The writer's have covered all the bases with their stories, from the gothic romance of Delia Sherman's "The Red Piano" — which reads like a typical Poe story although set in contemporary New York City, offering an explanation for the manner of Poe's early death (he was found wandering the streets of Baltimore, stone cold sober, in somebody's else's clothes) in E. Catherine Tobler's "Beyond Porch And Portal" — to Melanie Tem's surreal take on "The Raven", entitled "The Pickers". Part of the fun is trying to guess which story, or aspect of Poe's life, inspired individual authors to write what they did. Unless you're a Poe scholar, intimate with all his writings including his essays, there are some stories that will stump you; however, each author has written an afterward that explains their choices, so that mystery will at least be cleared up.
Poe has been credited with writing the first ever mystery story, The Murders In The Rue Morgue, and his stories have been the inspiration for many a horror and dark fantasy writer over the years. The 19 stories commissioned by Ellen Datlow for the collection Poe are works of mystery and imagination that not only do justice to the author they celebrate, but are fine stories in their own right. Datlow has once again shown an uncanny talent for approaching just the right writers for the task at hand, as not one disappoints.
Poe can be purchased either directly from Simon & Schuster Canada or an online retailer like Amazon.ca
Article comments
1 - Pat Cadigan
Nice review. But are you really not aware that original anthologies, themed and otherwise, have been around for decades in the sf/fantasy/horror field?
2 - Ellen Datlow
Thanks for pointing that out, Pat. Yes, original anthologies have been a major venue for short sf/f/h for a verrry long time.