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The Devil's Wine
"Poetry is the devil's wine." -- St. Augustine THE DEVIL'S WINE features contributions from Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Peter Straub, Graham Masterton, Charles De Lint, Jack Ketchum, Joe Haldeman, Michael Bishop, Jack Cady, Steve Rasnic Tem, Melanie Tem, Peter Crowther, TM Wright, Brian Hodge, Edward Lee, Elizabeth Massie, Jay Bonansinga, and Tamara Thorne. The Cemetery Dance hardcover is the only edition for this title, and many of the nearly 200 poems have never appeared anywhere else. Stephen King's amazing contributions were originally published in small venues during his college years and these publications now resell for thousands of dollars due to their scarcity. The King poems haven't seen print in over 30 years--this is the only time they have ever been reprinted! The poetry found within THE DEVIL'S WINE is deeply moving, affecting, and deals with the human condition in a way that only those who've danced along the edge of the abyss are capable of understanding. One of the contributors, Jay Bonansinga, calls THE DEVIL'S WINE "a unique compendium of thriller writers moonlighting in the world of dark verse" and that's about the best description we've heard yet.
- GenresHorrorPoetryAnthologies
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
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About the author
Tom Piccirilli
186 books387 followersThomas Piccirilli (May 27, 1965 – July 11, 2015) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Piccirilli sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. He was a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He was a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and the winner of the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".
Piccirilli sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. He was a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He was a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and the winner of the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 15, 2010
Tom Piccirilli (ed.), The Devil's Wine (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2004)
Multiple-author collections of poetry tend to be of varying quality. Combine that with the idea that if you limit the type of contributor to a given volume the overall output is going to be weaker than if you opened it up to the entire world, then you've lowered the bar pretty far in most cases. The Devil's Wine is a collection of poetry written by horror authors, and it epitomizes this idea. While there are still some pretty good poets in here, they are the exception rather than the rule.
Another interesting observation: the expression “knowing just enough to be dangerous” comes into play here, as the book offers a tour of pretty much every fatal flaw there is to be had in poetry; awful line breaks, overuse of internal rhyme, mixing free verse and formal in the same poem unconsciously (one assumes unconsciously, anyway), the works. If there's a rule that any given poet uses to define some aspect of quality, you can pretty much guarantee it'll be broken somewhere in this volume. If I gave you examples, we'd be here all day.
But as I said, this is not to say there isn't some credible work to be had here. Elizabeth Massey, especially, knows what she's on about with this whole poetry thing, and splatterpunk godfather Edward Lee, of all people, really, really gets the theory (he's quoted in the introduction to his section as saying “All poetry...must fail. If a writer ever looks at apiece and is satisfied with it, he is not a poet anymore.” Amen), though the practice is a little off. Steve Rasnic Tem contributes a gem or two, as do a couple of writers in here you'd expect to see gems from (Graham Masterton and Jack Cady). A handful of others can be assessed with the “if you like their fiction, you'll probably like their poetry” idea; Peter Crowther, Melanie Tem, a few others.
It's a curiosity more than anything else; good for fans of the individual authors, but otherwise, you can probably leave it. ** ½
Multiple-author collections of poetry tend to be of varying quality. Combine that with the idea that if you limit the type of contributor to a given volume the overall output is going to be weaker than if you opened it up to the entire world, then you've lowered the bar pretty far in most cases. The Devil's Wine is a collection of poetry written by horror authors, and it epitomizes this idea. While there are still some pretty good poets in here, they are the exception rather than the rule.
Another interesting observation: the expression “knowing just enough to be dangerous” comes into play here, as the book offers a tour of pretty much every fatal flaw there is to be had in poetry; awful line breaks, overuse of internal rhyme, mixing free verse and formal in the same poem unconsciously (one assumes unconsciously, anyway), the works. If there's a rule that any given poet uses to define some aspect of quality, you can pretty much guarantee it'll be broken somewhere in this volume. If I gave you examples, we'd be here all day.
But as I said, this is not to say there isn't some credible work to be had here. Elizabeth Massey, especially, knows what she's on about with this whole poetry thing, and splatterpunk godfather Edward Lee, of all people, really, really gets the theory (he's quoted in the introduction to his section as saying “All poetry...must fail. If a writer ever looks at apiece and is satisfied with it, he is not a poet anymore.” Amen), though the practice is a little off. Steve Rasnic Tem contributes a gem or two, as do a couple of writers in here you'd expect to see gems from (Graham Masterton and Jack Cady). A handful of others can be assessed with the “if you like their fiction, you'll probably like their poetry” idea; Peter Crowther, Melanie Tem, a few others.
It's a curiosity more than anything else; good for fans of the individual authors, but otherwise, you can probably leave it. ** ½
July 8, 2011
gorgeous..simply gorgeous! from the art to the words--a beauty from the word go!!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews