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. Featuring tales from such writers as Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Carroll, Poe’s Children is Peter Straub’ s tribute to the imaginative power of storytelling. Each previously published story has been selected by 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.

©2008 Random House Audio; 2008 Peter Straub

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!

Only thing interesting was the title.

I had a feeling I was in trouble when the introduction was a contrast to the cover art. There were two interesting short stories but I was expecting a creepy Poe like vibe, and was greatly let down. Overall the only reason I kept listening to it was because it cost me two credits. It is not worth it.

Waste of credit: I should have read reviews first

What would have made Poe's Children better?

Less pretense and ego. The title of the book should have given me pause. Any collection of contemporary authors willing to contribute to a collection that compares them to a master of their genre are probably laboring under a misguided since of their own self worth. The tone of the book is that of literary snobbery without the merit of good stories to backup it up.

What was most disappointing about Peter Straub’s story?

Another thing that should be pointed, out is that this is not a collection of horror stories. The stories are often abstract and bizarre at best. I bought it in the horror section and that's what I wanted.

How could the performance have been better?

I don't think the narrator(s) is to blame for my disliking this story. The narrator(s) only job is to convey the content for the author. While a good reader is important, they have to work with what they've got. Most of the stories in this collection lack cohesion and are infuriatingly cryptic for no reason I can gleam.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Finding something redeeming about collection will take more time than I've got today...

Any additional comments?

I see other readers share my disappointment. I will pay closer attention to the reviews during future purchases.

STOP! READ REVIEWS 1ST!!!

What would have made Poe's Children better?

Stories that made sense and were actually scary instead of just tedious and weird

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

NO

Would you be willing to try another one of Various’s performances?

YES

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Poe's Children?

Every story after the 1st. I felt like it was bait and switch

Any additional comments?

I will be returning this book. I tried several times to get into it. Skipped ahead and listened to several stories over a period a several weeks. I'm sorry to it was more of the same boring, weird stories that made absolutely no sense. If I could choose a (-) star to rate this I would

Couldn't Get Through It

Of all the stories I heard, the first one was the best. I didn't think it was great but it was decent and mildly unsettling. I listened to two more afterwards and both seemed endless and went nowhere. It was one of the rare times I desperately wished to be able to flip ahead and see how many more pages there were left to go. They weren't horror stories so much as bizarrely conceived expositions on the horror that is a part of us all and can take many forms and blah blah blah.. I hated it, but I also didn't finish it. Maybe some works of genius were hiding towards the end.