My favorite of his books is 1993’s Drawing Blood, which features two homeless youth-cartoonist Trevor McGee and computer hacker Zachary Bosch-who cross paths and form a romantic bond inside an abandoned house. This was horror for the disenfranchised, and his books made heroes of society’s rejects who found themselves drawn, through their outsider-ness, into fugues of violence and evil. Anne Rice was probably the exception as far as freshness and popularity, but her books and films were too appealing to the mainstream to appease darker tastes.īrite attracted a loyal goth following with his fractured tales of loners, transients and outcasts of all variety. The genre had grown stale, with old masters losing steam and horror cinema bottoming out.

He didn’t make a splash in the horror world. With that out of the way, let’s get to important matters: his writing.įrom 1992-94, Brite published two merciless novels and a stellar collection of short stories ( Wormwood). Brite prefers to be addressed with male pronouns, and we are happy to oblige. Brite, who has always prominently featured gay and bisexual characters in her writing, identifies as a man and has begun transitioning. Twenty years later, in semi-retirement from fiction writing, Brite’s career has taken unexpected turns, and she has quietly put together one of the more interesting literary careers of contemporary authors.įor one thing, that’s the last usage of the pronoun “she” you will read in this piece. Brite published her debut novel, Lost Souls, in 1992, the young writer was heralded as horror’s fastest rising star. Check back or subscribe to our feed for your daily dose of darkness. Every day through Halloween, we’ll feature reviews, discussions and recommendations of some of the most frightening books ever printed. Unsettling Chapters is a month-long celebration of dark fiction brought to you by Ensuing Chapters book blog and Transgress digital magazine.

His mouth will taste of wormwood