The showcase begins!
Each week we shall try to showcase a Master of the horror genre. It is fitting that the first man in our showcase is the founder of the mystery story. His poems are haunting, his style is eerie. No, it is not Stephen King of whom I speak. It is the one and only Edgar Allan Poe.
Poe was a consummate story teller and a true master of the macabre. How many of us have been frightened and inspired by: "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Gold Bug", "Fall of the House of Usher", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Cask of Amontillado" and of course, "The Raven".
I was first introduced to Edgar Allan Poe when I watched the Roger Corman films starring Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Jack Nicholson. These films were terrific and campy. They were not word-for-word Poe but, got me interested in him. "Tomb of Ligeia", "Tales of Terror" and "The Raven" are particular favorites.
An interesting website to check out is the Edgar Allan Poe Museum at: www.poemuseum.org. It contains a biography of Poe as well as a listing of selected stories that you can read. Poe was a literary critic. I was surprised to learn that a man he had critiqued tried to slander him after his death. This is but one nugget of information you can learn from this website.
If you are new to Poe, try reading some of his stories. If you are familiar with Poe, read them again! It is October after all!
Each week we shall try to showcase a Master of the horror genre. It is fitting that the first man in our showcase is the founder of the mystery story. His poems are haunting, his style is eerie. No, it is not Stephen King of whom I speak. It is the one and only Edgar Allan Poe.
Poe was a consummate story teller and a true master of the macabre. How many of us have been frightened and inspired by: "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Gold Bug", "Fall of the House of Usher", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Cask of Amontillado" and of course, "The Raven".
I was first introduced to Edgar Allan Poe when I watched the Roger Corman films starring Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Jack Nicholson. These films were terrific and campy. They were not word-for-word Poe but, got me interested in him. "Tomb of Ligeia", "Tales of Terror" and "The Raven" are particular favorites.
An interesting website to check out is the Edgar Allan Poe Museum at: www.poemuseum.org. It contains a biography of Poe as well as a listing of selected stories that you can read. Poe was a literary critic. I was surprised to learn that a man he had critiqued tried to slander him after his death. This is but one nugget of information you can learn from this website.
If you are new to Poe, try reading some of his stories. If you are familiar with Poe, read them again! It is October after all!