Readings from “Poe: 19 New Tales” at the Pratt

by Michael Hughes

Poe: 19 New Tales

It was a dreary, cold, and rainy night, which made it a perfect evening to catch some readings from Poe: 19 New Tales at the Enoch Pratt Library. Editor Ellen Datlow was joined by writers Gregory Frost and John Langan in the Pratt’s Poe Room. Frost read a doppelganger-themed story from the anthology (not his own) that was very Twilight-Zone-ish and subtly creepy, while Langan read his college professor lecture-as-story, “Technicolor,” a clever and grim tale of Poe’s mysterious last days. Datlow ended the evening with a too-brief discussion of the ins-and-outs of anthology editing before the Pratt staff kicked us out into the dark, soggy night. I grabbed a copy of the anthology, and if the two stories I heard that evening are any indication, it looks to be a collection worthy of its inspiration.

John Langan, Ellen Datlow, and Gregory Frost

Gregory Frost

John Langan

4 comments

1 Ellen Datlow { 10.16.09 at 4:33 pm }

Thanks for the great write up and photos. I’ve linked from my own blog. And thank you for attending.

2 Oz { 10.16.09 at 5:46 pm }

Greg reads really well, his own, or someone else’s work. Sounds like it was well worth your efforts to attend.

Oz

3 Gregory Frost { 10.16.09 at 8:55 pm }

Thanks, Michael. That was a cold reading, too…so I’m glad it came off.
Hope you do enjoy the rest of the anthology as much, and thanks for coming out on that darkest and wettest of nights.

-gf

4 POE: 19 NEW TALES INSPIRED BY POE, edited by Ellen Datlow: A Year-End Review by Nancy O. Greene | Dark Recesses { 12.22.09 at 10:31 pm }

[...] From New York to PA to Delaware there were readings from the POE anthology. In October of 2009, Baltimore was also host to its editor speaking at the Poe Funeral as well as speaking at the Enoch Pratt Library with Gregory Frost and John Langan. Judy Cooper, the Enoch Pratt Director of Programming, and I worked with Ellen Datlow to bring more celebration of Poe’s body of work to Maryland. Roughly 20 or so people showed up to the Poe Room on the “dark and stormy night” to enjoy readings from the anthology and to ask questions, enjoy refreshments, buy books and get them signed, and mingle. You can read more about the event at http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/223998.html and at http://michaelmhughes.com/wordpress/?p=336. [...]

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