Edgar Allan Poe: The Master of the Macabre
Pocket Portraits series
Hardcover | Kindle Edition | Audiobook
Written by Levi Lionel Leland; illustrated by Kim Arrington
Publisher: Adams Media
Release Date: September 23, 2025

It was 176 years ago today that Edgar Allan Poe died under mysterious circumstances, with his reported last words being “Lord help my poor soul.” And a poor soul he was. Though Poe is now a household name whose works are world renown, during his own lifetime he lived a difficult, impoverished existence, constantly struggling to earn a living and make a name for himself as a writer. What little success he did manage to achieve was often undercut by either his rivals or his own self-destructive ways. Even after death, he was the victim of defamation, which led to many misconceptions about the man that are still held til this day. Yet it was after his passing that chilling short stories like “The Black Cat,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum,” as well as the poem “The Raven,” became ingrained in our pop culture, rightfully securing his legacy as the “Master of Macabre.”

In Edgar Allan Poe: The Master of the Macabre, the first entry in Adams Media’s Pocket Portraits series, author Levi Lionel Leland not only provides a concise biography of Poe, but also sets out to debunk some of those enduring rumors surrounding the great poet.