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American Fantastic Tales: Terror And The Uncanny From The 1940's Until Now (Library Of America #197) (2009)

by Peter Straub(Favorite Author)

3.94 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1598530488 (ISBN13: 9781598530483)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Library of America

review 1: I got this book out of the library recently, and realized about a story in that I'd already read it a few years ago. However, even knowing that, I couldn't help but read it over again. That's how good it is. Almost every single story is a winner---stories that have that strange touch, that weird something you can't quite put your finger on but that makes you think long after you read them. My favorite stories---Jack Finney (anything he writes is great) with "I'm Scared, Jonathan Carroll with "Mr. Fiddlehead" (this is one amazing story if you've ever had an imaginary friend), Peter Straub "A Short Guide to the City" (I can't even figure out at all why this is such a compelling story, but it is), Gene Wolfe "The Little Stranger" (you get something new from this one every... more time you read it)---I could go on and on. Certainly completely totally a must read.
review 2: Pretty good and varied collection of stories. If this genre interests you I recommend it. The first volume of "American Fantastic Tales: Poe to the Pulps" is also a good collection. I was a bit surprised that Faulkner's great short story, "A Rose For Emily" was not included in the first volume, published in early 1930's it certainly qualified for volume one. It fits in as a fantastic tale and there is no doubt in my mind that it probably had some influence on Robert Bloch's "Psycho" (although not as much as the Ed Gein case, which happened just 30-some miles from where Block lived in the 1950's). "A Rose For Emily", with its dead body kept in a lonely house and hints of necrophilia really is a fantastic tale and also recommended. less

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