18 Best Stories

This book was given to me by a friend that was trimming down her library, and a more fitting book it could not have been. Editors Vincent Price (yes, THAT Vincent Price) and Chandler Brossard (no, not THAT Chandler Brossard) have gathered together some of Poe's finest tales of horror, mystery, and fantasy, with a comedy or two thrown in for balance. Poe's horror stories were, for the most part, short and placed emphasis on the pyschological rather than the mystical. His narrators were always driven by inner demons that they recognized, but could not control, and focused on emotion rather than story. The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart are the most famous examples of these. But the author also used his sharp insight into the mind to craft brilliant tales of mystery, it is these tales that remain my favorite. The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Gold Bug are my choices for Poe's best work, the mystery The Purloined Letter is also contained within the anthology. On the fantasy end, we are offered A Tale of the Ragged Mountains and MS Found in a Bottle, which seems to be a sort of a dry run for Poe's only attempt at a novel length story - The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym. Poe also had a wicked sense of humor, and The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether, The Man That Was Used Up, and The Balloon-Hoax are excellent examples of that alomst forgotten side of a complex and talented writer. No matter what edition of Poe you get, any collection of his tales is an essential for a well read personal library. Highest recommendation.

Vincent Price and Chandler Brossard do a great job of collecting some of Edgar Allan Poe's finest works, in their story collection 18 Best Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe's short stories left me in suspense and surprise (it was the first time I ever read Poe literature). I could not put the book down. Since the first time I picked this book up, I've become fascinated with Poe's literature. I can thank Price and Brossard for their wonderful choice in stories, but can mainly thank the writer, Edgar Allan Poe, for bringing such great literature.

For decades people have read, and re-read the works of Edgar Allan Poe--each time leaving the reader to walk away with a chill in the spine, and a deep sense that there are some things in life, however imagined, that are simply terrifying. Poe speaks through the heart of his own woes, his own terror...making his characters breathe life into their stories. Perhaps one of my favorites by this master of the macabre is "The Tell-Tale Heart," a maddening and sometimes angering ride through a deranged mind. This is an historical dance through the dark, perhaps even the most pivotal root in the life and love of the horror story. Poe worked not from the concepts of traditional monsters, but rather stirred the monsters haunting his protagonists...there are few who can lay claim to this level of suspense, drama, or who have ever invoked genuine fear in their readers. Poe does it with cunning, and seeming ease. Highly recommended reading.

This is a very good collection of Poe's works. My personal favorites are The Black Cat, The Gold Bug, and The Masque of the Red Death. They are mostly about horror and the immense fear people can get. The Gold Bug is more of a mystery but it's really really good. Poe's writing it hard to grasp when you're first starting to read his stories, but you catch on real quick. ~*Danielle*~

This book, by Edgar Allan Poe, is made up of 18 short stories that are considered the best. Most of his stories are based on death, terror, mystery, murder, and fear. One of the stories I really like is "The Tell - Tale Heart," and it's about a mad guy who is called upon an old man for care. Later, he kills the old man because he got too scared of his eyes and he hides the corpse under the planks of the house. When the police come and search through the house, he starts hearing strange heart beats from the place where the corpse is hidden. He gets nervous and the heart beats get louder and louder until he thought that the police could hear the heart beats and thought that the police were making a mockery of his horror. So he gets angry right away and tears up the planks saying he did it and telling them to stop making a mockery of him. It's a story based on extreme fear and horror of the protagonist. The final part is pretty ironic and has lots of suspense in it. There are more stories as good as this one I wrote about. I really enjoyed reading this book and I rate this as 10 out of 10. I would strongly recommend this book. I like these stories for different reasons: I always liked these kind of stories, the author has an incredible use of language for description, and it builds up suspense throughout the story. It's hard to predict what will happen next and it contains strong irony. I could say that these stories are the ones you must read at least once and, in fact, the best ones I've read.