleans swamps all feature in this short book.
The first three stories were 4*, the last only 2*, but 4* overall.
September 11, 2025
This officially marks my final foray into Poppy Z. Brite’s back catalogue.
How to Get Ahead in New York wasn’t bad, though I do wonder whether he came up with the title first, story second (and if that was the case, it absolutely shows), but the remaining three stories were utter garbage. Calcutta, Lord of Nerves was particularly egregious. I hate the way this guy writes about women and their bodies, I hate the way he writes about race, and I hate the way he writes, full stop.
I think Brite has interesting things to say about male queerness, and only male queerness, but that’s about it, and frankly, even then, he offers nothing interesting enough to justify gambling my valuable reading time on even one more page. There are so many brilliant queer authors working both in and beyond the horror space; don’t waste your time with this one.
How to Get Ahead in New York wasn’t bad, though I do wonder whether he came up with the title first, story second (and if that was the case, it absolutely shows), but the remaining three stories were utter garbage. Calcutta, Lord of Nerves was particularly egregious. I hate the way this guy writes about women and their bodies, I hate the way he writes about race, and I hate the way he writes, full stop.
I think Brite has interesting things to say about male queerness, and only male queerness, but that’s about it, and frankly, even then, he offers nothing interesting enough to justify gambling my valuable reading time on even one more page. There are so many brilliant queer authors working both in and beyond the horror space; don’t waste your time with this one.
November 12, 2020
Contrary to the hideously misleading synopsis posted on this site, Poppy's collection of short stories takes us to an underworld of evil, lust, pain and passion. Highlighted by more fantastic adjectives than I could dream of, the tales are dark and terrible while sustaining a strong sense of the beautiful through the way he brilliantly wields his words. Not for the squeamish, just right for the gothic.
September 20, 2021
Absofuckinglutely in love with this book. It was like a warm embrace for my dark soul. I’m so late at reading Brite’s work, but not late at my full appreciation for his writing. Everything that I have ever truly loved about horror is featured within these pages. While not really a big fan of short stories, this one has actually pushed me to want to start Brite’s other dark full-length novels. I look forward to reading more of the characters within these pages in the other books.
June 1, 2020
Sick Sick Sick Sick Sick!
And if you like that kind of thing it is perfect for you.
This book is some of Poppy's short stories featured in other book(s) and is in a word brilliantly grotesque in every sense of the word. I have recently read short stories where I have been left wanting to know what happens, not only the to the characters but the story itself. But this collections of horror stories didn't leave me guessing at all, and you were really captivating in it.
The one thing for me personally it might have been a little bit graphic in the sexual explanation but that is my problem not the books. (That is just her style of writing)
So if you like depth, intelligent, deep, horrifying, grim short stories I would recommend this.
And if you like that kind of thing it is perfect for you.
This book is some of Poppy's short stories featured in other book(s) and is in a word brilliantly grotesque in every sense of the word. I have recently read short stories where I have been left wanting to know what happens, not only the to the characters but the story itself. But this collections of horror stories didn't leave me guessing at all, and you were really captivating in it.
The one thing for me personally it might have been a little bit graphic in the sexual explanation but that is my problem not the books. (That is just her style of writing)
So if you like depth, intelligent, deep, horrifying, grim short stories I would recommend this.
December 25, 2023
Leave it to Poppy Z. Brite to casually drop the rawest, most memorable quote you've ever seen in the most mid short story you've seen this month + I feel like he's giving me a somewhat skewed impression of what living in New Orleans is like
April 20, 2025
couldn’t even read past the first story. too much focus on shock value from the author. i feel that anybody above the age of 16 should’ve matured past the point of finding this anything other than gross and a little bit sad really. just really vile and weird tbh
April 23, 2018
The stories are so edgy that I cut my fingers reading each page. And I was reading on a laptop!
March 25, 2022
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood — easily 4*. Pretty gay boys, decadence, death worship and a lil voodoo curse as the cherry on top. Pleasantly Interview-with-the-Vampire-esque, if the vampires actually smooched.
The Sixth Sentinel — fun ghost romance of sorts, 4*. appreciated that the ghost was as much of a scoundrel in death as he used to be in life :3
Calcutta, Lord of Nerves — boring trip through a zombie-infested city. It may sound like an oxymoron, boring and zombie-infested city, but Poppy made it happen. 2*
How To Get Ahead in New York — 2,5* a slightly less boring trip through a different and zombie-less city?? Also one of the characters seemed to have psychic powers but it was never really explained or explored. The opening subway station scene was pretty intense though, I liked that.
The Sixth Sentinel — fun ghost romance of sorts, 4*. appreciated that the ghost was as much of a scoundrel in death as he used to be in life :3
Calcutta, Lord of Nerves — boring trip through a zombie-infested city. It may sound like an oxymoron, boring and zombie-infested city, but Poppy made it happen. 2*
How To Get Ahead in New York — 2,5* a slightly less boring trip through a different and zombie-less city?? Also one of the characters seemed to have psychic powers but it was never really explained or explored. The opening subway station scene was pretty intense though, I liked that.
July 28, 2015
It was a decent book the only thing I didn't like was as soon as I got interested in the story it would end.
Read
August 31, 2021*2.5⭐
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood - 3⭐
The Sixth Sentinel - 4⭐
Calcutta, Lord of Nerves - 1⭐
How to Get Ahead in New York - 2⭐
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood - 3⭐
The Sixth Sentinel - 4⭐
Calcutta, Lord of Nerves - 1⭐
How to Get Ahead in New York - 2⭐
December 26, 2024
So dark and grotesque
June 22, 2024
Altogether this is an amazing collection of short stories and certainly worth the read if you enjoy Brite’s work or similar themes; however i have very mixed feelings about the individual stories and so i will give them each a mini review and their own rating.
His Mouth will Taste of Wormwood - 5/5
The first and most outstanding story in this collection, His Mouth will Taste of Wormwood is a perfect mix of beauty, lust, mystery and horror (Poppy Z Brite’s favourite subjects evidently) I actually re-read this one immediately after finishing the rest of the stories and i will do so again without a doubt.
The Sixth Sentinel - 3.5/5
I feel like this one had amazing potential and could have been made a longer book. Rosalie and the ghost both were very interesting but i can’t help but feel underwhelmed with their story and the limited amount of information given about them both.
Calcutta, Lord of Nerves - 1.5/5
Perhaps it’s just because i’m not interested in zombies but Calcutta, Lord of Nerves really did not interest me. It felt like the entire story was just the protagonist walking in a circle and thinking about eating pussy. The word Pussy, by the way, has about ten mentions per page.
How to Get Ahead in New York - 3/5
Unlike the first three stories, this one really didn’t feel creepy at all. Or eerie, or gross, or mysterious, which i was a little disappointed about. But i’ll bump it up from a 2 to a 3 purely for the benefit of the doubt as i am yet to read Lost Souls and maybe i just don’t quite get the characters yet.
His Mouth will Taste of Wormwood - 5/5
The first and most outstanding story in this collection, His Mouth will Taste of Wormwood is a perfect mix of beauty, lust, mystery and horror (Poppy Z Brite’s favourite subjects evidently) I actually re-read this one immediately after finishing the rest of the stories and i will do so again without a doubt.
The Sixth Sentinel - 3.5/5
I feel like this one had amazing potential and could have been made a longer book. Rosalie and the ghost both were very interesting but i can’t help but feel underwhelmed with their story and the limited amount of information given about them both.
Calcutta, Lord of Nerves - 1.5/5
Perhaps it’s just because i’m not interested in zombies but Calcutta, Lord of Nerves really did not interest me. It felt like the entire story was just the protagonist walking in a circle and thinking about eating pussy. The word Pussy, by the way, has about ten mentions per page.
How to Get Ahead in New York - 3/5
Unlike the first three stories, this one really didn’t feel creepy at all. Or eerie, or gross, or mysterious, which i was a little disappointed about. But i’ll bump it up from a 2 to a 3 purely for the benefit of the doubt as i am yet to read Lost Souls and maybe i just don’t quite get the characters yet.
December 21, 2025
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood, Poppy Z. Brite [Penguin, 1995].
Part of a series of chapbooks released to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Penguin Books, His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood is a collection of four short stories by Poppy Z. Brite in the Splatterpunk vein.
“His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood”— a dissolute child of privilege and his friend engage in increasingly transgressive acts, culminating with a grave robbery that has unexpected consequences…
“The Sixth Sentinel “—a dancer with a tragic past is haunted by the ghost of a pirate in New Orleans…
“Calcutta, Lord of Nerves”—an Indian-American witnesses a zombie outbreak amongst the urban squalor of Calcutta…
“How to Get Ahead in New York”—A Southern Goth Rock duo in NYC encounter a street vendor with unusual wares…
***
Poppy Z. Brite is a trans masculine author, known personally as Billy Martin (though professionally by his pre-transitional name, Poppy Z. Brite). His work includes classics of Queer Horror such as Drawing Blood and (the truly horrific) Exquisite Corpse. Recently, he contributed to the bestselling anthology The End of the World as We Know It, stories inspired by Stephen King’s The Stand. His next book, Water if God Wills It, a critical analysis of religion and spirituality in the works of Stephen King, is due in early 2026 from Cemetery Dance Publications. 🏳️⚧️
Part of a series of chapbooks released to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Penguin Books, His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood is a collection of four short stories by Poppy Z. Brite in the Splatterpunk vein.
“His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood”— a dissolute child of privilege and his friend engage in increasingly transgressive acts, culminating with a grave robbery that has unexpected consequences…
“The Sixth Sentinel “—a dancer with a tragic past is haunted by the ghost of a pirate in New Orleans…
“Calcutta, Lord of Nerves”—an Indian-American witnesses a zombie outbreak amongst the urban squalor of Calcutta…
“How to Get Ahead in New York”—A Southern Goth Rock duo in NYC encounter a street vendor with unusual wares…
***
Poppy Z. Brite is a trans masculine author, known personally as Billy Martin (though professionally by his pre-transitional name, Poppy Z. Brite). His work includes classics of Queer Horror such as Drawing Blood and (the truly horrific) Exquisite Corpse. Recently, he contributed to the bestselling anthology The End of the World as We Know It, stories inspired by Stephen King’s The Stand. His next book, Water if God Wills It, a critical analysis of religion and spirituality in the works of Stephen King, is due in early 2026 from Cemetery Dance Publications. 🏳️⚧️
March 13, 2025
nie mam pojęcia skąd tak wysoka średnia ocen. to jest najgorsza rzecz jaką czytałem od dawna - każda strona była jak tortura. niesamowicie edgy, co samo w sobie oczywiście nie musi być wadą, może być wręcz zaletą, jednak w tym wypadku nie wynikało z niczego i do niczego nie prowadziło. gdy coś jest tak paskudne, tak nieprzyjemne i tak nieprzystępnie napisane jak ta historia, oczekuję, że przynajmniej będzie ku temu jakiś cel. his mouth will taste of wormwood jest czymś, co mógłby napisać i wstawić na wattpada jedenastoletni ja, słuchając my chemical romance. nie przeczytałem jeszcze niczego tak beznadziejnego że zrujnowało mi cały dzień - a czytanie zachwytu ludzi, którzy wydają się spuszczać nad samym faktem że w książce wystapiło słowo "trup" albo "krew" tylko mnie dobiło. wysyłam milion klątw na ten wysryw.
EDIT WŁAŚNIE SIĘ DOWIEDZIAŁEM ŻE TO WYSZŁO W MOJE URODZINY. TERAZ ZRUJNOWANY JEST NIE TYLKO MÓJ DZIEŃ ALE TAKŻE CAŁY ROK.
EDIT WŁAŚNIE SIĘ DOWIEDZIAŁEM ŻE TO WYSZŁO W MOJE URODZINY. TERAZ ZRUJNOWANY JEST NIE TYLKO MÓJ DZIEŃ ALE TAKŻE CAŁY ROK.
July 16, 2022
This was fine. I wanted something short to read this morning whilst I waited for an ordered book to arrive and this fit the bill from my shelves given it’s only 88 pages long. 4 short stories in that time - all very dark and definitely not for those with a weak stomach, subject matter I know Poppy Z Brite specialises in from all I’ve heard previously (having not read her properly myself). She’s undeniably a good writer but the more graphic descriptions put me off a bit and a couple of the stories just didn’t really go anywhere. I’m sure she’s written better but if I want dark, creepy short stories I’ll personally stick to Shirley Jackson.
April 10, 2019
A short collection of stories with all the dark brutality you'd expect from Lost Souls-era Brite. I wasn't too keen on Calcutta, Lord of Nerves but the other stories were just what the goth doctor ordered (presumably he keeps wooden stakes amongst his medical equipment and prescribes absinthe to his more flighty patients). I wished the last story, How To Get Ahead in New York, was longer just so I could spend some more time with Ghost and Steve.
June 29, 2022
Strange tales of ghosts wandering amongst putrefying scenes of the real world, set in swampy Louisiana, seething Kali-worshipping Calcutta and with a Smion and Garfunkel reminiscent pair searching the New York back streets. With a taste for the foul, this weaves its own seam. Very enjoyable.
December 3, 2024
I actually really liked parts of this collection - especially some of the more horrifying descriptions - but other parts felt rather slow and somewhat offensive making the reading experience less enjoyable :()
December 12, 2021
First two stories were a bit goth teen silly but "Calcutta, Lord of the Nerves" is a 5*.
June 25, 2022
Enjoyed the first two, but not so much the second two.
July 8, 2022
didn't know this was part of the wormwood collection but lovely to reread my favourite stories from that book. plus this edition is tiny and precious and i can store it on my coffin shelf.
May 10, 2024
Yeeeeees. TbA.
December 2, 2024
I nice little taste of Poopy Z. Brite horror. I really liked Calcutta, Lord of Nerves.
January 11, 2025
what is it with brite and connecting all his stories because it’s great but totally messes my mind up
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