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All You Despise
When a nameless man awakens to find his blood-spattered brother passed out in his trailer it sets off a chain of painful, hard-hitting events that tests family loyalty and shows the savage impact of a father’s dark legacy.
Fast-paced and packing a visceral punch, All You Despise will keep the reader anxiously turning pages all the way to its unexpected conclusion.
This exclusive offering from Shroud Publishing features a special introduction penned by Bram Stoker-winning author Brian Keene and stunning illustrations by veteran illustrator Alex McVey. Both contributors will also sign this special limited edition alongside the author.
From the publisher:
"We had originally planned the print run at 500 copies, but in the end, we capped it at 100."
An additional 50 copies were printed approx. one year after the initial printing.
Fast-paced and packing a visceral punch, All You Despise will keep the reader anxiously turning pages all the way to its unexpected conclusion.
This exclusive offering from Shroud Publishing features a special introduction penned by Bram Stoker-winning author Brian Keene and stunning illustrations by veteran illustrator Alex McVey. Both contributors will also sign this special limited edition alongside the author.
From the publisher:
"We had originally planned the print run at 500 copies, but in the end, we capped it at 100."
An additional 50 copies were printed approx. one year after the initial printing.
80 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2008
4 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Tom Piccirilli
186 books389 followersThomas Piccirilli (May 27, 1965 – July 11, 2015) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Piccirilli sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. He was a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He was a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and the winner of the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".
Piccirilli sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. He was a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He was a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and the winner of the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 27, 2016
Some would say I was pessimistic and self-defeating. I tended to think that I dreamed from the bottom up.All You Despise is another great piece of work by the peerless Tom Piccirilli. It's less a crime novella and more of a painful, tragic confession of regret. It's a short but powerful character portrait of fathers and sons, the vice-grip hold that family loyalty can have over someone, and the dark-side of brotherly love and a father's legacy. The ideal that you love your family no matter what is a beautiful one, but it could also be a crippling one. Focusing on a lonely man that wakes up to find his brother arriving at his trailer in the middle of a drunken blackout and soaked in someone else's blood, not a whole lot of action actually happens in this short book. But it is still gripping, a testament to Piccirilli's power with character and prose.
May 13, 2020
A very well done quickie from the Pic.
January 5, 2013
When I interviewed him, Tom Piccirilli told me the quasi-occult power that family can have over a person fascinated him. ALL YOU DESPISE is a full-blown study of brotherly bond that goes beyond everything you might imagine. Given that it's short (and also incredibly cheap), it's first and foremost a non-committal way of getting a taste of Piccirilli's gorgeous pen. His tremendous characterization, his rich and heavy sentences, full of looming dread and possibilities. If you're already a fan like me, it's more candy than a full meal, but if you don't know who this master of dark american letters is, ALL YOU DESPISE is a great way to find out.
September 16, 2015
The ending literally had me dropping my jaw and then saying out loud at high volume "Holy crap!" Hadn't read enough of Piccirilli yet to know what to expect. There's a hit and run and a cover up but this is not a crime novella. And what is scary is the all too real depiction of love, loss, and grinding hatred the narrator experiences as he looks out for his little brother while being haunted by the memory of the lives and deaths of his parents and his wife. Absolutely loved this novella!
July 23, 2021
Excellent but too short! Told on his fathers death bed to 'take care of your brother,that is exactly what he does.Loved it! Brett Barry was a terrific narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'
August 9, 2019
I like these short things by Piccirilli. Bleak. Full of people who tried, maybe not hard enough, and failed. Now they're wild-eyed and unstoppable.
Ligotti does bleak, but it can be a bit dusty. When Piccirilli does bleak you finish the ride covered in gore. Yeah.
Ligotti does bleak, but it can be a bit dusty. When Piccirilli does bleak you finish the ride covered in gore. Yeah.
February 13, 2020
A story of two opposite brothers and how far one would go to take care of the other
Well narrated with an ending that hits out of nowhere
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review
Well narrated with an ending that hits out of nowhere
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review
November 16, 2020
Ooof.
Was not expecting that ending.
Piccirilli was a really good story teller. Damn.
Was not expecting that ending.
Piccirilli was a really good story teller. Damn.
September 13, 2013
"Take care of your brother."
Those are the words pounding a drum beat in the narrator's skull when he wakes up in his trailer one night to find his drunken brother passed out on his couch and the grill of their dead father's Mustang is spattered with blood.
Family is a funny thing like that. Reason tends to get pushed aside when push comes to shove, and Tom Piccirilli paints a portrait with this novella of two brothers and the reckoning that is due to come, one way or the other. The title of the story comes from a line near the middle of the darkly tinged family drama: "I thought, all you despise, I cherish." The brothers seem diametrically opposed in multiple ways, not the least of which is that the narrator's life is in shambles following the death of his wife, with bills and the like taking him out of his home and deposited in a trailer park he feared as a child, as well as forced to sell the almost mythic Mustang that rotted away in his late father's garage until he restored it himself. On the other side of this coin is his brother, Danny, who has the wife, the kid, the white picket fence, and even bought back the Mustang. Kind of like an unofficial passing of the torch between the two.
Danny is not a happy man either, though. And when the narrator--he's never named outright, so I don't know what else to call him--finds out that an old man was killed in a hit-and-run the night before, he has a choice to make in that instance. Follow his conscience or take care of his brother.
In fifty-some pages, Piccirilli manages to shoehorn an small epic into this book. I could have spent a full-length novel marveling out how beautifully he depicted a broken and bruised family dynamic, but a quick, shotgun blast of a novella will have to do. For as much as there is to admire in what Piccirilli displays through his writing, there's the stuff left unsaid by the narrator, only alluded to, that offers a great counterweight to the story. Maybe that's what I want from a longer story, all that stuff laid bare, but maybe some of the magic from this story would be lost doing that. So, better left as is, I suppose. And that's alright by me.
It's not a happy story, I'll tell you that right now. If you want redemption, you might be disappointed, because the lines that the narrator sees ahead of him that need to be crossed are not the kind that are liable to leave a reader feeling more than a heartfelt sadness for where these two brothers have ended up. Bah, happy endings are over-rated, anyway. The journey is the thing, and the darkness wandered through in All You Despise is its own reward, because at least you can thank whatever god you believe in that you're not part of this family.
Those are the words pounding a drum beat in the narrator's skull when he wakes up in his trailer one night to find his drunken brother passed out on his couch and the grill of their dead father's Mustang is spattered with blood.
Family is a funny thing like that. Reason tends to get pushed aside when push comes to shove, and Tom Piccirilli paints a portrait with this novella of two brothers and the reckoning that is due to come, one way or the other. The title of the story comes from a line near the middle of the darkly tinged family drama: "I thought, all you despise, I cherish." The brothers seem diametrically opposed in multiple ways, not the least of which is that the narrator's life is in shambles following the death of his wife, with bills and the like taking him out of his home and deposited in a trailer park he feared as a child, as well as forced to sell the almost mythic Mustang that rotted away in his late father's garage until he restored it himself. On the other side of this coin is his brother, Danny, who has the wife, the kid, the white picket fence, and even bought back the Mustang. Kind of like an unofficial passing of the torch between the two.
Danny is not a happy man either, though. And when the narrator--he's never named outright, so I don't know what else to call him--finds out that an old man was killed in a hit-and-run the night before, he has a choice to make in that instance. Follow his conscience or take care of his brother.
In fifty-some pages, Piccirilli manages to shoehorn an small epic into this book. I could have spent a full-length novel marveling out how beautifully he depicted a broken and bruised family dynamic, but a quick, shotgun blast of a novella will have to do. For as much as there is to admire in what Piccirilli displays through his writing, there's the stuff left unsaid by the narrator, only alluded to, that offers a great counterweight to the story. Maybe that's what I want from a longer story, all that stuff laid bare, but maybe some of the magic from this story would be lost doing that. So, better left as is, I suppose. And that's alright by me.
It's not a happy story, I'll tell you that right now. If you want redemption, you might be disappointed, because the lines that the narrator sees ahead of him that need to be crossed are not the kind that are liable to leave a reader feeling more than a heartfelt sadness for where these two brothers have ended up. Bah, happy endings are over-rated, anyway. The journey is the thing, and the darkness wandered through in All You Despise is its own reward, because at least you can thank whatever god you believe in that you're not part of this family.
July 10, 2016
What a depressing story!
A pair of brothers left over from a dysfunctional family; the older brother burdened with his father's dying request to " look after your brother". The younger brother, who has it made, great job, great family, great house, is throwing it all away with booze, drugs and women.
The older brother tries to cover up a hit and run that his brother was involved in whilst dunk. He covets his brothers life as he is burdened with debt from the recent death of his wife from cancer.
Strange conclusion and very odd look at family dynamics.
A pair of brothers left over from a dysfunctional family; the older brother burdened with his father's dying request to " look after your brother". The younger brother, who has it made, great job, great family, great house, is throwing it all away with booze, drugs and women.
The older brother tries to cover up a hit and run that his brother was involved in whilst dunk. He covets his brothers life as he is burdened with debt from the recent death of his wife from cancer.
Strange conclusion and very odd look at family dynamics.
May 14, 2013
Excellent writing but I hated it! Ending slapped me in the face!
September 23, 2014
Short and ugly. Brutal. Beautiful. The kind of book I want more of, the kind I want to write. A good introduction as any. I'll be finding my way back to Piccirilli's works soon. That end.
May 31, 2015
Did not like it.
It was a stupid premise. Not worth reading. Nothing more to say other than a very disappointing read. X X
It was a stupid premise. Not worth reading. Nothing more to say other than a very disappointing read. X X
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews