White Trash Gothic

by Assistant Professor of Radiology Edward Lee

From the master of extreme horror, Edward Lee, author of over fifty books that have redefined the boundaries of depravity in fiction, comes a novel that brings together all of his most extreme characters into one epic, gut-wrenching masterpiece of terror. Plagued by nightmares of torture and intense violence, a writer suffering from trauma-induced memory loss seeks to solve the mystery of his missing past. The only clue is a single page of an unfinished manuscript found in an old manual typewriter, in a fleabag motel, in a small West Virginian town called Luntville. It is here that the writer will seek answers, believing that if he finishes the book he was writing, his memories will return. But Luntville is not just some bumfuck town in the sticks. It is a place where the locals make extra cash by filming necro porn, a place where vigilantes practice a horrifying form of justice they call dead-dickin', a place haunted by the ghosts of serial killers, occult demons, and a monster called the Bighead. And as the writer attempts to make sense of the town and his connection to it, he will be challenged in ways that test the very limit of his sanity. Deadite Press is proud to present White Trash Gothic, the first book in a series of highly anticipated novels for fans of redneck nightmares and backwoods terror which invokes Edward Lee's many classic gross-outs while exploring even more revolting and disturbing new directions.

Genres: Horror, Splatterpunk, Fiction, Amazon

250 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2017

Reviews

[Daniel Volpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great, disgusting book by the master of sleaze and gore, Edward Lee. This was more of mystery than some of his other books and the ending did not disappoint. I knew, since there are 2 other parts, this would have an open ending, but what an ending! I can't wait to get the other books.

[Brad Tierney · Rating 4 out of 5]

☠️☠️☠️☠️

Another awesome tale by Mr. Lee. A little bit of everything in this one, easter eggs abound, touching on all kinds of things drawn from Mr. Lee’s “mythos”. A splatter-salad if you will. I thought it was great. I love the “Howard” storyline.
4/5 Skulls
☠️☠️☠️☠️

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

WTG is the start of a new series by Lee, although it builds heavily on two previous books-- The Bighead and The Minotauress. The Minotauress was in some ways a prequel to the Bighead and introduced us to two homicidal rapey rednecks Balls and Dicky, who play a role in the Bighead as well. Definitely read these two books before WTG or you will miss a lot of backstory. We know the Bighead was really some sort of Alien/human hybrid (you need to read the 'uncut' version of Bighead for this) killed at a strange Catholic abbey deep in the woods around Luntville, West Virginia, a setting of many of Lee's books. In the Minotauress, the unnamed writer, our main protagonist, came to Luntville to write a new book and ended up participating in a bizarre house robbery of the local wizard led by Balls and Dicky. Now, 20 years or so later, the Writer is back in Luntville!

This really is a book for Lee fans who are familiar with his work, and Lee is quite tongue and cheek throughout WTG, referencing his other work and exploring more disgusting hillbilly sex games. In any case, the writer has a strange form of amnesia and cannot remember anything about his life and especially what happened the last time he was in Luntville. As in Minotauress, the writer is haunted by his alter ego, who is now 20 years younger-- just the age he was during his last visit. The writer arrives in town and it seems everyone knows he is a famous writer, although he is not really famous, and no one can say how they knew he was a writer in the first place. Just like in the Minotauress, the writer disdains sex, but immediately makes friends with a few bombshell babes and he is feeling horny for the first time ever.

I found this a bit of a let down after The Bighead and Minotauress; it just seems to lack that edge that Lee usually rides on so well. Sure, we have all kinds of strange sex and the aforementioned hillbilly sex games, and in this, Lee is up to form for sure. WTG lacked the philosophical probings of the Minotauress and the mystery of The Bighead. However gross Lee's stories are, he usually has a killer plot under girding them; in WTG, not so much. This book serves basically as a 'foundation' for the series and lacks a real ending-- so many loose threads! 3.0 stars.

[Still · Rating 2 out of 5]

See updates.
Oh goddamn, Goodreads refuses to allow me to leave a review this short.

Ohhhh -there's blow jobs a plenty.
There's sex with a head less woman.
There's a dead-dicking.
There's neck stretching and oral copulation during said neck stretching.

Is this long enough?

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly not for the first time Lee reader, this first in a planned series of novels and novellas brings together everything in his mythos. The metafiction character known as The Writer attempts to piece together amnesiac memory by returning to the West Virginia town of Luntville. Lee pulls no punches and all the usual degradations mixed with his trademark black humor make this a fun and nasty fast paced read.

My only issue was that this book was riddled with typos, could have used one more editorial pass. Having said that, this is a must read for Lee fans.

Highly recommended!

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ultimate book for Lee fans.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly the type of depravity I would expect from Edward lee. This "story" brings together a bunch of his favorite and most extreme characters but that's all it really does. Then it ends abruptly without answering any questions and there are a lot, it's almost written like a mystery with the main character being "the writer" traveling to the small town of luntzville after suffering from really bad amnesia so he can try to remember what happened 20 years ago and a bunch of weird stuff that don't make sense happens. Then it is over and says "to be Continued". And I just saw that Edward Lee posted on Facebook that it will be followed by a series of novellas. So basically it's part one of a serial which I fucking hate! Especially when it's not marketed as such. I don't really think Mr Lee knows where the story is going because it made no progress in the story line. And last but not least, if you are buying it because it promises the return of the bighead, don't. Because minor spoiler alert, it only features the dead body of the big head which is embalmed and regularly sodomized by a one legged lady and her albino girlfriend.

[Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun and satisfying read. I feel like kicking back in bed and lighting up a cigarette, then having a nice long hot then cold shower to get clean again. The main character and his two "friends" are a hoot. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this series, talk about a walk down memory lane... And people think Jason Voorhees "coming back" was bad, the next book should be a blast.
I think when I start to read Ed's books for a second time, which will be soon as I'm running low, I'll write my own Dictionary/Encyclopedia on all the fun and potentially useful stuff that I've learned from this unique author.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say that hasn't all ready been said about Edward Lee? He is a master of gore and horror! Before ever knowing what this book was about I read Bighead, which is the pre-quell to White Trash Gothic, I learned this after I started reading it. This story takes place in the backwoods, small town where superstition and rumors reign supreme. How will the hero in this tale find his way out of the situation that lays before him when legend becomes reality? Read it. The ending will shock you!

[Angus McKeogh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixed bag. It was interesting enough to keep on plodding along, but the story was honestly stupid as hell. Gratuitous gross outs that weren’t so much gross as just dumb. An unbelievably ridiculous narrator and supporting characters. Shock value merely for shock value sake comes across as idiotic. And a huge thumbs down for the publisher; not for publishing something so moronic, but rather for atrocious editing. This novel was filthy with typos, wrong words inserted here and there, and poor grammar. Unfortunately this is the first of a series. Fortunately I have no interest in continuing on.

[Jim Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disgustingly wonderful

I have never read an Edward Lee novel and for some reason this one screamed out to me to get it!! And I answered the call.
This book is about a man referee to as nothing more than the Writer. He has lost his memory and twenty years ago he had started writing a novel called White Trash Gothic. Thinking that going back to the town he was doing his research in could maybe bring memories back, he heads out to a small backwoods town in West Virginia called Luntville.
What he finds is nothing and I mean nothing that you could possibly imagine. I loved this book. It’s got mystery, depravity, and some of the most discussing horror that I have read in a long time. Such a fun read but warning not for the faint at heart!!!!

[Warren Fournier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why did I ever consent to read anything by Ed Lee? Ten novels and multiple short stories later, I still ask myself the same question. Typically, I do not invest in extreme content, but something about his writing keeps me coming back. And "White Trash Gothic" is the reward for Lee's returning customers.

With guest appearances or references to many of Lee's previous creations, "White Trash Gothic" is the "Abbot and Costello Meets Frankenstein" of his shared literary universe. It is a sequel to the brilliant, disturbing, and hilarious "Minotauress," which in itself is a prequel to the infamous splatterpunk legend "The Bighead." The unnamed Writer returns to Luntville, West Virginia, to team up with a sexy albino ancestor of H. P. Lovecraft and her buxom one-legged military veteran mortician friend to regain his lost memories and confront an evil curse.

This one is still gross as hell, but the sick stuff is more tongue-and-cheek as we saw in "The Minotauress," and the whole is a somehow very entertaining comedy-horror that you don't want to put down until the conclusion. And speaking of conclusions, it doesn't spoil anything to say that the end sets things up for the sequel which I will also read and review shortly. What is wrong with me?

With laugh-out-loud comedic timing, loveable protagonists, cringy sexual depravity, intelligent prose, and gore galore, I keep churning through the schlocky and sloppy world of Ed Lee with barf bag in hand, wondering all the while what this says about me as a person.

[Michael Myett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait for the sequel. The Luntville mythos has always made for some of Lee's most entertaining work.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre, and a little fucked up; but if you like weird/extreme horror, one to check out.

[Horror Bookworm Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edward Lee brings the usual charismatic demented charm to his novel White Trash Gothic, a tale of ingenious bloodshed, irregular sexuality and the ongoing exploits of The Bighead. This novel is packed full of odd personalities and strange events tied together by a dark humor that can only come from the deranged mind of Lee. The king of inbred backwoods horror remains a permanent fixture among fans and authors alike in this beloved splatter-punk community ❤️

[Lance Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book for fans of the grossout horror Edward Lee specializes in. There were lots of nods and easter eggs scattered about and it kind of felt like a "greatest hits" album. I'm definitely going to check out the rest of the series when I get in one of those "I need to read something messed up" moods.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy

I had fun with thsi book. Nobody writes like Lee. If you like extreme for the sake of extreme and gross outs this book is for you.

[Sharon Leung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

I can't wait for the next book! I love this series of books. I feel like I know them all and I definitely missed ducky and balls and there antics. But I think snowy and dawn are brilliant too. The book is so intriguing and keeps you wanting more, he at wanting to put the book down. Definitely recommend this series

[Pyropatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extreme

Unbelievable extreme story that merges some of his best stories into different parts of another story. Very disgusting and I couldn't put down.

[Demonika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimate fan fiction! Can't wait for the sequel.

[Vadim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hatte die letzten Wochen Mal wieder seit längerem einen Roman von Edward Lee in der Hand und es sollte mittlerweile jedem, der sich ein wenig mit Horror-Literatur befasst, vertraut sein, dass es sich um einen der drastischsten Autoren moderner Literatur handelt. Darüber hinaus wirkt der kreative Titel "White Trash Gothic" und die Redneck-lastige Cover-Optik sowie die Referenz an seinen Kult-Hit "Bighead" ebenfalls recht ansprechend.
Die Erwartungshaltung war also zu Beginn schon relativ hoch und auch die Einstufung in die Extreme-Reihe wirkte interessant, da Bighead ja wirklich einer der heftigsten und Nerven-aufreibendsten Romane war, die ich je gelesen hatte und dieser lediglich in der normalen Festa Horror-Reihe katalogisiert ist.

Im Roman selbst geht es um einen Schriftsteller, der über gewisse Abwege und aus Inspirationsgründen für neue Werke in eine abgelegene Hinterwäldler-Gegend, die hauptsächlich von einem Inzest-Haufen, bestehend aus Albinos, bewohnt ist kommt. Diverse Geschehenisse und Begegnungen mit einer entsprechend verrohten Gesellschaft kann man sich nun also ausmalen und auch hier baut Lee wieder kreativ auf jegliche Perversionen, die man sich im Rahmen menschlicher Verhaltensweisen nur vorstellen kann. Allen voran sorgt er geschickt auch dafür, dass der zu Beginn unschuldig wirkende und sensible Hauptcharakter des Schriftstellers im Laufe des Romans immer mehr abstumpft und sich dieser Gesellschaft anpasst.

Nichts desto trotz muss ich sagen, dass ich mir wirklich mehr erhofft hatte. Der Inhalt ist ziemlich dünn und im Gegensatz zu Bighead wird nur sehr wenig Spannung aufgebaut. Darüber hinaus ist der Roman für einen Edward Lee doch relativ seicht und trifft bei Weitem keine so empfindlichen Nerven wie es Bighead schaffte. Zumal dieser auch nicht wirklich Bestandteil dieser Story ist. Die Protagonisten wirken auch alle etwas unauthentisch und in ihrem Verhalten erzwungen. Auch die Handlungsorte hätten abwechslungsreicher ausfallen können. Finde ich etwas schade, denn eine Menge Potenzial war vorhanden. Nach wie vor ist die Schreibweise des Autors jedoch wieder sehr gut greifbar. Dennoch eine eher schwächere Redneck-Story! Bin gespannt ob's die Fortsetzung besser macht!

[Mark Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars, really

There are a LOT of characters from other Edward Lee works in the White Trash Gothic trilogy as well as events, locations, etc. Here is a comprehensive list of all of Lee's books that take place in the "White Trash Gothic" universe (also known as the Luntville/Crick City Universe), from the essential to the incidental:

The Bighead
The Bighead’s Junk
The Minotauress
Horn-Cranker
Header
Header 2
Header 3
Mr. & Miss Torso
The Backwoods
Coven
City Infernal
Infernal Angel
House Infernal
Lucifer's Lottery
Lakehouse Infernal
Warlock Infernal
Pages Torn from a Travel Journal
The Pig
The House
Ouija Pig
The Chosen
Flesh Gothic

[Thomas Goddard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't have a clue about this one. I searched for audiobooks with a run time of 8 hours. I needed that length because I had a stocktake at work and when you account for increasing playback speed it would sit snug within that shift. It was billed as extreme horror. I liked the cover art.

Wow. I was not at all prepared.

Only last week I was complaining to my boss at work that there wasn't enough extremely disturbing writing going on... How wrong I was!

I think, when you work in a bookshop, you can easily get wrapped up in the publishing industry as a sanitised vehicle for celebrity memoir, fiction about thin white girls with either a) an older lover interest b) a crippling ennui and an age appropriate boyfriend c) fairy powers and sword skills... and the obligatory Booker nominated work about racism and/or a developing country, naturally.

I'm being reductionist, but it is pretty standard. Now and then you get something written extremely well, but it's usually by a writer with a career spanning into the decades.

Enter the indie publishing world... The wild west of publishing. Where men still roam the halls and huff paint thinner while desperately tugging their ego towards an inky climax...

There's no possible chance works like this could find a wide public fanbase... (although, I know they would and should!)... But my god, I've not read a book as funny and self-aware and yet gross and disturbing in a long time!

It follows a writer with amnesia trying to trace his own past... To find a road towards knowing himself... And while on that road, in the deep south, he encounters a solid but insane bunch of reprobates.

Don't even look at this book unless you love horror and have a strong disposition!

[Danny Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edward Lee is a very bizarre and unique author, his contributions to extreme horror are unlike any other. His work is intelligent, whilst being incredibly violent and grotesque at the same time. White Trash Gothic is a novel of his that I've been meaning to read for a little while now but had to prepare myself with both The Bighead and The Minotauress before giving this one a go, as this story continues threads from those two novels and brings us back to Luntville.

The Writer after 20 years has returned to Luntville to hopefully regain back his memory of who he was and complete an unfinished manuscript. But when he arrives, he finds himself in a number of bizarre and gruesome situations. Luntville is a unique town with a unique set of characters. When he becomes friends with Snowie and Dawn, he soon comes to learn a great evil is about to return and that his past self, a shadow of who he once was is here to help him along...

White Trash Gothic is a relatively short novel, but it is the first installment in a trilogy of books. It's a grotesque and gruesome book with some fascinating and bizarre characters. It has some solid world-building and deals with a lot of lore either set up or explained in previous books the author has written. The writer is a very interesting and in some ways unique protagonist as we never get to learn what his name is. The situation he finds himself in with a shadow of his past self following him around, really had me on the edge of my seat.

Overall: Whilst it was a little too gross for my liking at times, I still had a lot of fun with this book. It's not anything amazing in the grand scheme of things, but the cliffhanger promises a lot for this series and I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to see what happens next! 8/10

[William M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

For Lee Fans - 5 Stars, For General Readers - 3 Stars.

This is a tricky review of Edward Lee's White Trash Gothic. Finally, Mr. Lee brings his backwoods mythology of most of his prior books into one story, bringing a lot of his characters together. So as a fan, he gets a full 5 stars, but I am aware that this is nowhere near perfect. General horror readers would most likely give this 3 or lower and might not "get" Lee's talent. While not in the least bit scary, Lee infuses tongue-in-cheek humor to nearly all his disgusting descriptions, which allows the reader to more easily digest the onslaught of depraved graphic sex and violence. While personally, I prefer Lee's Infernal series, I had a great time reading this one and look forward to the next book in what appears to be at least a trilogy.

Not for the faint of heart, this book will certainly turn off most readers, so they need to understand what they are getting into. This contains some of the most abhorrent, gag-inducing nastiness available in print, but with the humorous way in which Edward Lee writes it, I had a blast. There were times I laughed so hard, I was having a hard time breathing. A few typos were annoying to read, especially coming from a veteran publisher like Deadite Press. Recommended for fans of Lee or fans of extreme horror only. You've been warned!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I'm not going to give you the 'what this book is about' blurb - you can read that elsewhere.

1. I'm glad I decided to read The Bighead before diving into this one. It really set the scene for what I was walking into both story-wise and style-wise. I think some familiarity was important, especially given how this book starts off. I'll admit I didn't love the first few chapters, but given my rating, you can see that changed as I read on!
2. Lee is obviously incredibly intelligent, which is evident in the style he writes as well as the references he makes, but is also hilarious based on the backwoods idiotic characters in this book. I love a good juxtaposition, though, and this book is full of scenarios where the contrast is evident.
3. The MC is a pretentious dick and is the perfect dichotomy to the rest of the characters and plot. He does loosen as time goes on and becomes a much more tolerable character, although I'd never call him particularly likable.
4. I love the way Lee writes certain parallels between you as the reader/he as the writer and what is happening to the writer in the book. It sort of brings the plot out of the book and into your actual life, deeply absorbing you.
5. I'm so glad this is a 'saga' or trilogy because by the end I was feeling all 'WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING?!' So I simply picked up book 2 in order to find out...

[Two Envelopes And A Phone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enh, Ooo, Eff, Ugh, Eeh, Guh, Muh, Wha, Nuh, Gha, Fuh, Sheet, Nurr, Bleh, No, Gross, Fwah, Pwah, Arh, Waf, Mwaw, Toast.

Not really for me. Charming in the way a whole barrel of feces dumped on someone is, but the barrel is pink and there's a laugh track. I dunno. This will likely be my last Extreme Horror for a while. There's a one-note effect here (despite all the multifarious ways that note gets squeezed to death the heck out), that I'm not in any great hurry to experience again and again. The highlight, I guess, was the author mulling over how Wodehouse would have described the private parts on a malformed behemoth corpse. Then Lee attempts an example or two, in the Wodehousian vein...and I would say he does not have an understanding of the Master's style - and Ben Schott does not have to worry about competition.

I was mildly amused for a while, but I prefer about 120 pages of this, at most. I'm not sure what we're accomplishing here - nothing deep, meaning if what's left is to have fun then it doesn't end up fitting my definition. It all ends up boiling down to sexual depravity, and piling on the most extreme imagery in that arena - so, if that's your sack - bag, I mean - then have a ball. There's usually one rolling around (from an eye hole, or...).

[Kristin Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Lee himself recommends reading at least a couple of his previous books (which he lists) before attempting this one, I read White Trash Gothic anyway. I think it stands alone well. I was delighted and disgusted by the story. It shares more with the profane paintings of Hieronymus Bosch than Grant Wood's painting American Gothic. Like Bosch, Lee has a way of portraying depravity beyond Medieval or Inquisitorial depths in a way that is not purely exploitative like so many splatterpunks and the like these days. Yes, he shows us our human ugliness reflected in distorted funhouse mirrors and does it in such shocking, sickening ways that I have no desire to meet him in person, but his story is so erudite, fun, trashy, and hideous that I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

[DJMikeG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, let us take a sojourn to Luntville, WV, where we meet up with The Writer and his many fine and interesting friends and foes, on a journey of discovery, beer, and extreme grossout horror!
There really is nothing like Edward Lee when he is in full redneck grossout mode, and you really can't get depraved entertainment this hilarious and disgusting anywhere else in horror fiction.
While I enjoyed the holy hell out of this novel, I didn't love it quite as much as The Bighead or The Minotauress, which I think are both Lee's best hardcore horror novels and benchmarks of the horror genre at large. That said, this thing is obscenely entertaining and I look forward to reading the next two books in the White Trash Gothic series.

[Chase Vaughn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I just don’t like Edward Lee, man. A lot of this isn’t disturbing. It’s just gross, but also not too gross? Like yeah dirty rednecks having lesbian sex can be gross, but it’s just them having sex. Not really haunted by that visual. It also just happens at random times and derails the book. Like things will be getting REALLY interesting, and then BOOM time wasting sex scene. Also really cracked up at when the audio book left in the narrator coughing and turning the page. Idk, starting to think the Bighead was a fluke.