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I love a good mystery. I love it better when I get to the end and don’t have a clue. It is a rare occasion when I haven’t figured out who the killer is. Or what is going to happen. I look for such stories. Sometimes my search takes me back in time to authors forgotten as mystery writers.

Let’s take Edgar Allan Poe. Most people think about his macabre stories only. He was a gothic writer. His ability to draw you into such terrors as The Pit and The Pendulum. He was a master at the gothic horror story and is considered one of the leading writers of romanticism.

I, however, prefer his detective stories. He is the father of the detective story and every pulp magazine which featured such stories are imitations of the man’s work. One of my favorite stories of Poe’s is “The Gold Bug.”

The Gold Bug is a story centered around a cipher one man has to break in order to find the lost treasure of Blackbeard in North Carolina. North Caroline was called the graveyard of ships because so many crashed there and sunk. However, it has a history among pirates as a place to hide from the British and the Spaniards. To seek their treasure ships out and loot them.

Poe takes us on a quest to break Blackbeard’s code. Teaches us how to do it while keeping us entertained. The Gold Bug has led to many a career in cryptography.

  

Poe was one of the first writers in America to earn his living from writing alone. Which of course meant he was broke most of his life. Which also meant he produced. The man wrote essay after essay, poem after poem and crafted the art of the short story along with O. Henry. 

If you haven’t read any of Poe’s works then you must. He wouldn’t be published today. His style of writing would not be welcomed among today’s publishers which is too bad. The man can tell a story. Which is what writing is all about.

I recommend:

The Gold Bug

The Pit and The Pendulum

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Telltale Heart

The Cask of Amontillado

The Premature Burial

I am not a fan of poetry, but his poems are considered classics. Take a look and see if you agree.

If you want to tune your writing up, then read the classics. There is a reason they are classics. And Poe is a classic all by himself.

I can’t emphasize this enough if you intend to write. You need to read. Then read some more then read something entirely outside of your comfort zone. Look at the style, the syntax of the dialogue, the use of grammar, the use of descriptors, the way the story builds and why you find yourself turning the page again and again. Read as if you need it to live. Then write.

I’m Ross, The Editor-in-Chief at The Pyrateheart Press and I’m out.