Books: Wicked Lit cemetery performances

The next best thing to hearing an Edgar Allan Poe story set in a creepy old Victorian with a mysterious thumping sound coming from the floorboards is to experience it in a graveyard at night. Wicked Lit 2011 has two productions coming up in the Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery. The first, running Oct. 21-Nov. 5, will feature tales from Poe, H.P. Lovecraft and Charles Dickens. The second show (Oct. 27-Nov. 6) will include Mark Twain, M.R. James and Robert Louis Stevenson. Both programs promise thrills set on the moonlit grounds, too scary for the wee ones. Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery, 2300 N. Marengo Ave., Altadena. 8 p.m. Fri. $39-$60. More showtimes at wickedlit.org.