Brite, Poppy Z.

(US, 1967– )

Poppy Z. Brite is the mistress of contemporary Gothic but her scope is much wider than that. If you've always tended to steer clear of horror, here is a seductive writer who might win you over. The writing is witty, lyrical, darkly erotic. The settings are atmospheric, whether the dead-end North Carolina town of Missing Mile, in Lost Souls (1994), or the vibrant, decadent French Quarter of New Orleans, where Brite now lives. Brite's empathy with gay male characters has resulted in two nominations for the Lambda Literary award for gay fiction. Unless you've got a very strong stomach don't start with her most recent novel, Exquisite Corpse (1996), which might take you further into cannibalism and necrophilia than you want to go! Try Drawing Blood (1994) first to convince you that there's more to this writer than repellent extremes.

Dennis Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Rice  RV