Spit and Pathos is a collection of short horror stories, beat poetry about love, death, and grief, and essays on African American literature and black womanhood by Sumiko Saulson. Born in the wake of the death of her former fiancZ Gregory Hug, the collection includes the award-winning essays "When We First Become Other" and "Elements of Horror in Toni Morrison s use of Magical Realism and African American Folklore" as well as the award-winning short stories "Balm of Brackish Water" and "The Ride of Herne and Hespeth."