Poe at 200 -- Eerie After All These Years

I've never been a huge fan of Edgar Allan Poe but that doesn't mean his 200th birthday should go unnoticed. And John Miller makes sure it's noticed:

(T)here can be no doubt that Poe left a deep mark on literature. He invented both the detective story ("The Murders in the Rue Morgue") and the sequel to the detective story ("The Mystery of Marie Roget" and "The Purloined Letter"). An attraction to new technologies and cutting-edge ideas such as hot-air balloons, mesmerism, and cryptography made him a pioneer of science fiction. He could be a savage critic: "I intend to put up with nothing I can put down," he boasted.

Read the whole thing.