The first digital edition of the novella ‘The Crystal Empire’, originally published in ‘Wrong Things’ by Poppy Z. Brite and Caitlin R. Kiernan (Subterranean Press, 2001). A story of a senseless and brutal murder and a manipulative relationship, in which are involved Matthew, a charismatic, sexually magnetic dominant male (reference Charlie Manson) and his love slave named Zee. What does a psycothic killer really feel? Death is sometimes preferable to life? Love can kill? Poppy Z. Brite answers to all these questions with the magic of her writing. Cover Art (oil on canvas) by Giampaolo Frizzi