Category Archives: amreading

Dear Edgar 59 ~ The Sphinx

Posted on May 14, 2026 by Mark Hayes

Nor is it related to the character ‘The Sphinx’ in the movie Gone in 60 seconds, played by former football hard man Vinnie Jones. Though in fairness that would have been some what unlikely and remarkable prescient of Poe if that was the case.
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Dear Edgar 58 ~ The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

Posted on April 13, 2026 by Mark Hayes

In these, the enlightened days of modernity, hypnotism is a casino act and the other aspects of mesmerism is consigned to long debunked and forgotten corners of pseudoscience. In Edgar’s time however, there was some basis of belief that gave credence to this story. By presenting it in such an arid perfunctory way it seemed like a genuine scientific account. People wanted to believe, and the story offered ‘proof…’ Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar 56 ~ The Imp of the Perverse

Posted on March 13, 2026 by Mark Hayes

The two pictures above are of Virginia and Frances, the two women shared a remarkable resemblance, so much so that they are occasionally mistaken for each other even now. With Frances portrait occasionally mistakenly used for Virginia Clem and vice versa on the internet. They shared other taints as well, a certain child like qualities, raven dark hair, fair skin and tuberculosis… Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar 54 ~ Some Words With a Mummy

Posted on February 3, 2026 by Mark Hayes

What could be more Victorian than desecrating bodily remains and destroying another cultures heritage for the purposes of entertainment… Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar 53 ~ The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade

Posted on January 29, 2026 by Mark Hayes

Truth, as the old saying goes, is stranger than fiction. It is also on occasion harder to believe. Fiction has the advantage of the internal logic of the story. Truth has to actually be true, even if that truth is … Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar 52 ~ The Purloined letter

Posted on January 22, 2026 by Mark Hayes

Perhaps it needed a good murder… Continue reading →

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Pagan Lines

Posted on January 20, 2026 by Mark Hayes

She utters words of honeyed violence to sooth the savage at her breast.

I harken to her words, but they are as nothing to me. Garbled sounds, senseless, meaningless. Words from across the whale road. Words from the lands of the cross carriers. The land where they worship the murdered god. Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar 51 ~ The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq

Posted on January 19, 2026 by Mark Hayes

There is such a thing as a literary in joke. A private reference within a story that only those in the know will appreciate. Such things are oft times carefully constructed in such as way that the sit in the … Continue reading →

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The Curse of Amateur Dramatics

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Mark Hayes

Holly Trinity is awake, which never bodes well for the old city. Armageddon may be round the corner. But at least she gets to go to the theater. Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar 50 ~ Thou Art the Man

Posted on January 8, 2026 by Mark Hayes

Without Poe’s Dupin there is no Sherlock Holmes, at least not in the form we are familiar with. Poe invented the Sherlock architype, but also the Doctor Watson type everyman who tells us the stories. Holmes and Watson in turn inspired Agatha Christie’s Poirot and inspector Japp among many others. Continue reading →

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