POE’S PROGENY

Too often contemporary horror fiction denies, forgets or is even unaware of its roots in classic dark literature. The man legitimately called the father of the genre, Edgar Allan Poe, thrust terror into the soul of humanity, while his illegitimate descendants located it in the cosmos, across nations, in science, through history, in nature, in the city — in short, wherever people come together and invariably attempt to dull their imaginations. But experience is always too cruel.

These themes are of course relevant today.

This book aims to show how the ideas and techniques of the greats might be utilised to explore the modern world. Here you'll find neither pastiche nor period prose, rather thoroughly contemporary visions whose aging, tell-tale heart still beats with dismaying memory of the past and irrepressible fear for the future...

30 original stories from some of the finest practitioners in the field, including a brand new tale from modern master Ramsey Campbell.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

introduction by
Michael Marshall Smith

Mike O'Driscoll
The Hurting House
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Mark Morris
The Places They Hide
Antony Mann
Save The Snutch
Melvin Cartagena
Bottom Feeders
Tim Lebbon
A Ripple In The Veil
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Steve Savile
Idiot Hearts
Joel Lane
A Night On Fire
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Greg Beatty
Dr Jackman's Lens
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Chico Kidd
Unfinished Business
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Conrad Williams
Once Seen
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Jon Hartless
Earth, Water, Oil
Nicholas Royle
Sitting Tenant
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
(Horror: Best of 2005: Selection)
Kathy Sedia
Making Ivy
Dominick Cancilla
The Cubicle Wall
Stephen Volk
The Good Unknown
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Gary Fry
The Strange Case Of Jack Myride And Company
Andrew Hook
The Pregnant Sky
Gene Stewart
Evidence
Rhys Hughes
The Jam Of Hypnos
Gary McMahon
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Adam L. G. Nevill
Where Angels Come In
(YBF&H: Selection)
(Best New Horror: Selection)
John L. Probert
The Volkendorf Exhibition
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Allen Ashley
Turbulent Times
Richard Gavin
The Pale Lover
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Kevin L. Donihe
Living Room Zombies
Neil Ayres
The Scent Of Nostalgia
Robert Swartwood
Goodbye
Simon Clark
One Man Show
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Donald R. Burleson
Papa Loaty
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)
Ramsey Campbell
Just Behind You
(YBF&H: Honorable Mention)

Cover by Robert Sammelin