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there are lots of different writers in the world. some write serious

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novels for serious people, some right goofy stories to entertain kids, and some [man looks serious]

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are masters of terror whose grim tales of murder and mayhem keep you up way

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past your bedtime in and well might run up your electricity bill. Edgar Allen Poe

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was definitely a master of terror. we're guessing it made him super popular at

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sleepovers. Poe didn't exactly have the happiest of lives though his parents

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died before he was even three years old leaving him to be raised by John Allen,

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an exporter from Virginia. but young Poe did great in school and got into the

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University of Virginia at Charlottesville where he ran up [Poe stands in front of University]

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thousands of bucks and gambling debts and didn't have enough financial support

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from Allen to stay for even a year. whoops.

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well Poe was not only kicked out of school but disowned by Allen. you know

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double oops. well the only silver lining is that this part of Poe's life is

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pretty convincing cautionary tale against gambling.

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although Poe did eventually have some of his writing published and even worked as

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both an editor and a literary critic his adult life wasn't all roses and sunshine. [Poe sits by window with roses outside]

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not only did his wife Virginia catch tuberculosis in 1842 but five years

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later she died of the disease. not exactly the kind of thing that makes you

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want to write poems about clouds and puppy dogs right? but all that hardship

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didn't stop Poe from writing, which is impressive it definitely would have

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stopped us. maybe made us excavate a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry's but

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well you know who knows. but Poe wrote a lot of very influential work and created

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the modern horror story. yep that was all him. these stories were generally told [novel with Poe's name on it]

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from the first-person perspective of the narrator. the perspective gave us an

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up-close and personal look at the characters psyche, as they endured all

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the horrors Poe put them through. his characters probably would have preferred

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if he'd just sent him to birthday parties but hey at least they got some

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good stories out of it right? if pioneering the modern horror tale

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weren't enough Poe also got the ball rolling for two different genres. the

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detective story and science fiction. while Poe was actually one of the first [Poe holds two novels]

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writers of science fiction taking advantage of early 19th centuries

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interest in science and technology. but in perhaps his greatest oversight he

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didn't introduce the world to sci-fi detective stories,

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you know we'd have to wait a while for Robo Holmes to start solving cases on

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moon. not that there are too many open cases

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on the moon. [robot wearing fedora falls over on the moon]

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