nEvermore!
Neo-Gothic Fiction Inspired by
the Imagination of Edgar Allan Poe
Tales of Murder, Mystery, & the Macabre
Edited by
Nancy Kilpatrick and Caro Soles
Edge, imprint of Hades Publishing
$15.95, 259pp, Bio section
ISBN 978-177053085-0
A Review by Gene Stewart
The cover shows a raven on a branch silhouetted by a full moon. Its beak is open. We know what it’s saying. Yet here are echoes of the master, not silent evermore but very much alive influencing a wide range of writers and variety of stories.
Poe defined every current modern fiction genre to greater or lesser extent. His systematic approach to sensationalism, his insistence on form, structure, and “one thing happens”, have given literature goals to aim at, as time and again his stories showed how it was properly done, and why that way worked best.
Flaws and excesses haunted his work, yes. We see in this anthology echoes of those, too. It becomes an enhancement.
After a somewhat blurry set of remarks by Uwe Sommerlad, with the points of which I largely disagree, we get down to the stories themselves, where quality kicks into high gear.
Some are takes on actual Poe tales. Some are surreal nods toward a clutch of Poe’s motifs. Some relate to Poe in tone only, or by having been inspired by stains found in Poe’s shadow. These tales span past and present, with settings high, low, and bizarre. We find stand-outs like “Naomi” by Christopher Rice, or “Finding Ulalume” by Lisa Morton, or “Annabel Lee” by Nancy Holder, which appealed to my taste particularly. We find literary gems and surprises, such as Margaret Atwood’s first attempt at a short story, or an excerpt from a David Morrell novel about the mysterious Opium Eater, who turns out to be Thomas De Quincy himself.
Old pros mingle with relative newcomers. Each story stands on its own merits but together this anthology presents a persuasive set of strong arguments for continuing our celebration of Edgar Allan Poe’s accomplishments, and to expand his work’s influence so it never ceases to enhance, enrich, and chill us.
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