American Fantastic Tales: Boxed Set
by Peter Straub (Editor)
American Fantastic Tales (Collections and Selections — 1-2)
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From its beginning, American literature teems with tales of horror, hauntings, terrifying obsessions and gruesome incursions, of the uncanny ways in which ordinary reality can be breached and subverted by the unknown and the irrational. In the tales of Irving, Poe, and Hawthorne, and their literary successors, the bright prospects of the New World face an uneasy reckoning with the forces of darkness. As this pathbreaking two-volume anthology demonstrates, it is a tradition with many show more unexpected detours and hidden chambers, and one that continues to evolve, finding new forms and new themes. Peter Straub, a contemporary master of literary horror and fantasy, offers an authoritative and diverse gathering of stories calculated to unsettle and delight, in styles ranging from the exquisitely insinuating speculations of Henry James's "The Jolly Corner" to the nightmarish post-apocalyptic savagery of Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream." Ghostly narratives of the Edwardian era, lurid classics from the pulp heyday of Weird Tales, latter-day masterpieces by Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, and Steven Millhauser: over 80 stories in all, with a generous selection of contemporary authors who continue to push the genre in new and startling directions. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Just began reading this lovely collection the other day. I'll have more to say about it later. I started at the beginning and am reading the stories in chronological order. I've been enjoying the nicely antiquated phrasing and will share some of those as I go along. For example, in W.C. Morrow's (1854-1923) story "His Unconquerable Enemy" there's this: "...he developed an augmented fiendishness."
HELL yeah. EVERY story in here is AMAZING! That never happens!
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Author Peter Straub was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1943. He earned degrees in English from the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University. He taught English at his former high school for three years and worked for a time on his doctorate in Ireland. He began writing in 1969 and published two books of poetry in 1972. His novel Julia show more (1975) was an attempt to find a successful genre in which to work, after his first novel, Marriages (1973), did not sell well. He found that he had a talent for writing horror thrillers in the Gothic tradition. His stories are complex and well paced, with authentic settings that add to the believability of the plot. He is particularly good at creating grotesque characters and gruesome situations; the eeriness of his work is captivating. He has won numerous awards including the British Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Library of America (196-197)
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- Canonical title
- American Fantastic Tales: Boxed Set
- Original publication date
- 2009
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- Reviews
- 2
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- (4.08)
- Languages
- English
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- Paper
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- 1
