In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe: Classic Tales of Terror 1816-1914

Klinger (The New Annotated Dracula) mixes well-known and obscure authors in this solid anthology of 20 short tales of terror. Prominent names include Arthur Conan Doyle, M.R. James, Ambrose Bierce, and Bram Stoker, though some of their stories aren’t their most reprinted (e.g., James’s “Lost Hearts”). But even aficionados of the genre may not be familiar with such selections as Hanns Heinz Ewers’s “The Spider” and Dick Donovan’s “A Night of Horror.” While all the entries will raise subtle chills, the standout is Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” first published in 1891 and inspired by Gilman’s own struggles with postpartum depression. The narrator and her physician husband have just moved into a colonial mansion, right after the birth of a son, and she’s troubled by the “lame uncertain curves” of her wallpaper that, when followed, “suddenly commit suicide” by plunging off at “outrageous angles.” This volume provides a good introduction to dark fiction of an earlier age. (Oct.)