From Booklist
Like scotch or very dry martinis, these 20 servings of "vampiric erotica" may be for many a resistible acquired taste. Those who do wind up enjoying this controversial new literature that goes "deeper than horror, beyond fear, to explore our darkest, most intimate hungers" may, however, find this anthology intoxicating. In it, the beast is beautiful, a situation probed by Charles de Lint, Gene Wolfe, and less-known others. Celebrating "unspeakable intimacies," the stories explore the subversive appeal of vampirism in all its manifestations as readers meet a color-blind veterinarian mysteriously--and, without regular refills, only temporarily--restored to a world of color by a strange elixir from a prostitute's third nipple; a vampire whose dying, mortal wife has nourished him for years by allowing him to hurt her, then draw her sensations of fear and pain from her for his own sustenance; and a pair of lesbians who literally copulate the father of one to death. Not as mainstream as Ann Rice, this anthology might be most comfortable in extensive and specialized horror collections. Whitney Scott


About the Author
Poppy Z. Brite was born on May 25, 1967, in New Orleans. She has worked as an artist's model, a mouse caretaker, a stripper, and (since 1991) a full-time writer. She has published three Novels, Lost Souls, Drawing Blood, and Exquisite Corpse, and a short story collection,Wormwood. Her work has appeared in numerous markets including Rage, Spin, and The Village Voice. She is the editor of the anthologies Love in Vein Iand II. In 1997, she published the biography Courtney Love: The Real Story. She is currently working on a new novel and readying her second collection of short stories for publication. Poppy Z. Brite lives in New Orleans with her husband Christopher, a chef and food writer.