THE DEVIL YOU KNOW is a tradepaperback edition of the sold-out limited edition of Poppy's latest short story collection.
In her third short story collection, Poppy Z. Brite finds fresh ways of exploring territory both familiar and strange. Here you ll meet the Devil and his giant cat last seen in the pages of Bulgakov, the gourmand coroner of New Orleans, the mad-genius chef who can t stand to have his cheese list criticized, and an assortment of Crescent City characters who also appear in Brite s novels Liquor and Prime.
Poppy Z. Brite has found a way of writing about New Orleans that bypasses the clichés and approaches the city s true heart: the hard-working, hard-partying cooks; the ways in which race, class, and sexual orientation do and don t matter; the love of bottom feeders, be they crustaceans or politicos; the million little juxtapositions of sacred and profane, bizarre and mundane, sublime and ridiculous that make up the everyday life of New Orleans. Some of these stories are set elsewhere, but Brite always returns home in the end.
Once both cult-worshipped and mainstream-reviled for her edgy investigations into supernatural and human horror, Brite (Lost Souls) is now more concerned with the more-or-less ordinary side of life and her home turf of New Orleans, as shown in her provocative third story collection. Four out of the 13 tales lie somewhere between the weird and the mundane and feature Brite's alter ego, Dr. Brite, the coroner of Orleans Parish, who loves to eat. The droll but dark "O Death, Where Is Thy Spatula?" involves raising the dead. In "Marisol," Dr. Brite literally tastes the consequences of revenge. Three tales, notably the bleakly nihilistic love story "Nothing of Him That Doth Fade," involve gay but otherwise run-of-the-mill couples who have some connection to the restaurant world. Abandoning past gothic trappings and using a cleaner, simpler style, Brite emerges as a writer of honesty and wit who may yet find favor with a broader literary readership.
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Brite, a well-known figure in horror fiction, has been focused on New Orleans as of late, and this collection is one result of her exploration of the city beyond its stereotypes. In the title story, the devil's cat plays mind games with the racist leader of the New Orleans Krewe of Onan. Brite's alter ego, New Orleans coroner Dr. Brite, stars in several stories, including "O Death, Where Is Thy Spatula?" which also appears in the thirteenth Mammoth Book of Best New Horror [BKL D 15 02]. In "Marisol," the chef at one of Dr. Brite's favorite restaurants takes revenge on a critic who failed to mention his fine selection of cheeses. "System Freeze" is set in the world of the movie The Matrix and features a young woman who is saved by one of the mysterious agents only to find out how dangerous it is to defy him. Brite describes sumptuous meals at swanky restaurants and icy death with equal aplomb, and her stories are spirited and snappy. Kristine Huntley
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