Poe

Kellerman, Faye: MOON MUSIC (A Novel) Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. William Morrow & Company, Inc. 1998
ISBN: 0-688-14369-5 As New

<strong> A lot of reviewers have noted lately that too many bestselling writers are writing the same book over and over again. Nobody is ever going to accuse Faye Kellerman of that. Not after this book. <P> Her new novel Moon Music is not only the best book she's ever written, it's also one of this year's most unique and riveting reads, a mystery that contains elements of horror, metaphysics, and Native American culture. The novel is way too complex to outline coherently, so let's just say that while it starts out not unlike a police procedural, involving the murder of a mutilated Las Vegas prostitute, it is filled with the faint, echoing cries of a shadowy netherworld that Kellerman makes perfectly believable. That netherworld, Kellerman is saying, is there for all of us to see - if we just know how to look. She finds evidence of it in some mighty strange and disturbing places, for the murdered woman leads detective Romulus Poe to learn that she was once the mistress of one of his colleagues, and the killing also seems to have some bearing on a much older murder. Complicating things is Poe's relationship with his police colleague's wife - she and Poe were once lovers. Thus, there are two powerful story lines operating here - the police investigation through seedy Las Vegas, and Poe's look back at his own troubled life. Kellerman dovetails these plotlines skillfully. The setup reminds me a bit of Richard Matheson's brilliant Las Vegas vampire story The Night Stalker, the Vegas atmosphere, with its sociological climate, offering the author a perfect opportunity tomixdrama with sly humor. Her detective Poe has a unique take on his city. And on himself. Kellerman is a master of the sly aside, and she's never been nimbler: <blockquote> Poe watched as she bounced toward the office. His groin was still fixated on her ass. But his mind was elsewhere - thinking about the claws of a possessed woman, a howling coyote with doleful eyes, and a rattler with a bite as painful of rejection.</blockquote> Poe, as the last image implies, can tell you a whole lot about rejection, especially in his love life, which Kellerman fleshes out with glum, rueful details. A disco dandy he ain't. Nor a white knight. He's a more believable cop (he has his good-cop days, his bad-cop days) than we've seen in a long time, even in books written by cops. Kellerman's voice as a social commentator and urban historian has never been stronger, nor her writing more exemplary. She makes the city a true (and truly menacing) character. Science and sociology can explain away some of the menace - but not all of it. It's one of the best Vegas books I've ever read. She also does something daring and spectacular with the various aspects of the investigation, the mysticism and the folk legends particularly. Instead of using them as simple window dressing, and explaining them away in scholarly terms, she turns them into urban legend - they seem fresh, raw, modern, inexorably bound up with the history of Las Vegas itself. These moments are dark and scary indeed. She really knows how to handle all this new material. While some readers will no doubt miss Kellerman's regular crew, they will be genuinely rewarded by this dark, evocative, strange, and yet utterly believable novel. Faye Kellerman rolled the dice on this one - and won big. -Ed Gorman FROM THE PUBLISHER Just outside the city's neon Strip, in the bleak wastelands of Nevada's desert, the Las Vegas Metro Police discover the mauled corpse of a young and beautiful showgirl. Even in a city known for its excesses - from Arab sheiks to casino billionaires - this crime is particularly shocking because of the animalistic destruction of the body. Called to the crime scene is Detective Sergeant Romulus Poe - a thirty-five-year-old Vegas native and a seasoned, fifteen-year veteran. A loner with a love of justice, Poe immerses himself in the horrific case. Poe is particularly struck by dread similarities to a slaying by an anonymous monster dubbed the ...... PUBLISHED AT TWENTY SIX DOLLARS. </strong> Hardcover 6 x 9 in

[SW: novel Fiction Horror Metaphysics Culture]

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Poe, Clarence H.. MY FIRST 80 YEARS.
xvi, [ii], 267 pages. Gray cloth-covered boards, gilt spine lettering (hardcover binding). CONDITION: Owner's name and dates "1964-65" written at upper right-hand corner of flyleaf, else Near Fine book without dust jacket. "If a list were drawn up of the half dozen men who have done most for the South since 1900, it would have to include Dr. Clarence Poe," wrote Editor Virginius Dabney of the "Richmond Times-Dispatch" in 1954, when Dr. Poe ended fifty years as editor of "The Progressive Farmer." Mr. Dabney was thinking partly of the magazine itself, which Dr. Poe made into a periodical that was not simply a guide to better farming but a cultural medium for the entire rural South....MY FIRST 80 YEARS begins in the rural South of its author's childhood, just beginning to recover from the physical and spiritual shock of war and defeat. When he went to Raleigh at the turn of the century, he became a member of the group inspired by Walter Hines Page and led by people like Charles Brantley Aycock and Clarence Poe himself, who were invigorating the life of the state and the region. Dr. Poe's first-hand recollections of the men and movements of that time are an invaluable contribution to the understanding of it. From that period the book moves on to wider scenes of travel in Europe and Asia and participation in national movements for health and education. Dr. Poe...has written another book that evokes the spirit of the South at its best - the story of a life lived with courage and humor, dedicated to the region of his birth." C.2.. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press. [1963]. First edition. 8vo (5 3/4" x 8 1/4").

[SW: KEYWORDS: *North Carolina *Biography *Autobiography *Clarence Poe *The Progressive Farmer,]

Details

Frank, F.S. & Magistrale, T. The Poe Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, New York, first edition, 1997.
Through more than 1900 alphabetically arranged entries, this reference book provides complete and current coverage of Edgar Allan Poe's life and work. Some entries treat Poe's known reading and his responses to literary contemporaries and international literary figures. Others comment on the impact of various writers and literary traditions on Poe's imagination. Still others address Poe's views on subjects ranging from Shakespeare to mesmerism to phrenology. Each entry is supplemented by a bibliographical note which gives the basis for the entry and suggests sources for further investigation. Each entry for Poe's fiction and poetry contains a critical synopsis, and an extensive bibliography at the end of the volume lists the most important critical and biographical studies of Poe. There are indexes of: Critics, Editors, and Other Names; Authors, Artists, and Titles; and Themes, Subjects, and Characters.

Cloth, 8vo, 24 cm, xxii, 453 pp. Fine. 0313277680

[SW: POE, E.A.wykbooks 04553 Poe, Edgar Allan 1809-1849 19th nineteenth century US American author English Literature fiction stories poetry poet criticism interpretation Fantasy literature Frank, Frederick S., Magistrale, Tony]

Details

Hoffman, Daniel. POE,POE,POE,POE,POE,POE,POE. NY: DOUBLEDAY, 1972.
near fine/vg+; first edition. One of the more definitive works on poe, by a distinguished man of letters, daniel hoffman. A good photo of po.

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