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
By 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
By John Langan
John Langan is a writer of superb literary horror. Both House of Windows and The Fisherman are dark and unsettling contemporary masterpieces.
. -
.
Occultation
By 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, Occultation.
-
.
Experimental Film
By Gemma Files
One of the younger Canadians doing brilliant work in the Gothic vineyards, Gemma recently published Experimental Film, a wildly impressive novel about what can be hidden at the heart of the overlooked and ignored.. -
.
A Collapse of Horses
By 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.