Lost Souls: A Novel

By Anthony Schmitz

“I start my story. Which, if I do say so myself, is a fine story for a Sunday drive. It’s a love story, at least up to the point that it gets tangled up in death and lies.”

And so begins Father Hoven’s journey back to St. Jude and back to the memory of a time when he was “right out of the seminary and ready to set the world straight.”

The young priest, however, could hardly be prepared for residents of the Minnesota community who harbored in the midst of their devout natures a host of dark secrets and earthy desires.

Father Hoven tells of his early days in their company, speaking alternately with the sweetness of youthful ambitions and the ironic wisdom of old age. His is one of the most delightful voices in American fiction today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307805355

Anthony Schmitz

Anthony Schmitz is a boat builder who lives in St. Paul, MN. His previous novels are Darkest Desire: The Wolf's Own Tale (Ecco) and Lost Souls (Random House/Available Press).

Reviews for Lost Souls

[dknippling_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Is it horror or romance? But wait, it's both! It isn't just sex in this book, but an exploration of how people fall in love, how they stay in love, how they deal with each others' flaws. Being a horror novel (mostly), though, it often wanders into the darker parts of love, abuse, and co-dependency, and mostly takes on the attitude "it's better to die than be alone." Ahhhh...no. Sometimes it's better to be alone.I liked it, although not as much as Drawing Blood.

[heart77 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have a special place in my disgusting heart for Lost Souls. This book is basically the epitome of "vampire porn", for a slightly more alternative market than Twilight. All the references to Tom Waits and Bauhaus strike me as self-aware and repetitive - I did this same thing as a beginning writer. All my characters liked bands that I liked, and I would throw pop-punk references into the story constantly. I've heard from other writers that this makes a work seem "dated" and can sometimes take away from the story. I get it. At the same time, it's endearing - it reminds me of how swept-up the goths are in their image, all liking the same music and being so obsessed with it. It makes them seem youthful compared to the vampires, who are decidedly more evil. Real, actual evil, not just playing at evil.

I enjoyed the portrayal of New Orleans as a decadent, haunted city, filled with folklore, where vampires party their days away, dining on Chartreuse and Twinkies and blood. Zillah was not nearly as handsome as I remembered, reading it ten years later (I guess I'm jaded on the "bad boy" image), but I can see how Ann would be bewitched by him. I liked the chapters about Steve and Ghost the best - they were the most likable characters - but I couldn't really get behind the two of them as a couple. I guess I'm torn. I liked that it was so less enthusiastically hypersexual of a union than the other pairings, that it was just the one kiss and nothing else... I guess I just have a thing for confused straight guy characters. But I couldn't see it really happening. It was intimate and sweet, but not realistic.

Agh, I love this book, but reviewing it I sound like such a hater. I guess now that I can see the flaws in it, I can appreciate it more. So I'm changing my previous three-star rating to four stars.

[esapuridis-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My absolute favorite book of ALL time.

[stacy_chambers-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nothing wrong with the writing in this one, but I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read it when I was much younger.

[stephmclark · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Now this woman knows how to write about vampires.

[alyce413 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thoroughly enjoyable new take on an old theme.

[uselessbeauty · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the better horror fictions I've read.

[jenson_aka_dl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I never thought I'd read another author who disturbed me as much as Stephen King, but I was mistaken. In "Lost Souls" Ms. Brite pushes all comfort zones using everything from sex, drugs and rock & roll to incest, rape, graphic violence and a smidge of cannibalism (I say a smidge for reasons that would be spoilerish if I were to elaborate.) However, for being everything I usually can't stand there was something very compelling about the writing. Simply put, I couldn't put the book down and knew if I didn't finish it asap it would just prey on my mind more.As we start off we are introduced to all the main players of the book and are made to like and understand them. From the melancholy Christian to the boisterous Zillah, Twig and Molochai we are presented with vampires you probably wouldn't mind getting to know better. That would be a huge mistake. Our other characters are the lost Nothing (whose name used in the context of the book often confused me), the guilt ridden and guilty Steve and beautiful, brave Ghost. As the story goes on we come to realize how horrifying most of these characters are and despite how we are initially made to empathize with them, it is soon obvious that this attraction was a ruse. Easily Ghost is my favorite character of the bunch, as I believe he is meant to be. How these characters are drawn together by destiny or some other force isn't really explained but from the nowhere place of Missing Mile to the wild Mardi Gras of New Orleans following them on their journey to the end quickly becomes imperative to the reader.This book, well written for all its disturbing content, isn't one for the faint of heart. I know it will be a while before I can get it out of my head and will probably be surprised with some nightmares just when I think I have. Not to mention that it has left me feeling a little bit unclean for the images invoked, as Stephen King stories always had as well. However, it was an intriguing book as well and I can't say that I'll regret reading it despite any lost sleep that might result.Of the lyrical writing my favorite line, "No," said a voice from the dark doorway. A weary voice, a voice for speaking long after midnight, a voice to be used when all paths are blocked, when castles have fallen to ruin, when morning will not come again."

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't completely dislike this book. It just wasn't my kind of book. I probably would have liked it better if I had read it in the 90's when it first came out, when I was in my 20's and a lot of the angst and teen foolishness was still near the surface. The book opens in the French Quarter of New Orleans with Christian and his bar. When three youngsters enter his quiet life is over and he has to face up to his heritage.Years later Nothing runs away from his quiet suburban home and finds a new life with the vampires and his heritage. His friend Ghost has to decide whether he's going to help him or ignore him.Dark, no-holds barred but not really my kind of read. I almost abandoned it several times but the descriptions kept pulling me back, at the same time the only character I half-way cared for was Ghost.

[cityofbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it! I couldnt put it down, Favorite characters were Nothing and Ghost!

[penny01-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book years ago (like '92) and it still resonates with me today. When I read it I found it such an eye opening book. Nothing. I had dreams about green eyes for years. Part of me would like to revisit the characters, but I don't want to ruin the emotional ties this book has for me. I'm sure that my older view point would see the flaws and cut the ties.

[darlenesbooknook · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I received this audiobook for review from Crossroad Press through Audiobook Jukebox's Solid Gold Reviewer Program. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own. I love vampires, and I love audiobooks - so I jumped at the chance to review a vampire audiobook! It was not at all what I expected.Lost Souls is about three androgynous bisexual (although mostly homosexual) vampires: Zillah (the leader) and his two sidekicks (Molochai and Twig). They come to New Orleans to party during Mardi Gras and they come across a bar that is owned by a vampire named Christian. There is an underage human girl (Jessy) at the bar, and she winds up having sex with Zillah while Christian has sex with Molochai and Twig. Jessy discovers that she is pregnant long after Zillah and his cronies have left New Orleans. Knowing that human females tend to not survive vampire childbirths, Christian takes Jessy in and has a sexual relationship with her throughout her pregnancy. She does indeed die during childbirth and has a boy whom Christian names "Nothing." Hoping to spare him of his destiny, Christian leaves Nothing on a doorstep and hopes the couple will love him as their own and that Nothing will never know of his true identity.The book then jumps ahead 15 years when Nothing is a teenager, and he feels that he is totally misunderstood. He decides to run away and find the singers of a band whom he idolizes, and he hitches rides to the town where they live. He turns some tricks here and there, and then is picked up by Zillah, Molochai, and Twig. The vampire trio first intended to drain him, but instead have sex with him. Yes, that's right...Zillah has sex with his son, unbeknownst to him.From here, the book continues on a downward spiral. This was not so much a vampire story, but more a story of getting high, getting drunk, and getting laid. I am a pretty open-minded person, and I wasn't so much bothered by the M/M and M/M/M and even M/M/M/M action - different strokes for different folks and all that. I am not one to judge, and it takes a lot to shock me. But it did really bother me when Zillah and Nothing hooked up. But wait, it gets worse: They do eventually discover that Zillah is Nothing's father, but they still continue having a sexual relationship! And Christian even tries to justify it saying that there are so few of their race left and that, if they can make each other happy, why not? Ok, this is disturbing. Christian also eventually has sex with Nothing, which brings on a whole new level of "ewwwwww" since he had sex with Nothing's mother and is now having sex with her son.Let's recap: This book contains teenage prostitution, incest, sex with minors (statutory rape), and there was even an incident of rape. There was also another occurrence of incest, this time father/daughter, that I won't even go into because it was just too offensive.I did not find this book entertaining. I found it dark and disturbing. It was not at all what I expected, and I will be steering clear of this author in the future!The narrator, Chris Patton, did a fine job with the book. His voice was clear and expressive, and he was probably what kept me listening despite the book's content.MY RATING: 1 star. I did not enjoy it at all. This was not for me.

[lawrencekelly_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dark , warm and in places very wrong . This book remains a top fave in my list . Many have gone on to copy this style yet Poppy knows how to deliver a story that will make you question sm much and find your still talking about it ten years later.This book was a huge hit here in England on the goth scene in the 90's and i feel it is a story that will stand the test of time. Nothing and ghost are a pure joy - Amazing read

[elmyra_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Listened to the Springbrook audiobook version. Enjoyable enough. Bechdel: fail.

[mausergem_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book was a best seller when it came out in 1993. It had a shock value with large doses of vampires, homosexuality and incest. But after twenty years it reads like a mediocre novel with no substance.A 2/5 star read.

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you're going through puberty and feeling weird, this is a great book to read. With enough vampires, gay sex, incest and goth clubbing to satisfy any young misunderstood oddball (and truthfully, I have never been in a single goth club that played "Bela Lugosi's Dead" even once, let alone every night), this is a fun piece of wish-fulfillment. Dark, twisted, unbelieavable and not particularly sophisticated, I'd recommend this to anyone wearing Crow makeup in a rural town in the midwest.

[flamika_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A vampire novel that evolves in a unique way. Rather than there being a massive outside force that brings all the characters together, the characters kind of make their own plot as they go along. The characters really made this book for me, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes vampire novels.

[thioviolight · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I first read this book, it was a copy my friend lent me. I loved it so much that a couple of years later I had a copy ordered at a local bookstore so I can have my own. I read it again and still loved it! Rich, vivid descriptions, sensual and compelling characters, such lush prose!

[ghibli_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story plunged me into the atmosphere of the dark culture, music and nights of the eighties. If you were fifteen/twenty during the eighties, if you loved the music of The Cure, Bahuaus and Cocteau Twins, you'll have to love this book.As for the characters, everyone has a black and a white side, and I loved and hated all of them at the same time.They all are souls running wild, wandering in search of something: some place and some people they belong to, running away from loneliness and diversity.They can't stop, they have to move unavoidably toward a meeting the fate arranged for them ... I'd say a sort of "Easy rider" with vampires From the first page I fell in love with the wrong character (the more beautiful, cruel, powerful, bastard of them....) It's always this way, so the book also broke my heart, but it was worth to reading it.

[cheriepie69_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was aiight. I felt the pace of the book to be a tad slow for me at times, but that's probably attributable to all the fast-paced action in most of the other books I usually read. As someone else commented, the characters themselves weren't particularly endearing in any way, but I don't think they were meant to be anyway. Except maybe Steve... you couldn't help but feel bad for him... or maybe that's just me.As for Brite's writing style, her descriptions were particularly detailed and lush. Atmospheric might be a good way to describe it. I was totally drawn in to the whole Gothic scene, and I'm sure for readers who never experienced the scene firsthand, Brite's descriptions made them feel as if they were right there, experiencing it firsthand themselves.Overall, I found the book pretty good, but not great; good enough to keep me reading and interested in what happened next, even if it took a little longer to get there. It also left me curious enough to want to check out Brite's second book, Drawing Blood, an excerpt of which appears at the end of this book. I actually wasn't too impressed after reading the excerpt initially, since I don't like gore, and Brite described one particular scene with a little too much clarity than I cared for, but on reading other reviews of it, it appears that that particular excerpt is the exception rather than the norm. I'd also be interested to see how her writing might've grown from her first full-length novel to the second.

[sdtaylor555 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wickedly macabre story telling. NOT for the faint of heart, but so much fun. I love that the vampires are born and not made in this rendition.

[hagelrat · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

very dark vampire tale based in New Orleans for the most pat. Honestly tho' couldn't be less like Interview with the vampire.

[silversurfer_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent book. The characters and plot are complex and very interesting. A cut above the usual Vampire fare.

[babydraco · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really wish I could say this book was awful. But it wasn't. I loved it. If I'd been a goth and younger when I read it, I'd probably think it was the book that changed my life. I wasn't and it didn't, but it's still a gem of its genre. No, the writing is not the best ever- but I don't feel like that matters. It's the mood and the tone and the plot and what it meant to people when it came out that matters. It's this, and "Drawing Blood" that provoked fans to really push the world to recognize PZB. It was pure, grassroots word of mouth effort that got her on mainstream bookshelves. Not that she appreciates that. She hates "babybats"- aka young goths who loved her vampire novel, and wrote a vicious diatribe against them on her Livejournal. Several fans I know were incensed, and immediately dropped her from their list of favorite authors. The fanfiction community for her horror novels died on the vine. People don't want to buy her other books. Who even knows or cares what she's working on now?

[badrabbyt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i know this is a bold statement, but this is the best vampire novel i've ever read. ever.

[lydia1879 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When I read this, I was a lot younger and it was one of my favourites.

I love Brite's ability to create atmosphere. I felt like I was immersed in New Orleans, this hot, sticky, beautiful environment. I could hear the street noise and feel the lights, and I found it a really readable novel.

I don't think I'll read it again, though. I loved some of the characters, especially since some of the characters were familiar to me. I think the biggest problem I'll have with it now is that one of the characters is definitely problematic and, from what I remember, casually rapes a woman and gets away with it.

So if you like modern, urban stories with vampires and LGBTQ characters, this could definitely be an option for you, but it'll get a 3 star rating for me. c:

tw: rape

[readingover50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up because I was looking for more horror written by female authors. For a book written by a woman, the women in this book were treated very badly. There were only a couple of female characters and they were just throw away characters, fulfilling the sexual needs of the males.

So the book was ok. I could see how this could appeal to readers that are into the punk or goth scene. I am not the intended audience, so all I could think about is how dirty and disgusting everyone must be, since they didn't wash their clothes or their bodies very much if at all.

[hermit_9_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I’m not sure how this one ended up in my study. I do not remember buying it. I read it, enjoyed parts of it, and really disliked parts of it. This one is not for the squeamish, the easily disturbed, or anyone with anything better to do.Brite does add her own twist to the vampire genre. The book is really like nothing else I have read. Vampires are born—not made—eating their way out of their mother’s womb. They have to make their own fangs. Blood and guts. Angst. Homosexuality. Yawn.After writing this review, I actually pitched the book in the garbage. I haven’t done that in a long, long time. It is a drastic step for a bibliophile to take.