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A review by scottyb
Poe's Children: The New Horror by Peter Straub
4.0
Really, really good. Obviously this is a short story anthology collecting works from different authors so you're going to love some, hate some, and be really confused by some; but, overall, I'd say that this was a very decent read and the stories I loved made up for those I didn't and for those that made me wonder what the heck the author was thinking when they wrote it. Before I go into which stories I like the best, I will have to say that I was really surprised many of them were collected in a 'horror' anthology; many of them read like plain old fiction with a slight fantastical and/or supernatural twist.
I'd say my favourites were Dan Chaon's "The Bees", the Tems' "The Man on the Ceiling", Kelly Link's "Louise's Ghost", Jonathan Carroll's "The Sadness of Detail", Glen Hirshberg's "The Two Sams", Benjamin Percy's "Unearthed", Stephen King's "Flexible Bullet", Joe Hill's "20th Century Ghost", Graham Joyce's "Black Dust", and Neil Gaiman's "October in the Chair". There were only about 3 stories I'd never go back and read again, otherwise all (even the ones I didn't list as favourites) were very well done and deserve a re-read down the road. I'm definitely going to look into the authors' other works.
I'd say my favourites were Dan Chaon's "The Bees", the Tems' "The Man on the Ceiling", Kelly Link's "Louise's Ghost", Jonathan Carroll's "The Sadness of Detail", Glen Hirshberg's "The Two Sams", Benjamin Percy's "Unearthed", Stephen King's "Flexible Bullet", Joe Hill's "20th Century Ghost", Graham Joyce's "Black Dust", and Neil Gaiman's "October in the Chair". There were only about 3 stories I'd never go back and read again, otherwise all (even the ones I didn't list as favourites) were very well done and deserve a re-read down the road. I'm definitely going to look into the authors' other works.