THE BURNING MAIDEN
Where Literature and the Supernatural Meet
Sixteen new short stories from bestselling authors...
Joe R. Lansdale (Edge of Dark Water, Bullets and Fire)
Matthew Pearl (The Dante Club, The Technologists)
Louis Bayard (The School of Night, The Black Tower)
Lyndsay Faye (The Gods of Gotham, Dust and Shadow)
Charles Johnson (Middle Passage, Oxherding Tale)
AND MORE
Sixteen stories and poems that redefine the boundary between
horror and literature
FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY ANTHOLOGY EDITOR, GREG KISHBAUGH:
THE BLURRED LINE
Publishers love categories, as do bookstores. They want a writer's
work to fit neatly into a specific genre. The motivation for this,
of course, lies in commerce, as well as questionable (and outdated)
notions about the consumer mind.
But this can be an unfair burden, as writers are far less
compartmentalized in their thinking. They strive to tell a story.
To enlighten. To entertain. The genre in which the story falls is
not nearly as important as the story itself. After all, how would
one categorize "A Clockwork Orange"? Is it horror? Yes. Science
Fiction? Yes. Literature? Yes. And yet I've never heard Anthony
Burgess referred to as a "horror" writer or a "science fiction"
writer.
How about Cormac McCarthy? No one would ever deem him a "horror"
writer, but then how does one categorize "The Road"? Is Robert
Louis Stevenson a "horror" writer because he wrote "The Strange
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"? Is George Orwell either a
"horror" or "science fiction" writer in light of his two most
famous works, "1984" and "Animal Farm"?
Let's face it, many of the novels we consider classics today
simply transcend genre, in no small part due to the fact that they
manage to mash more than one together, producing works that
resonate in our imaginations. "Slaughterhouse Five." "Lord of the
Flies." "Fahrenheit 451." "Deliverance." These stories all contain
skin-prickling elements of horror; yet none are categorized as
"horror" novels. If such works can fit into the horror mold, then
it begs the question: What is literature?
And to analyze the other side of the coin, what do we make of
works that are unquestionably horror but clearly transcend the
boundaries of genre? Is "Something Wicked This Way Comes" any less
a piece of fine literature because it also happens to be a work of
dread-inducing horror? How about "The Haunting of Hill House," "I
Am Legend" or "The Shining." What of some of the masterfully
macabre short stories of Harlan Ellison? Or the works of Poe and
Lovecraft? Certainly anyone would categorize them as glorious works
of literature, all of which happen to squarely fall into the genre
of horror.
"The Burning Maiden" was born of this conundrum. When is horror
simply "horror" and when does it cross over into "literature"? What
happens when writers of unparalleled talents put their minds (and
writing chops) to telling stories of the supernatural, of the
darkness in the human soul, of the sadness and longing that
sometimes supersedes the grave-all the while telling stories with
the hearts and souls of poets?
Contributors to this anthology have been nominated for or awarded
(to name a few) with the American Mystery Award, the British
Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Horror Critics Award, the
Edgar Award, the Dagger Award, the Crime Writers' Association
Award, the British Fantasy Society Award, the Pushcart Prize, the
Asimov's Readers' Award, the Rhysling Award, the International
Horror Guild Award, the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
"The Burning Maiden" was created as a showcase for horror and
suspense with a strong literary bent. Stories that focus on the
glorious interplay of poetry and words set against the dark wonder
that truly great speculative fiction can raise in us.
Greg Kishbaugh
Editor
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
bundle available
