Brothel

by Stephanie M. Wytovich

Wytovich plays madam in a collection of erotic horror that challenges the philosophical connection between death and orgasm. There's a striptease that happens in Brothel that is neither fact nor fiction, fantasy nor memory. It is a dance of eroticism, of death and decay. The human body becomes a service station for pain, for pleasure, for the lonely, the confused. Sexuality is hung on the door, and the act of love is far from anything that's decent. Her women spread their legs to violence then smoke a cigarette and get on all fours. They use their bodies as weapons and learn to find themselves in the climax of the boundaries they cross in order to define their humanity...or lack thereof.

Wytovich shows us that the definition of the feminine is not associated with the word victim. Her characters resurrect themselves over and over again, fighting stereotypes, killing expectations. She shows us that sex isn't about love; it's about control. And when the control is disproportionate to the fantasy, she shows us the true meaning of femme fatale.

Genres: Poetry, Horror, Fiction, Erotica, Erotic Horror

172 pages, Paperback

First published May 19, 2016

About the author

Stephanie M. Wytovich is an American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her work has been featured in magazines and anthologies, such as Weird Tales, Nightmare Magazine, Southwest Review, Year's Best Hardcore Horror: Volume 2, and The Best Horror of the Year: Volumes 8 & 15.

Wytovich is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press and an adjunct at Western Connecticut State University, Southern New Hampshire University, and Point Park University. She has received the Elizabeth Matchett Stover Memorial Award, the 2021 Ladies of Horror Fiction Writers Grant, and the Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for nonfiction writing.

Wytovich is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, an active member of the Horror Writers Association, and a graduate of Seton Hill University’s MFA program for Writing Popular Fiction. She is a two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning poet, and her nonfiction craft book for speculative poetry, Writing Poetry in the Dark, is available from Raw Dog Screaming Press. Readers can pick up her latest project, Howl: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women in Horror, co-edited with Lindy Ryan, now from Black Spot Books.

Follow Wytovich at https://www.stephaniemwytovich.com/ and on Twitter, Threads, and Instagram @SWytovich and @thehauntedbookshelf. You can also sign up for her newsletter at https://stephaniemwytovich.substack.com/.

Reviews

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was Kindly given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of dark & erotic poetry has opened the door to a conversation I've had before but I get to enjoy having it again with you right now. How exciting!
It has always been highly interesting to me that horror fans (especially horror film enthusiasts) are typically comfortable with pushing the envelope in terms of gore & violence but as soon as that same envelope is pushed over to the *other* side of the table in regards to sexuality--NOW it's time to evaluate our thresholds and boundaries.
This has *never* made any sense to me.
EX. We are totally okay with a soul-sucking, child-killing demon clown ripping the arms off of children and pulling them down into his comic sewer lair, but preteens having some kind of emotional orgy (not even described in detail) is like WHOA PAPA! WTF Stephen King?!
I remember having a discussion about this with someone who was considering taking their 4 year old daughter to see Stephen King's IT and they were like fine with everything except if anything sexual were to happen, they'd just cover her eyes!
*shaking my head* Nudity & Sex is normal and natural. It's part of our lives. Mowing people over with cars, blowing their brains out and hacking them to pieces is ABNORMAL behavior. Get it right people. *eye roll*
Anyways, on to Stephanie's dark poetry. I have a background in horror erotica (I used to read my mom's collection of it, cut my teeth on some Anne Rice stuff and then read some anthologies). To be honest though, it was a phase that didn't blossom into a lasting love for the genre. I don't loathe it or anything, I'm just not seeking it out anymore.
Reading through this collection brought back a lot of old memories; being entertained by taboo, racy literature--but these days, it doesn't turn my head so much. And it's not to say Stephanie's work isn't good, she's very good. It's just not my cup of tea anymore. I would love to read some of her other dark poetry collections, yes I would.
I'd like to highlight some stand out pieces for me:
Casanova was a particular favorite and one that I think could be developed into a full novella or short story (please Stephanie??)
Hedonist, Justifiable and Lady Killer were some other stand outs, mostly because they had this noir vibe that I really enjoyed.
Readers should know this collection has graphic, explicit sexual language and *possible triggers for some women who have been sexually victimized.
*I say that not because Stephanie wrote anything demeaning or demoralizing but it's just a possibility

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must begin this review by saying that I don’t read a lot of poetry and am far from an expert on the subject. I had seen Stephanie Wytovich’s name in a few horror anthologies, and I was intrigued by the concept of this book. A collection of erotic horror poems? I’m not sure what that is, but I know I want to read it!

I flipped through the pages of “Brothel” slowly, taking my time with each poem – which go from free-form verse and prose poetry to more traditional rhyming verses. Now I may not know good poetry, but I know good writing, and Miss Wytovich can write! Granted, this is quite unlike anything I’ve ever read before, and while some pieces stand out as extraordinary (“I Cover The Wall’s Mouth”, "Joint Custody", “Juice”, "Lewd Behavior", "Nobody's Whore", and “The Shed” are particular favorites), even the less mind-blowing pieces are still carefully crafted to be both sensual and grotesque. While I wished the whole collection had the caliber of my aforementioned favorites, there still wasn’t a bad piece of writing anywhere in the book: even the shortest and most perfunctory page still made me smile... or wince.

An interesting element I noted as I was reading was that as explicit as they can get, the pieces in this collection never feel exploitative. There is a strong feeling of sex as power, and the characters’ whose voices we hear are never victims. This gives the collection a tone of strong and honest femininity - never cheap. The sex in this book is about pleasure, pain, love, addiction, abuse, revenge, loneliness, sorrow: it's often painfully human and raw, and I was quite awed by Wytovich's ability to put such things into cheeky and ominous words.

If you enjoy dark, beautiful and sharp writing – in every possible definition of that word, this is quite worth getting out of your comfort zone for. I will be looking for more work by Wytovich soon.

[Shane Douglas Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wytovich is a brilliant poet who gains new momentum with every collection of dark poetry she produces. With Brothel, she shows herself to be one of the best dark poets in the field today. Maybe THE best.

Read a full review of it here at This Is Horror: http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/book-re...

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephanie Wytovich brings a blunt sexuality to her usual dark verse. No flowers and cuddling here. It the sex of fluids and stains, grunting in back rooms, users and the used, getting off and getting paid. Stong imagry and raw language without being explotive

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I love about Wytovich's work is that it constantly challenges the reader. She takes you places you never wanted to go but tells you things you needed to hear, shows you things it is imperative that you see. I'll admit I approached the subject matter with trepidation but Wytovich is not about cheap thrills. She's determined to plumb the depths but not in a way that shames or demeans. All the women of the brothel get their say—some are mean, some are just ornery and some are heartbreakingly beautiful but none are without layers and they all have a story.

Note: I was involved in publishing this book.

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I possibly say about Brothel that hasn't already been said? Everything about this Bram Stoker-winning collection was perfect. The theme, tone, order of poems, emotion elicited, I absolutely devoured the one-hundred fifty-four poems over three nights, and would stumble across a new 'favorite' every other poem. I will definitely be picking up a copy of An Exorcism of Angels and Hysteria: A Collection of Madness, as well as Stephanie's Bram Stoker-nominated debut novel, The Eighth.

[Suzy Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Brothel' was my first foray into the world of Stephanie Wytovich. And what an eye opening experience it was! She certainly has an impressive knack for poetry and in this collection of erotica, she takes a harsh but honest look at a world society tends to ignore or sweep under the rug. She offers what is certainly a frank view of the sex trade, in all it's ugly, stained, lustful glory.
We are introduced to our narrator- Madam XXX- in the beginning and she takes the reader through the different rooms, hallways, and torture chambers in the Brothel. Each one telling a story of desire, violence, pleasure and pain, all culminating into more than 100 tales of erotic horror. The poems portray the narrator as sweet and innocent, and then a devilish creature driven by carnal urges in others. The author makes her own thoughts about the individuals working in the sex business very clear throughout- these are survivors, not victims and sex equals power. And as every woman knows, we hold the keys to that kingdom. Sex is not about love but control. And when you take that control away from the ladies in these stories, they become "The Bride" from Kill Bill. These snippets are given simple names like "Deep Throat" and "Bewitched", reflecting the shallowness of trading sex for money. Redemption and revenge are just a few key themes reflected in these stories. They show the struggle of addiction and violent clients and the imagery is straight forward and vivid. The author takes a "Clockwork Orange" approach, forcing the reader to watch (or read) her unflinching look at uncomfortable subjects and presents it to the reader in an unwaveringly raw and blunt fashion. The descriptions are unsettling, yet precise. However, there is no lack of the truly sensual in these ballads. The author becomes a literary madam in a way, teasing her readers with the end of one story, then feeds their hunger for more with another. Almost creating a dominant/submissive relationship between her and the reader.
Stephanie Wytovich's 'Brothel' is a poignant, frightening, and edgy look at a darker part of society. She is skilled at eliciting an array of emotions from the reader- disgust, empathy, maybe even arousal. The struggle of the characters is heartbreaking, but they won't be beaten down, figuratively or realistically. She explores the relationships between pain and pleasure, love and abuse with constant intelligence and sophistication. Passing through a world where bodily fluids are exchanged for cash, and the grunts of pleasure and pain echoe through the hallways, redemption for these sex workers might just be around the next corner. Or the next John.

[Kenya Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Wytovich's poetry!

Usually, the focus of her poems deal with dark love and death. This time we got to explore her violent twisted ideas of sexuality.

The Brothel was a nasty, wicked adventure into words. I loved the collection and will probably return to the book throughout the year.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her fourth publication with Raw Dog Screaming Press, Stephanie M. Wytovich chains up the specters of pleasure and pain, showing us their eternal courtship. Brothel is a work of lust and horror, abyss and beauty. It’s poetry that dances with taboo, as the author mingles with subjects so many avoid in their work.

In this collection, Wytovich takes us inside the world of Madam XXX. Once she has you, she doesn’t let you go, and you can never look away. The world of Brothel is one of visceral imagery and unrelenting honesty. The poems found inside pull back the curtain between right and wrong, black and white, and favor a swirling pool of grey. It’s Wytovich’s boldest and sharpest work to date, which is incredible considering the fantastic quality of her previous works.

Wytovich doesn’t simply place like-minded poems into a themed collection; she carves a narrative that invites and plays, punishes and forbids. Her poetry builds, rises and falls, and leaves you breathless as you move between the pages. The duality of human nature is explored thoroughly throughout the piece as Wytovich makes her readers ache for what they’ve left behind while yearning for what’s ahead.

The unflinching exploration of both darkness and eroticism speaks to Wytovich’s harmony with her craft. Through the investigation of love and lust, death and orgasm, and the sensual and the grotesque, Wytovich delves into subject matter few other poets could hope to capture so masterfully. Brothel isn’t the kind of collection you pick through or visit for a moment. It moves in with you, becoming flatmates with your soul.

While there’s much to be said about the subject matter found within Brothel, one can’t help being taken aback by the precise imagery and incredible descriptions that act as a guiding hand through Brothel. Wytovich paints a landscape with characters the reader will never forget, bringing each slap and stain to life.

Brothel an incredible collection written by one of the most skilled poets in the field. With Wytovich still so early in her career, I can’t wait to see where Wytovich takes her readers over the many years to come.

[Kyla Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The last room on the right is known as the Reflection Room. It's protocol to go there after seeing clients so the girls can think about what they did and how they did it. There's a journal on the table, some write in it, some don't, but the ones who do are angry..."

In this collection of prose poems, freestyle and the occasional rhyming snippet, Wytovitch remains focused. The result is something of a wildly impressionistic verse novel, fused together by the heat of lust and the conceit, articulated throughout but never so clearly as in "Quiet, They're Onto Us" (quoted above), that entering here may cost your life. You may expect Black Widows, you may expect Eve: just don't expect a heart of gold.

Some of the work is brilliantly exuberant. In "I Cover the Wall's Mouth" and "The Shed", the patterns and rhythm of the words carry the energy of the acts they describe. Other pieces, such as "Dysmorphic" and the exquisite "Photograph" are constrained, sparse, but no less effective. But for me, the real joy lies in the oddities, in "Foursome" and "Queen of Hearts", and "Obituary" which made me chuckle while I shivered.

Wytovitch's work keeps going from strength to strength. Wonderfully original and off-kilter, yet treating of universal themes, this is a creation you may dip into to refresh your darker self, or devour all in one feverish night.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful cover art. Such a great collection, i soaked this one up in a day.

[Strega · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing and thought-provoking - excellent dark poetry

[Horror DNA · Rating 4 out of 5]

To say that Stephanie M. Wytovich’s Brothel is a poetry collection is at once accurate and grossly imprecise. Yes, the book is full of poems, but what they add up to is much more than a poetry collection: this is a novel told in vignettes, a study of the interstitial space between desire and murder, and a screaming elegy to female empowerment. What Wytovich offers in this book is a look at the life of a brothel and what goes on in its room as well as inside the minds and hearts of the women who work within its walls. The sexual atmosphere and carnal acts you’d expect are there, but they are both intertwined with pain, gore, gritty emotional revelations, uncomfortable truths, confessions, and healthy doses of domination/submission, mayhem, and murder.

You can read Gabino's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.

[Mindy Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

poetry about sex work, love, violence, and abuse. hm. there was a fair amount of sexy shit that i dug and a couple of little bits here and there that made me ache. much of the sex work content i did not vibe with because it didn't feel.. i don't know. sincere, maybe? to me! no shade whatsoever, it just didn't hit for me but i've also never been involved in sex work so if you have this might fully resonate with you. 3/5.

[Suz Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

BROTHEL is a visceral A to Z collection of poems about abuse, femininity, horror, love, pain, sex, and violence. My favorites include “Bewitched,” “Erotic Asphyxiation,” “Exit 55, Cincinnati, Columbus,” “Justifiable,” “Kitten,” “Purge,” and “Transaction.” Wytovich pens each poem with an unflinching passion that transcends the page. I look forward to digging into her other works.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intense, visceral, disturbing, fearless, and fantastic.

[Line · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before receiving this in the Goodreads giveaway I didn't really know that horror erotica poetry was a genre, so this was definitely a new territory of literature for me.

Brothel is a collection of about 150 poems, each poem a different story, all circling the themes of sex, lust, love, addiction, and death. There were parts of this collection that for me were too blunt, not in its darkness but in its sexual imagery. To the point where it took away from the emotions and darkness that I wanted to get away from it. However, there were other parts of the collection that I really enjoyed, and I can appreciate what Wytovich is doing here; there's not sugar-coating, there's no hiding from what she's telling you.

It's probably not for everyone, but it's definitely a thought-provoking collection.