Poe's Children

The New Horror: An Anthology

By: Peter Straub

Narrated by: Various

From the incomparable master of horror and suspense comes an electrifying collection of contemporary literary horror, with stories from twenty-five writers representing today’s most talented voices in the genre.
Horror writing is usually associated with formulaic gore, but New Wave horror writers have more in common with the wildly inventive, evocative spookiness of Edgar Allan Poe than with the sometimes-predictable hallmarks of their peers. Showcasing this cutting-edge talent, Poe’s Children now brings the best of the genre’s stories to a wider audience. Each previously published story has been selected by Peter Straub to represent what he thinks is the most interesting development in our literature during the last two decades.

Selections range from the early Stephen King psychological thriller “The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet,” in which an editor confronts an author’s belief that his typewriter is inhabited by supernatural creatures, to “The Man on the Ceiling,” Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tem’s award-winning surreal tale of night terrors, woven with daylight fears that haunt a family. Other selections include National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon’s “The Bees”; Peter Straub’s “Little Red’s Tango,” the legend of a music aficionado whose past is as mysterious as the ghostly visitors to his Manhattan apartment; Elizabeth Hand’s visionary and shocking “Cleopatra Brimstone”; Thomas Ligotti’s brilliant, mind-stretching “Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story”; and “Body,” Brian Evenson’s disturbing twist on correctional facilities.

Crossing boundaries and packed with imaginative chills, Poe’s Children bears all the telltale signs of fearless, addictive fiction.

Critic reviews

A Washington Post Best Book of the Year

“Revelatory. . . . A remarkably consistent, frequently unsettling book.” —The Washington Post

“Straub is uniquely qualified to hold forth on what makes a good horror story. . . . [He] collects the best scary short stories out there.” —Time

Not what I expected :-(

What would have made Poe's Children better?

The stories were just plain boring.Not one stands out in my memory,should I name one?I can't!

Has Poe's Children turned you off from other books in this genre?

No,I love horror stories,both as a novel and in short form.These were just not able to keep me interested.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator was alright.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointmentand and boredom must cover it pretty Well.

Any additional comments?

Anthologies are usually a hit or miss situation,but sometimes you can find some real gems hidden inbetween. This; I really had high hopes for,since I'm a big fan of Peter Straub. But this maybe just shows, that even though I enjoy his writing,I do not necessarily enjoy the same books as him.

This was a struggle.

I got the audiobook because I was having a hard time reading the ebook. I was bored and was hoping that listening would be easier. And while that was true, it was still a struggle. Additionally, the audiobook is not the entire anthology. There were quite a few stories that were included in the ebook that were not part of the audio experience.

I understand that we were going for a more literary form of horror here, but some of these stories were so long and boring that the horror just got lost. And while I will admit that there were a few enjoyable stories, there were more "misses" than hits and I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

Hit and Miss

While all stories were competently performed and a few were genuinely stellar and engaging tales, there are definite duds in the collection. The stories tend toward the overly-cerebral, and a fan of deep genre fiction would likely find a more satisfying collection elsewhere.

So not worth it

This one isn't worth 1 credit, forget 2. I wouldn't even call the stories Poe's stepchildren, no relation to Poe's quality of writing at all. Mark this one a miss...

terrible

with boring, muddled stories full of vague abstract ideas that spark neither the readers interests nor imagination, this book was a complete wast of time. dry, dull and "new age kitschy" themes and story lines left this horror buff annoyed and frustrated. give this a miss!