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Exactly what I expected. Going to order the audio version next for use in the classroom.
Audio or print version, this is easily recommended for short story enthusiasts with a sense of adventure. However, I wish there was a little break between stories, perhaps a ten or twenty second musical interlude, so the impact of one story could sink in before we go right into the next one.
Of course, the "literary" qualification means that more than once you'll be saying to yourself, "Hmmmmmm, I wonder what the writer was going for there." But that's okay-- the stories aren't boring, and striking imagery and characterizations abound. Interesting collection of "literary" horror stories of various flavors and stripes.
It's an excellent production, beautifully read by a variety of narrators. Definitely not a bad book to read in a discussion group, though, as readers would likely benefit from bouncing ideas and observations off one another about the colorful, often intense strangeness on display.
An illuminating introduction by editor Peter Straub discusses the importance of these often complex stories on the publishing map, lauding their authors for writing scary, disturbing fiction that nevertheless resists being classified simply as "horror fiction".I actually listened to the audiobook edition of "Poe's Children", which features unabridged selections (about a dozen) from the printed version. But that's a quibble.
I may actually pick up the print edition at some point (maybe download it on my Kindle), so I can experience the stories that weren't included in the audio version.
Rather than being Edgar Allen Poe-like, the editor says in his introduction that these stories are supposed to show 'literary horror' of the new variety. Poe's Children : The bees - Dan Chaon Poe's Children : Cleopatra Brimstone - Elizabeth Hand Poe's Children : The man on the ceiling - Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem Poe's Children : The great god Pan - M. Rickert Poe's Children : In praise of folly - Thomas Tessier Poe's Children : Plot twist - David J. That is no horror, terror, or anything else of the sort to be seen. Travis Poe's Children : Black dust - Graham Joyce Poe's Children : October in the chair - Neil Gaiman Poe's Children : Missolonghi 1824 - John Crowley Poe's Children : Insect dreams - Rosalind Palermo Stevenson. Gaiman, Klages, etc and there particular stories here might scare someone, but no-one I have ever met.Elizabeth Hand has no such problems coming the two, and her story is easily the class of the book, and Stephen King, as usual, does not disappoint.Apart from those couple and Joe Hill overall a very ordinary anthology from a horror point of view. In a lot of cases that means the type of horror story that isn't. John Harrison Poe's Children : The voice on the beach - Ramsey Campbell Poe's Children : Body - Brian Evenson Poe's Children : Louise's ghost - Kelly Link Poe's Children : The sadness of detail - Jonathan Carroll Poe's Children : Leda - M.
Even Campbell's story is a bit on the lame side. The editor's own contribution is the most egregious offender, here, too. Schow Poe's Children : The two Sams - Glen Hirshberg Poe's Children : Notes on the writing of horror: a story - Thomas Ligotti Poe's Children : Unearthed - Benjamin Percy Poe's Children : Gardener of heart - Bradford Morrow Poe's Children : Little red's tango - Peter Straub Poe's Children : The ballad of the flexible bullet - Stephen King Poe's Children : 20th century ghost - Joe Hill Poe's Children : The green glass sea - Ellen Klages Poe's Children : The kiss - Tia V. Buzz burnt out.3 out of 5Butterfly boy collection mounting.4.5 out of 5Imaginary not-friend.2.5 out of 5Divorced from story glimpse.2.5 out of 5Dune Roller.3 out of 5Native archaeology overstep.3 out of 5Less one Louise.3 out of 5Future picture.3 out of 5Swan rape leftover.3 out of 5Statue for a song.3.5 out of 5Booting along to Las Vegas.3.5 out of 5Miscarriage packets.2.5 out of 5Multiple pants style dead.3.5 out of 5Native archaeology overstep.3 out of 5Dead sister archaeology.3 out of 5Overlong description dance.1.5 out of 5Typewriter elf massacre.4 out of 5Cinema-goers leave the dead in the aisles.4 out of 5Fused dirt.3 out of 5That ring big enough to choke a whore, mum.3.5 out of 5Dad and buried.3 out of 5Monthly avatar stories that most of them don't even like.2 out of 5Getting the goat out.3.5 out of 5Forest beasts.2.5 out of 52.5 out of 5
they have thier place, and these are good, but I want to read a good Peter Straub novel, not side dishes, short stories, so I have been reading alot of Clive Barker lately, even his earliest work is great, thanks to Peter's reviews. If you like short stories you will love this. From side dishes I learned Mr. Peter has taken the "Poe" out of some great literates to showcase. I wish I had a review to read before buying it, as I like stories, books, novels and even epics as opposed to short stories. Straub disliked writing "Hellfire Club" one of my favorite books to date. Get depressed, and drink a little too much and let Dick Dart loose again.
It allows you to discover wonderful authors that you have never read before. And The Two Sams was absolutely heart breaking.Yeah, this is an excellent anthology.
Homicidal monsters shredding people's throats. Well, there is so much more to Horror than that.
What do you think of when someone mentions the Horror genre - vampires and zombies. I really like The Bees, which I found to be the most horrifying of them all - so ripe with horror and regret.
This interesting book brings together Horror short stories written by twenty-four different authors, each written in their own individual style. Now, there are way too many stories in this book to give a synopsis all of them, and they are all so different.
And, do you know what's the best thing about reading anthologies like this one. I really enjoyed this book, and don't hesitate to recommend it.
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