If Poe was alive to speak to us today, I’m sure he would highly recommend his fans to endure the short stories of Tarō Hirai, or (better known by his pen name in ode to the Master of macabre and mystery), Edogawa Rampo.

Tales of Mystery and Imagination is right on the money, because wow, does Rampo come up with some odd and dark tales. Poe's influence on Rampo is prominent, yet he maintains his own sense of originality. Any fan of Edgar knows that he rarely wrote a gory piece, but instead used a macabre, gothic writing style to induce the feelings of eeriness and dread. Edogawa follows suit by giving us extremely creepy stories without the excessive violence.

From “human chairs,” to intellectually dark and unbeknownst murderers, insane characters, perverse wives who mutilate their spouses, and those who will go to extreme lengths for their own cynical “humor,” these stories are looped with weirdness and wonderfully unearthly plot twists around every corner.

The Human Chair and The Red Chamber are INCREDIBLE reads and two personal favorites. These two will stick with me the most for their uncanny nature and ominous tone. If you do not read any of the other stories, read these two. Honorable mentions to The Caterpillar for being fucking perverse and strange and The Traveler With the Pasted Rag Picture for its bizarre depiction of love. Rampo’s mind is that of an interesting man— I can see why his wife was kind of disgusted with his writings. But, as a diehard Poe fan, this collection of short stories were fantastic to me. I highly recommend.