Raven: Dark Tales by Edgar Allan Poe edited by Dana Hand

US/UK Kindle Classic

I like to offer the best value and sometimes that is not the free edition.  For example, consider this one star Amazon reader review of the free edition of Poe’s poem, “The Raven.”

"Linebreaks in the wrong places, missing illustrations, and pages and pages of pretentious commentary before getting to the actual poem.

I would love for someone to create a nicely formatted version with the images.

Until then, you'd be better off googling the poem text, saving it as .txt, and emailing it to your kindle."

That is often a problem with poetry, but I am here to tell you Poe junkies that the problem has been solved!  Raven: Dark Tales by Edgar Allan Poe edited by Dana Hand has just been released as a movie tie-in with the recent John Cusack movie, "The Raven." (.99 US Edition)  (.77 UK Edition) 

The introduction to this new edition is engaging and definitely not pretentious:

Born to a pair of traveling actors, orphaned as a toddler, Poe was raised (but not adopted) by the wealthy John Allan family of Richmond, Virginia. The match failed. Young Poe drank and gambled with great energy but no luck; he held neither cards nor liquor well. After the University of Virginia expelled him, he tried West Point but was court-martialed. Allan refused to pay his debts, then disinherited him. Desperate, Poe entered some short stories in newspaper contests. He won, won again...and decided to live by his pen. 

This Kindle edition includes “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” as well as 16 short stories, including “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”

Our first meeting was at an obscure library in the Rue Montmartre, where the accident of our both being in search of the same very rare and very remarkable volume, brought us into closer communion. We saw each other again and again. I was deeply interested in the little family history which he detailed to me with all that candor which a Frenchman indulges whenever mere self is his theme. I was astonished, too, at the vast extent of his reading; and, above all, I felt my soul enkindled within me by the wild fervor, and the vivid freshness of his imagination. Seeking in Paris the objects I then sought, I felt that the society of such a man would be to me a treasure beyond price; and this feeling I frankly confided to him. It was at length arranged that we should live together during my stay in the city; and as my worldly circumstances were somewhat less embarrassed than his own, I was permitted to be at the expense of renting, and furnishing in a style which suited the rather fantastic gloom of our common temper, a time-eaten and grotesque mansion, long deserted through superstitions into which we did not inquire, and tottering to its fall in a retired and desolate portion of the Faubourg St. Germain.

Published by Scarlet Oak Press, this edition includes  chapter links, an introduction  and an annotated study guide including discussion questions and a time line.  Aside from the editing and the extras that don’t come with most Kindle editions, this is a purchase that will bring you good karma! 

“Sales benefit U.S. libraries and literacy projects.  The first Scarlet Oak donations will go to three libraries they especially admire: Seattle Public, the Lincoln Library in Springfield, Illinois, and Sinte Gleska University, located on the Rosebud Reservation in Mission, South Dakota.”  You can read more here.

Scarlet Press has other movie tie-ins and I will feature future editions, because these editions are a bargain.

Also per the introduction:

"Poe was the godfather of Goth," says actor John Cusack.

Sometimes I feel like I under-serve my Goth subscribers, but not today. So if you have ever visited a certain grave in Baltimore and spilled a little whiskey-- this blog's for you!

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