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Poppy Z. Brite

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Image:PoppyZBrite Potter2.jpg Poppy Z. Brite (born Melissa Ann Brite on May 25, 1967) is an American author born in New Orleans.

Contents

[edit] Literary History

Early in Brite's career, she was best known for writing gothic and horror novels and short stories. Her trademarks have included using gay men as main characters, graphic sexual descriptions in the works, and an often wry treatment of gruesome events. Some of her better known novels include Lost Souls (1992), Drawing Blood (1993), and Exquisite Corpse (1996); she has also released short fiction collections: Swamp Foetus (also published as Wormwood, 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). She has also written a biography about singer Courtney Love (1996), which was officially "unauthorized" but is widely known to have been done at Love's suggestion and with her cooperation.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s she has largely moved away from horror fiction while still writing about gay (but more realistic) characters. Her critically acclaimed novel in the the Liquor Series--Liquor (2004), Prime (2005), and Soul Kitchen (2006)--are dark comedies set in the New Orleans restaurant world. (Brite has been in a committed relationship for 17 years with Chris DeBarr, chef of The Delachaise in New Orleans.) 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 her most recent collection The Devil You Know and the forthcoming 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. Brite plans to write at least three more novels in the Liquor series, tentatively titled Dead Shrimp Blues, Hurricane Stew, and Double Shot.

Brite has often stated that, while she will allow some of her work to be optioned for film under the right circumstances, she has little interest in movies and is not overly eager to see her work filmed. In 1999, her 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 her books, only Exquisite Corpse is currently under option, by producer Simon Rumley.

[edit] Personal Life

Born a biological female, Brite has written and talked much about her gender dysphoria/gender identity issues. She self-identifies almost completely as male rather than female but makes no attempt to dress or appear male and does not expect to be referred to as "he"<ref name="gender">See Brite's LiveJournal, especially the August 22, 2003 entry.</ref>. Brite is comfortable with the term "non-operative transsexual". She lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Athens, Georgia prior to returning to New Orleans in 1993.

Brite and DeBarr run a de facto cat rescue and have, at any given time, between fifteen and twenty cats. The two maintain a webpage, consisting of photos of the various felines, which can be found here.

During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Brite at first opted to stay at home, but she eventually relocated 80 miles away to her mother's home in Mississippi. She continued to update her fans regarding the situation, including the unknown status of her house and many of her pets, on her blog<ref name="ivry">Ivry, Bob. "As storm raged, stalwart bloggers stayed at keyboards". The Standard Times. (August 31, 2005)</ref>, and in October 2005 became one of the first 70,000 New Orleanians to begin repopulating the city.

A critical essay on Brite's fiction appears in The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004) by S. T. Joshi.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels and Novellas

[edit] Short Story Collections

[edit] Chapbooks

[edit] Nonfiction

[edit] Uncollected Short Fiction

[edit] Notes

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[edit] Interviews

[edit] External links

[edit] See Also

Poppy Z. Brite
Bibliography
Novels and Novellas: Lost Souls | Drawing Blood | Exquisite Corpse | The Lazarus Heart | Plastic Jesus | The Value of X | Liquor | Triads | Prime | Soul Kitchen | D*U*C*K
Short Story Collections: Wormwood | Are You Loathsome Tonight? | Wrong Things | The Devil You Know
Chapbooks R.I.P. | The Seed of Lost Souls | Stay Awake | Would You? | Pansu | Con Party at Hotel California | The Feast of St. Rosalie | Used Stories | Crown of Thorns
Nonfiction Courtney Love: The Real Story | Guilty But Insane

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