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In Poe's Shadow

Photo of Peter Straub

Peter Straub

Poe's-Shadow

In honor of Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday on January 19th we asked master horror writer Peter Straub (and editor of the anthology Poe’s Children: The New Horror) to share five authors who he sees as the heirs to Poe’s writing.

About the Author

Peter Straub

Peter Straub is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, most recently A Dark Matter. In the Night Room and Lost Boy, Lost Girl are winners of the Bram Stoker Award, as is his collection 5 Stories. Straub is the editor of numerous anthologies, including the two-volume The American Fantastic Tale from the Library of America. He lives in Brooklyn.

In honor of Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday on January 19th we asked master horror writer Peter Straub (and editor of the anthology Poe’s Children: The New Horror) to share five authors who he sees as the heirs to Poe’s writing.

  • Magic for Beginners Kelly Link

    Kelly Link

    Kelly Link

    Kelly is a great fountainhead of new approaches and new revisionings of genre situations and materials. She exerted an influence over both younger and older writers from her first collection. “The Stone Animals” in Magic for Beginners is a stunning demonstration that one can be deeply playful and stone cold serious at the same time.

  • House of Windows John Langan

    John Langan

    John Langan

    John Langan is a writer of superb literary horror. Both House of Windows and The Fisherman are dark and unsettling contemporary masterpieces.

  • Occulation by Laird Barron

    Laird Barron

    Laird Barron

    Laird’s work epitomizes serious new horror, both utterly straightforward about its impulses and completely serious in its affect. In his mid-forties, Barron is a favorite writer for many, whose work has just begun to appear. I particularly like his early collection, Occulation.

  • A Collapse of Horses Brian Evenson

    Brian Evenson

    Brian Evenson

    A real original author of fiction of astonishing bleakness, Brian is equally celebrated by both the genre and mainstream communities. His latest collection, A Collapse of Horses, is likely to win a hatful of prizes.