The Best Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

Far and away my ‘go to guy’ for anything dark and decrepit, has always been the great Edgar Allan Poe. Being a man of his time, he writes in the formalised style of the era, the 1820’s, which to modern readers can seem long-winded, but stick with him and you’re in for a treat.

Famous for such creepy classics as ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and ‘Masque of the Red Death’, Poe has become synonymous with the short horror tale, and his influence on the genre is obvious. Though this is by no means the only kind of writing he was adept at and he could turn his hand to slapstick comedy, lost pirate treasure, science fiction and detective stories (a genre he is credited with inventing), not to mention essays, poetry (you may have heard of ‘The Raven’), and reviews.

This collection ‘The Best of Edgar Allan Poe’, brings together some of his best-loved tales, which also happen to be his most accessible, making it perfect for those new to Poe or averse to dense and ambling 19th Century prose.