Sam Moskowitz The Man who called Himself Poe

[marksamuels]

Gollancz 1970

Contents

Introduction Sam Moskowitz
Edgar Allan Poe: A Biography in Brief

Fiction about Poe:

The Valley of Unrest Douglas Sherley
My Adventure with Edgar Allan Poe Julian Hawthorne
In Which an Author and His Character are Well Met Vincent Starrett
When it was Moonlight Manly Wade Wellman
The Man who Collected Poe Robert Bloch
The Man who Thought he was Poe Michael Avallone
Manuscript Found in a Drawer Charles Norman
The Dark Brotherhood HP Lovecraft & August Derleth
Castaway Edmond Hamilton

Fiction by Poe(?):

The Lighthouse Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Bloch
The Atlantis Peter Prospero, LLD, MA, PS

Poetry about Poe:

Edgar Allan Poe Adolphe de Castro
St John's Churchyard Robert H. Barlow
In a Sequestered Churchyard Where Poe once Walked HP Lovecraft
Providence: Two Gentlemen meet at Midnight August Derleth
Untitled Valentine Poem to Poe from his wife 1846 Virginia Poe
Baltimore October 3rd Robert A.W. Lowndes

Rivals the Haining scrapbook as my favourite Poe compilation. The Wellman tale is a gem. Poe vs the lady vampire! The Man who Collected Poe is wonderful (filmed in the Amicus "Torture Garden" film, of course.) Plus of course, The Dark Brotherhood, possibly the best of the Derleth HPL pastiches.

The Julian Hawthorne is also fun. Poe comes back from the grave and decides writing all that mystery stuff was a waste of time. Better to be sober, serious and business-like. Now that's HORROR!

Mark S.

[dem]

Gollancz were usually good for a decent cover during their 'seventies vintage horror period (glaring exception: Michel Parry's Beware Of Thee Cat, but that's just plain uninspired! Sphere's reissue - as A Man Called Poe - at least makes an effort!

Probably in a minority of one here, but i'm very fond of the Michael Avallone contribution! What did you make of Robert Bloch's attempt on The Lighthouse?

[marksamuels]

Gollancz were usually good for a decent cover during their 'seventies vintage horror period (glaring exception: Michel Parry's Beware Of Thee Cat, but that's just plain uninspired! Sphere's reissue - as A Man Called Poe - at least makes an effort!

Probably in a minority of one here, but i'm very fond of the Michael Avallone contribution! What did you make of Robert Bloch's attempt on The Lighthouse?

Yes, that Sphere cover's a good 'un, but I also like the odd letters-only covers if they're done well (better when confined to hardbacks though). I suppose this one pushes my buttons because it's in the style of the Lovecraft Gollancz editions, which formed my big intro to horror really.

Loved Bloch's continuation of The Lighthouse. Got a real kick out of it. Rather like Ligeia crossed with Jaws! And the Avallone's fun too.

Mark S.

[dem]

Bloch's continuation doesn't seem to have met with the same venom as Derleth's posthumous collaborations with Lovecraft, that's for sure! There's are a few more stories I can think of three variations on The Cask Of Amontillado that could have comfortably suited Moskowitz's selection and i bet there's plenty more: John Jakes The Opener Of The Crypt, 'Andrew Benedict (Robert Arthur)'s The Wall-To-Wall Grave and M. P. Shiel's The Primate Of The Rose

[allthingshorror]

Dem - the sphere reissue cover is by Josh Kirby.

[jamesdoig]

I've always liked Bloch's "The Man Who Collected Poe". John Baxter's A Pound of Paper, perhaps the best and funniest book on book collecting, suggests that there is a germ of truth in Bloch's conceit - collecting everything you can find by an author brings you a little bit closer to him or her, the next best thing to sitting down with them and saying hi.

[jamesdoig]

Oops - I'd better say A Pound of Paper is a memoir, not a book on book collecting, in case anyone gets the wrong idea and rushes out to buy it.

Baxter, as well as writing and collecting sf, collaborated with John Brosnan on Torched! Brosnan wrote or co-wrote classics like Slimer, Carnosaur, The Fungus, Tendrils, Bedlam etc