American Fantastic Tales - Peter Straub torrent

Category: Thriller
Language: EnglishKeywords: American Fantastic Tales

Written by Peter Straub
Read by Jim Zieger
Format: MP3
Bitrate: Variable

Peter Straub, who knows his way around a scary tale, has collected a vast two volume anthology for The Library of America consisting of over 2 centuries of what he labels American Fantastic Literature. More accurately although not more helpfully it would be labeled American Gothic. The Fantastic in this case involves both the supernatural and the natural with tales of ghosts (James), vampires (Crawford), madness (Gilman), and much that defies easy classification.

What unites the stories in over 1500 pages is the quality of the writing and the choice of not the expected tale from such and such writer: I have read tales of terror for many years and have not previously come across the majority of stories included here. Which means we have Poe’s Berenice and not The Tell Tale Heart, James’s Jolly Corner and not The Turn of the Screw, Bradbury’s The April Witch and not The Homecoming.

There are authors who should be better known (John Collier, Charles Beaumont) scattered among the usual suspects (Lovecraft, King) as well as new practitioners (Joe Hill-he of the “royal” pedigree, Poppy Bright).

One criticism could be in picking the odd choice, Straub avoids the best work of his authors. Another is inherent in the enterprise itself, i.e. he must needs avoid the great British practitioners, so no Algernon Blackwood, no M R James, no Arthur Machen, no Sheridan LeFanu. So while vast, these volumes are hardly definitive and therefore one wonders why do it in the first place as the rest of the Library of America project is about canon building. (just a thought).

Not all the stories are very scary but none bring shame to the Library of America imprimateur. And there are enough of them to darken your October evenings for years to come.