One of the things I love most about New Orleans is the it's literary pedigree, of sorts. You encounter the city a lit in literature. Authors love it, with good reason.

While Anne R*ce has long been associated with the city, there was another horror author out there writing about the city in much more literate and horrific ways... Poppy Z Brite.

Living in NO and working in a bookstore, as well as being pretty active on the Internet, I'm lucky to have somewhat of a tenuous relationship with her. She shops in my store and we converse a bit there and email infrequently. And she's a genuinely nice person.

She's not published a major novel in years. Several short novels and story collections have appeared from small publishers, but no BIG novel. But, she's finished one. And it's not a horror novel. From what I know of it, it's a New Orleans novel. Other major authors who've read the manuscript, Neil Gaiman for instance, have raved about it. Andre Codrescu (who I personally loathe) called it the best New Orleans novel since Confederacy of Dunces.

And so far, no major publisher has picked it up to publish because it's not a scary vampire novel. But, there's hope. She's got a new agent and I feel confident it's gonna appear on the horizon soon.

Meanwhile, she's publishing a prequel to the novel, The Value of X, through a small press, Subterranean Press. Go here now and download the first 15 pages and see for yourself how good it is.

I'm dying to read the rest of this novel and the other...