The Devil You Know »

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.

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Anyone who's ever read anything by Poppy Z. Brite knows that she's a sorceress of words, mesmerizing her readers with language, drawing them into her dark webs of storytelling. She is also a born native of New Orleans who eschews the typical trappings that plague much of the literature about the city, which mostly relies upon cliches involving Voodoo, decadence and Mardi Gras. The city and its inhabitants are so much more than that, she says, and so much stranger. And so, in this, her third short story collection, you'll be escorted into the real New Orleans and meet the hardworking, hard-partying people who make up the unusual fabric of a town that is just...well, different. These stories range from sad to shocking to uproariously funny, but the writing is always dead-on and in-your-face and jaw-dropping gorgeous. Even when she's writing within the proscribed universes of Hellboy ("Burn, Baby, Burn") or The Matrix ("System Freeze"), she makes these worlds her own rather than becoming subsumed by them, as often happens with a less talented writers. No matter the subject, no matter the style or structure, these stories are quintessentially Poppy, and you will love them. Sadly, they've been made even more poignant by the damage done by the recent hurricanes, but, as Poppy's characters will assure you, New Orleans will rise and rebuild. It's the character of the people, and the magic of the place. Click on the cover and immerse yourself in these stories. They are wondrous and satisfying, each and every one.