Description

POES CHILDREN.

Edited by Peter Straub.

Featuring Stephen Kings psychological thriller The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet,

OVERVIEW: From the incomparable master of horror and suspense comes an electrifying collection of contemporary literary horror, with stories from twenty-five writers representing todays 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, Poes Children now brings the best of the genres stories to a wider audience. Featuring tales from such writers as Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Carroll, Poes Children is Peter Straubs 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 authors belief that his typewriter is inhabited by supernatural creatures, to The Man on the Ceiling, Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tems award-winning surreal tale of night terrors, woven with daylight fears that haunt a family. Other selections include National Book Award finalist Dan Chaons The Bees; Peter Straubs Little Reds Tango, the legend of a music aficionado whose past is as mysterious as the ghostly visitors to his Manhattan apartment; Elizabeth Hands visionary and shocking Cleopatra Brimstone; Thomas Ligottis brilliant, mind-stretching Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story; and Body, Brian Evensons disturbing twist on correctional facilities.

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

ABOUT THE EDITOR: PETER STRAUB is the author of seventeen 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.

Oct. 6th 2009, Anchor trade paperback, 544 pages. New.