A review by steveatwaywords
Poe's Children: The New Horror by Peter Straub

3.0

Some hits and misses, as one would expect. Straub notes in his introduction that the genre of horror (a phrase he finds troublesome) is evolving into a literary genre; hence not all of these stories feel like traditional horror. But there is horror here--whether in the act of rape, the stifling claustrophobia of domesticity, the contagions of delusion. Some writers work in experimental forms to only partial success; others have a good idea but are unable to execute it. Still, at least 1/2 of the works are worthy: Chaon's "The Bees," Hand's "Cleopatra Brimstone," Klage's "The Green Glass Sea," and especially Ligotti's "Notes on the Writing of Horror" are compelling. Ligotti does a nice job of genre-bending and twisting scene. A worthy look!