Are You Loathsome Tonight?: A Collection of Short Stories: Amazon.ca: Poppy Z. Brite, Popy Z. Brite, Peter Straub: Books

Product Description

This collection by Poppy Z. Brite, author of "Exquisite Corpse" and "Love in Vein," among others, features anew story, "Monday's Special." Poppy contributed story notes as well as the Preface.

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge a book by it's cover ,indeed!, Jun 24 2004

By	Sigil6 (Dover, DE) - See all my reviews

This book has long since been thrown in the trash!
Wormwood is a terrific book of short stories. The opposite of that book is Are You Loathsome Tonight. There are only 2 stories that are good, the rest are terribly uninteresting or just not enjoyable. It is like Brite is trying too hard to write about shocking things, just to be a rebel. This book was a present and I'm so glad that I didn't pay for it myself. Her first three books are great, mind you. It's just that this book is sooooo horrible. Brite should give the money back to everyone who has ever bought this book, and apologize for it's awfulness! She starts the book with a letter from someone who doesn't like her which is sort of clever. Too bad what follows is garbage- which is where mine is!

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5.0 out of 5 stars A collection to be devoured without compassion, Dec 3 2003

By	Geert Daelemans (Leuven Belgium) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Are You Loathsome Tonight? Is a remarkable collection of twelve short stories by the Queen of the Macabre Poppy Z. Brite.

In Vermis Veritas paints with all the tasty details the world seen through the eyes of maggots. Arise tells the story of a rocker that who gets help for his come-back from a long forgotten friend. Saved (written together with Christa Faust) is showing the readers the danger of weapons used in bed. King of the Cats (written together with David Ferguson) is a fairy-tale about the love a simple miller's apprentice and the ruler of the Kingdom of Cats. In Self-Made Man a serial killer searches for true love that will never leave. In Pin Money an old debt is settled by the dead. America is a snapshot of a conversation between traveling lovers. Entertaining Mr. Orton shows us the reason why possessed guys are better in bed. In Monday's Special Poppy explains what would have happened if she never started to write. Vine of the Soul starts on the eve of the new millennium, the ideal time for new kicks. Mussolini and the Axeman's Jazz is an historical fantasy about the beginning of World War II. Are You Loathsome Tonight? is the perfect illustration of the downfall of a super-star.

Every story of this collection breathes the true spirit of the Gothic genre of which Poppy is a true emissary. Sometimes the reader becomes engulfed by gruesome and detailed descriptions of the most inhuman acts, whereas at the same time the romance seeps slowly through the pages. It is clear that I would not recommend this collection to the faint-hearted, but lovers of Exquisite Corpse will devour this book with an unhealthy, but nevertheless satisfying, voraciousness!

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3.0 out of 5 stars Are you loathsome, Brite?, Oct 17 2003

By	yorgos dalman "yorgos dalman" (Holland, Europe) - See all my reviews

Did you ever want to be a maggot? Did someone call you a 'filthy little worm' and you really didn't mind at all? Well then, it's your lucky day, because your biography has finally been written. You see, you yourself are the narrator of PZB's short story 'In Vermis Veritas', a monologue-interieur of one of those Darwin's favourite creepy crawlers. And even though this little biography is unauthorized by you, you will notice that halfway through you're all ready be licking your lips with pure joy and delight. Brite cooks up a delicious little tale in which a local slaughterhouse is being described as a kind of McDonald's Drive Inn for maggots. So read closely, and chew on.
Because this is only the first story in Brite's anthology. And there are more to eat. And talking about eating: Brite's prose itself is even so maggotish: it may bite you once and a while, but in your case it bites playfully and teasingly, and with an almost uncensored tongue-in-cheek.
The only real comment one can make is that the story of a man who was forced to eat raw beans until his stomach bursted ('Monday's special') and the last story ('Are you loathsome tonight?'), about the unsatisfyable urge of devouring and gorging of a certain king of rock 'n' roll, should have been put together as one narration, making the worldfamous singer explode on stage or something while the audience goes: 'O Jeez!' from Hawaii.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Starts with a Maggot, ends with Elvis
Yep, anybody who writes a story from the point of a maggot eating the flesh of rotting corpses in the slaughter house gets my attention right away. Read more

Published on Oct 9 2003 by Lauren Bieler

5.0 out of 5 stars A Different Take
Are You Loathsome Tonight is another verdant collection of raw and oozing tales with the ever present scent of eroticism. Read more

Published on Feb 26 2001 by K. Hewitt

4.0 out of 5 stars it's the COVER...
I bought this because I'd read Drawing Blood, Lost Souls, Exquisite Corpse and Wormwood and I loved all of them. I like this one, too, although not as much as the others. Read more

Published on Jan 21 2001

1.0 out of 5 stars wow, amazingly poor writing....
i read several of poppy's books before this, and i enjoyed _drawing blood_ very much. this book, however, is awful. Read more

Published on Sep 23 2000 by kitten@vigilante.net