Tales of Terror from Edgar Allan Poe

By Edgar Allan Poe and Michael McCurdy

Six of Poe’s most macabre tales are presented in this powerfully illustrated edition that comes with an unabridged CD narration of four of the shorter tales. The classic tales included on the 75 minute CD and read by Edward Blake are “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Black Cat,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” The two longer tales in the collection are the heart-stopping “The Pit and the Pendulum” and the chilling “The Fall of the House of Usher.” In addition to his striking woodcut-type illustrations, Michael McCurdy has written fascinating headnotes about the origin of each tale and an introduction about Poe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 30, 2008
• ISBN: 9780307491657

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1809. His parents, both touring actors, died before he was three. He was raised by John Allan, a prosperous Virginian merchant. Poe published his first volume of poetry while still a teenager. He worked as an editor for magazines in Philadelphia, Richmond and New York, and achieved respect as a literary critic. In 1836, he married his thirteen year-old cousin. It was only with the publication of The Raven and other Poems in 1845 that he achieved national fame as a writer. Poe died in mysterious circumstances in 1849.