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A New Wave in Terror

Frankie is waking up screaming in the middle of the night. He’s only five, and it doesn’t seem to bother him, but his parents are worried. In “The Bees” by Dan Chaon, Frankie’s father has a secret from his past that has found him. This is the first story in Poe’s Children: The New Horror: An Anthology edited by Peter Straub which is a collection of literary horror short stories.

Disturbing, surreal, and psychological these stories are notable for both creating a sense of dread and excellent story telling. Some of the stories are nightmarish where others create a sense of unease that won’t let go. In “The Sadness of Detail” by Jonathan Carroll, a woman stops in a café for a glass of wine after a “nothing day”, but someone is waiting for her and he will change not only her day, but her life. Stephen King’s “The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet” is a story within a story about falling into madness. Other authors included are Elizabeth Hand, Thomas Tessier, David J. Schow, Peter Straub, and Neil Gaiman.