Poe's Children: The New Horror: An Anthology (Hardcover)

~ Peter Straub (Author)
Key Phrases: magic timeless, sugar farms, dead whores, Little Red, Maria Sibylla, Brother Johanssen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Anyone concerned about the future of horror will find plenty of reassurance in this outstanding reprint anthology showcasing short fiction by today's best writers in the genre. Straub (The Throat) skillfully varies tempo and style, mixing stories of psychological terror with more traditional ghostly tales. Thomas Tessier puts a fresh spin on the empty old house theme in the memorable In Praise of Folly, in which the lonely protagonist pursues his fascination with bizarre structures to the Adirondacks. Tessier subtly raises chills even as the tale proceeds to its inevitable and dark conclusion. Another winner is Dan Chaon's The Bees, a powerful account of a man haunted by mistakes of the past. Ramsey Campbell's terrifying The Voice of the Beach echoes Algernon Blackwood's classic The Willows, with its account of two friends' fateful encounter with a remote beach that may be an entry point to another dimension. Aimed at a general audience, this volume also includes works by Stephen King, Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link and Joe Hill. (Nov.)
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From School Library Journal

With an introduction by the much honored Straub (Ghost Story), this collection can be dubbed New Wave horror, considering that most of its 24 stories were published fairly recently and it includes contributions by celebrity horror writers. The tales mostly eschew buckets of blood, instead employing mood and suggestion in the manner of Edgar Allan Poe. "Little Red's Tango," Straub's lengthy quasigospel of a record-collecting obsessive, complete with beatitudes and a seductive demon, ably represents the editor's definition of New Wave horror. All the stories honor Poe, like the moody, contagious delusions of Stephen King's "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet." The genre can be literary, as exemplified by Tia V. Travis's vengeful "The Kiss," Thomas Tessier's surprising "In Praise of Folly," and, probably the most demonstrably Poe-like, Ramsey Campbell's "The Voice of the Beach," featuring a neurasthenic narrator, suffocating suggestibility, and nearly palpable imagery. Brian Evenson's creepy "Body" and Dan Chaon's touching "The Bees" culminate in the horror of bad deeds catching up. The other stories included are without exception excellent. Recommended for all libraries.—Jonathan Pearce, California State Univ.
Stanislaus, Stockton

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 Reprint edition (October 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385522835
• ISBN-13: 978-0385522830
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #208,160 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great horror collection, November 4, 2008

By	Robert Busko (Waynesville, NC USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Poe's Children: The New Horror, an Anthology edited by Peter Straub is a terrific collection of short stories by a varied collection of authors. Straub includes one of his own stories, Little Red's Tango, a story that is sure to grab the reader's attention. I have to admit that I had a little difficulty getting into the rhythm of the story, but once I did I found Little Red's Tango to be truly worthwhile. Also included is a great story by Stephen King, The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet, another story dealing with an author who is convinced that his typewriter is possessed. I think this is King at is "short story" best.

I was also pleased to see that Neil Gaiman was included with his October in the Chair. Here's a list of all the stories included in Poe's Children:

The Bees Dan Chaon
Cleopatra Brimstone Elizabeth Hand
The Man on the Ceiling Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem
The Great God Pan M. John Harrison
The Voice of the Beach Ramsey Campbell
Body Brian Evenson
Louise's Ghost Kelly Link
The Sadness of Detail Jonathan Caroll
Leda M. Rickert
In Praise of Folly Thomas Tessier
Plot Twist David J. Schow
The Two Sams Glen Hirshberg
Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story Thomas Ligotti
Unearthed Benjamin Percy
Gardner of Heart Bradford Morrow
Little Red's Tango Peter Straub
The Ballad of the Flixible Bullet Stephen King
20th Century Ghost Joe Hill
The Green Glass Sea Ellen Klages
The Kiss Tia V. Travis
Black Dust Graham Joyce
October in the Chair Neil Gaiman
Missolonghi 1824 John Crowley
Insect Dreams Rosilind Palermo Stevenson

Also included at the end is a brief biography of each of the authors.

I suspect that like many readers, I have just a wee bit of difficulty reading when the story/author changes. Authors write with their own cadence. It always takes me a page or two to get in step, but other than that, I look forward to new anthologies, especially in the horror genre.

The best story in the collection, in my opinion only has to be October in the Chair by Gaiman, followed closely by Cleopatra's Brimstone. Picking these over the others is really pretty arbitrary since all of the stories are grabbers.

All things considered, Poe's Children is a unique collection by a diverse group of authors.
I highly recommend.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A quality anthology of horror short stories, October 26, 2008

By	Roy E. Perry "amateur philosopher" (Nolensville, Tennessee) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Peter Straub selects 24 short stories that represent "the most interesting development in our literature during the last two decades." The crossover between works usually classified as fantasy, sci-fi, and horror genres and those considered to be literary, he asserts, "erases boundaries and blurs distinctions."

Two of the better tales are Stephen King's "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" (1984)--a story about the genesis of insanity, featuring a writer who suffers from the paranoid delusion that an imp inhabits his typewriter--and Elizabeth Hand's "Cleopatra Brimstone" (2001), a story about an entomologist who is sexually assaulted and wreaks her revenge on men by "collecting" them in bizarre fashion.

King and Hand, plus 22 other New Wave horror writers, exhibit telltale affinities with the spooky imagination of Edgar A. Poe.

If you are a fan of horror stories written by inventive wordsmiths, this quality work is just your cup of tea!

About the author: Peter Straub is the author of 17 novels, including Ghost Story and Koko, as well as two collaborations with Stephen King. Winner of eight Bram Stoker Awards, two International Horror Guild Awards, two world Fantasy Awards, and both a Lifetime Achievement Award and election as a Grand Master from the Horror Writers Association. He lives in New York City.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Basically, "The Twilight Zone" for the academic crowd, February 5, 2009

By	Joseph P. Menta, Jr. (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Interesting collection of "literary" horror stories of various flavors and stripes. 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. 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. It's an excellent production, beautifully read by a variety of narrators. 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.

But that's a quibble. Audio or print version, this is easily recommended for short story enthusiasts with a sense of adventure. 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.