I got this ex-library hardcover from an online seller. As per the title, these are stories from before the flood - the Hurricane Katrina flood that devastated so much of the South. The foreword describes the author's rationale for publishing these stories separately from works written after the flood, and gives some description of the settings and relationships of the stories to other works. My favorites included the very short "Henry Goes Shopping," about a young man's attempt to buy condoms (he's chosen a store well away from where his family lives in hopes that nobody will recognize him, but gets a bit nervous when a nun winds up in line near him at the checkout); "Crown of Thorns", in which a young man and his older lover confront some bizarre magic involving the placement of a "crown of thorns" gourd inside a corpse where its heart should be; and "The Last Good Day of My Life", an essay about Brite's trip to Australia shortly before the hurricane.

[There's a TV Tropes page on the author - now Billy Martin/he/him - and his works.]

I'm sending this to BCer HI77 as part of a trade. Enjoy!

*** Released for the 2020 Spooktacular October challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2020 Tick Tock challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2020 October LGBTQ challenge. ***

It was a bowl filled,

but prior to that
all many of lives squiggled about.