Too often contemporary horror fiction denies, forgets or is even unaware of its roots in classic dark literature. The man legitimately called the father of the genre, Edgar Allan Poe, thrust terror into the soul of humanity, while his illegitimate descendants located it in the cosmos, across nations, in science, through history, in nature, in the city — in short, wherever people come together and invariably attempt to dull their imaginations. But experience is always too cruel. These themes are of course relevant today. This book aims to show how the ideas and techniques of the greats might be utilised to explore the modern world. Here you'll find neither pastiche nor period prose, rather thoroughly contemporary visions whose aging, tell-tale heart still beats with dismaying memory of the past and irrepressible fear for the future... 30 original stories from some of the finest practitioners in the field, including a brand new tale from modern master Ramsey Campbell.