Edgar Allan Poe

One of the members of Vampire Freaks asked which was our favorite Edgar Allan Poe story. Here is what I said.

Too many to choose just one. But I'm particularly fond of the beautiful, melancholy poems, particularly "Alone" (which I greatly relate to) and stories such as "Ligeia," "Berenice," "Morella," and "The Fall of the House of Usher." Also, I learned to read at a rather early age (four) and at the age of six I got ahold of my father's Edgar Allan Poe book, and the first story I read from it was "The Premature Burial." Whether people believe this or not, this awakened some nasty past-life memories for me that I didn't know how to deal with at that age. But in spite of the nightmares it invoked, I fell in love with the horror genre at that moment.

I think that one thing that surprises people is the fact that that Poe also wrote some comic pieces. One series of stories followed Madame Psyche Zenobia and her little dog Diana. Stories such as The Sphynx are a parody of the very genre that Poe became identified with. So while he is well remembered for his macabre works, I feel that he was a more versatile writer than the average person knows.

The Great HPL

This is a post that I left on a forum at Vampire Freaks where the person was asking which of H.P. Lovecraft's stories was our favorite. The author of the post said:

Anathema6205 wrote in TalesFromTheCrypt
November 12, 2008, 09:46am
[cult status]
Posts: 19

Master of the Macabre

Alright, everyone has at least heard of this master of horror. He's on a whole new level of macabre.

H.P. Lovecraft.

Metal bands write songs based on his stories.
There's movies of them.
He's Stephen Kings' idol.(and any other aspiring horror writers, for that matter)
There's so many people that have taken his ideas and molded them into something else.
Built upon them; like the Cthulhu mythos, to name one.
He has a cult following bigger than Tim Burton.

Which stories do you like the most?
Which ones chilled you to the bone?
What adaptations have you seen or heard of?

Edited by: Anathema6205 at November 12, 2008, 09:48am

lilystrange said:
He's one of my heroes as well. I use several of his creations in my book.

One of the more chilling stories was actually a collaboration with C.M. Eddy called "The Loved Dead." But of stories written strictly by Lovecraft, while they're all excellent, "The Dreams In the Witch House" stands out.

Most of the film adaptions of his works have sucked in my opinion, but one, a 1965 adaption of the Dunwich Horror (I believe) was called "The Shuttered Room." I think I liked it because it was atmospheric rather than gory, which seemed more true to Lovecraft's vision, as he did not write gore.

I imagine that you may have read Stephen King's short story "Crouch End," which was inspired by Lovecraft's work.

Lovecraft was inspired by Ambrose Bierce. Almost everyone knows Bierce's story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," but he wrote so many others. I think if one really wants to know Lovecraft, one must read Bierce as well.