It’s been nearly 170 years since his death, yet his name is legend, and recognized world-wide. His short fiction and poetry is still read by just about every school child in the world, and aficionados of his work peruse his essays and letters. Well over 70 films and scores of TV shows or series have been directly or indirectly inspired by his work, and there have been a significant number of theatrical presentations, musical pieces and artwork inspired by the writer. All this from Edgar Allan Poe, a man who lived and died with a broken heart.
It would be an understatement to say that Poe’s oeuvre was created while enduring the well-known tragedies of his life, a life saturated with loss, poverty and betrayal. His troubles were many and his fortunes few. He was the first American writer to try to earn a living from writing, and one of the earliest American writers of short fiction. Fame shrouded him upon his death, leaving him immortal. It is a testament to the human spirit that Poe wrote through his sad existence to bequeath to us some of the most memorable and touching fiction and poetry that has ever been written.
Edgar Allan Poe is often identified by the Gothic style of his supernatural fiction. He is also famous as the inventor of the modern detective story. His influence spans centuries and he inspired the grandparents of genres as disparate as romance and science fiction. He wrote from the heart and soul and his fears, worries and intellect are evident throughout what his quill translated from his genius mind to paper.
We would be lesser human beings without his cherished stories and poems and for this reason we, the co-editors of nEvermore! Tales of Murder, Mystery and the Macabre, wanted to compile an anthology to honor him.
To that end, we invited well-known authors to spin for us Poe-like tales. Write us a mystery with supernatural leanings, like Poe did, we said. Write a supernatural story with the hint of a mystery, just as Poe constructed, we asked them. We invited writers of all stripes to pen an original Poe-like story, or to use an existing Poe story or poem as a jumping-off point. Within are original tales that possess a Poe-esque quality, and, as well, riffs on familiar Poe stories and poems, taking his fiction as a direct inspiration. Have a read and investigate what our amazing writers have created when inspired by: “The Black Cat”; “Annabel Lee”; “The Gold-Bug”; “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”; “The Lighthouse”; “The Raven”; “Berenice”; “The Masque of the Red Death”. We begin with an enlightening essay: “A Rather Scholarly View of Edgar Allan Poe, Genre-Crosser”!
We hope you enjoy nEvermore! We certainly enjoyed compiling this special and unusual anthology. It has been our delight and our privilege to immerse ourselves in Poe’s legacy and to celebrate this author who gave so much to so many.
— Nancy Kilpatrick, Montreal 2015
— Caro Soles, Toronto 2015
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