Steve Rasnic Tem

Secret cults, forbidden knowledge, and cryptic prophecies await in this companion collection to Shadows Over Innsmouth, containing 12 more short stories inspired by the legendary horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Featuring stories from some of the biggest names in horror fiction, including H. P. Lovecraft, Ramsey Campbell, Kim Newman, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and many more. This newly redesigned edition also includes a revised and updated Introduction and Contributor Notes, along with additional artwork exclusive to this printing. In this companion to the acclaimed anthology Shadows Over Innsmouth, World Fantasy Award-winning editor Stephen Jones assembles some of today's most talented horror authors-the finest of the modern Lovecraftian acolytes. Return to Innsmouth with these 12 haunting horror stories and encounter a scientist who stumbles upon a secret cult, a thief whose heist goes horrifically awry, and a magician who usurps a prophecy only to bring about something much, much worse-plus H. P. Lovecraft's previously discarded draft of 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth'! This newly redesigned edition also includes a revised and updated Introduction and Contributor Notes, along with additional artwork exclusive to this printing. Featuring stories from: H. P. Lovecraft Ramsey Campbell Hugh B. Cave Basil Copper John Glasby Caitlin R. Kiernan Brian Lumley Richard A. Lupoff Paul McAuley Kim Newman Michael Marshall Smith Steve Rasnic Tem

Steve Rasnic Tem grew up in Lee County Virginia, the westernmost county in the state. It was the heart of Appalachia, isolated, yet beautiful. He has said "Growing up in that small place, it was hard to imagine ever becoming a writer. To me wanting to be a writer was like wanting to become an astronaut or a movie star. I didn't believe such things ever happened for people like us." Now in his seventies, Steve Rasnic Tem's writings include more than 500 published short stories in a variety of genres, seventeen collections, eight novels, and miscellaneous poetry and plays. He has won the World Fantasy, Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, and International Horror Guild awards. In 2024 he received the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award. "His work...will haunt your imagination and your heart in equal measure, and it both expands and defines the genre." - Weird Fiction Review "Steve Rasnic Tem is a school of writing unto himself." - Joe R. Lansdale "He's one of the true masters." - Ed Gorman "A Tem story is like no other." - Simon Strantzas Scarecrows: Appalachian Tales collects the best of Tem's writings about his native Appalachia, two poems and twenty-four short stories (including five never-before-published tales) concerning the farmers, miners, teachers, preachers, lawmen, itinerants, housewives, elders, children, and creatures who call these southern mountains home. The tales represent a range of genres: fantasy, horror, crime, humor, and realistic local color fiction of the region.

"Kafkaesque" isn't a term that's used often or even lightly. So when it finds itself tied to any modern-day author, you know you'll be in for a real treat. And that's just what we've come to expect from Steve Rasnic Tem. His work often embodies the same nightmarish quality that authors like Kafka inject into their own writing. However, in Tem's stories the situations are even more nihilistic. His environments are inhabited by droogs and degenerates, lost or forgotten, whose stories-up until now-have had no voice. But in a world overrun by an abject and apathetic populace, Tem provides his characters with all the voice they need. Thus, it's no surprise that violence is the wallpaper that lines Tem's squalid hallways. Stories like "Facing It" and "Rough Justice" portray a dog-eat-dog world where "little bastards" are held in check and accused baby killers receive their just deserts. But keep a look-out for irony knocking on the door-it provides all the epiphany our flawed anti-heroes would ever wish to meet. In "Rat Catcher" an infestation of rodents in one family's home leads to an anguished plea for help. But the man who arrives leaves their children unsettled, and like the nightmare the father endured as a child, a horrific manifestation has been resurrected. Just as deplorable is "The Stench" in which Riley is continually hampered by foul odors found in ordinary people, places, and things, forcing him to avoid them at all costs. But one man's trash is another man's treasure, and for Riley, the stench he so admonishes may in fact be our windfall. Tem shows that there may be a glimmer of sentiment lurking inside-one that needs its door slammed shut. "Love Letters" features a man traveling cross country in the hopes of recovering his ex's love notes. No matter what their nostalgia, they pull him further from reality and further from the closure he so desperately needs. "Daddy's an Actor" and "My Daughter is Here" feature two distinct father-daughter depictions: one that surrounds a fascination with the art of acting; and the other with end-of-life care. Their faux relationships may be teetering on the brink of collapse, but thankfully, their "daughters" are there to swoop in and help as needed...in their own little, maladjusted ways. Unlike the noir-driven exploits from your father's time, these forty-three tales of crime and deception run the gamut from high-altitude capers to back-alley brouhahas. You'll meet obsessives and connivers, goons and scoundrels. You may find it uncomfortable or even disturbing, but you'll never be lonely or bored locked inside Tem's "Kafkaesque" amphitheater. With nearly 500 pages of disturbing content, it's not to be read all at once.

"Far better to choose an absence than to have an absence forced upon you."These stories by award-winning author Steve Rasnic Tem drag from the darkness ghosts that haunt us all. Between these covers lurk the spectres of grief, loss, and loneliness: a man discovers he is far from alone in his empty home, a forlorn wife is gifted with an unusual child, a contractor contemplates the sad message left by a grieving father, a blind woman discovers a spiritual manifestation at the edge of a forest, a spectral presence appears in a lonesome Colorado wheat field . . . Here with the Shadows is a volume of supernatural impressions and quiet vacancies, and in each story Tem reminds us that sometimes only a whisper separates us from the eternal.

The Canterbury Nightmares is a collection of stories from the edge of the abyss. Combining the essence of Chaucer's pilgrims on their journey to a shrine, with what appeared to be the end of a global pandemic, these tales were born in a time when personal connections were few, breathing the air in a grocery store felt unsafe, and the country was dissolving into seemingly irreparable divisions.Eleven travelers heading out to visit The Grand Canyon. All of them have their reasons. All of them have their losses, and their pain. All of them are dark. From an old man taking a promised journey with his wife, to a congregation that has lost its way, from different backgrounds and cultures, to different ways of dealing with grief, loss, and isolation, this book will take you places you do not expect.Contents: The Old Man's Tale - Steve Rasnic TemThe Liberation of Brother Buffalo - Michael BoatmanThink of the Family - Ai JiangTo See Her in Sepia - Scott J. MosesThe Preditor's Tale - Terence TaylorThe Wife of Wrath's Tale - John B. RosenmanThe Secret Place: A Knight's Tale - Stephen Mark RaineyThe Sacred Clarion - S. A. CosbyThe Tour Guide's Tale - Anna TambourEvery Form of Person - J. A. W. McCarthyVending Machine Girl - Eric LaRocca

This new collection of 25 stories, including two appearing here for the first time, collects the best of Steve Rasnic Tem's dark fiction published since his landmark Centipede tome Out of the Dark: A Storybook of Horrors. A number have appeared in various Year's Best volumes. All represent the high quality of Tem's prose and the wide range of his approaches to the horror genre. In The Night Doctor And Other Tales, you will encounter the most haunting figures ever to cross Tem's imagination: a man obsessed with his own breath and the breathing he hears that is not his own; a husband waiting for his wife as new bodies appear at the bottom of his yard; a weekend fisherman and the unseen man sharing his fishing hut; a loyal husband dealing with the latest changes in his wife's physical appearance; a strange widower in his house by the sea; a devoted mother trying to protect her son from the nightmares of the past; a son returning to a dreaded summer vacation spot; a grandfather protecting his grandchildren from a legacy of dark transformations; and, in the title story, an elderly man awaits the visit of a mysterious family physician. Stories included in this collection: BreathingApartment BRed RabbitThe Hanged ManThe Fishing HutA Sudden EventPaula BreaksLost in the Garden of Earthly DelightsBlattidae WineHalf-LightMister AinsleyThe Long Fade into EveningDomestic MagicThe Secret Laws of the UniverseThe Man in the Rose BushesThe Night DoctorThe Enemy WithinStick MenToo Many GhostsWhen You're Not LookingBetween the PilingsThe ErasedThe WakeThe Weight LostThe Monster Makers

"All my life I've dreamed of the dead."Thanatrauma: the dread of it erodes you, the shadows waiting at the end, the impending conclusion, the troubling dream from which you will not wake.These 21 stories - four published here for the first time - explore some of our fundamental fears: death, loss, grief, and aging. In "Reflections in Black," a man takes a phantasmagoric Halloween journey in search of a former love. In "The Parts Man," a man enters a desperate contract with a sinister entity in a long, vintage automobile. The darkly beautiful "The Dead Outside My Door" is a haunting post-apocalyptic tale unlike any you've ever read. Other offerings include "Whatever You Want," in which a Christmas wish has terrible consequences; "Torn," a bizarre version of a highly personalized Hell; and "The Way Station," a tribute to the legendary Stefan Grabinski. Also included is "August Freeze," from the lost, undistributed Winter 1985 issue of Weird Tales.Winner of the Bram Stoker, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards, Steve Rasnic Tem has established himself as one of today's finest writers of horror and weird fiction. In this new collection, which is by turns chilling and thought-provoking, Tem is at his very best.

CONSUMED: Tales Inspired by the WendigoEdited by Hollie & Henry SniderHunger that changes you...consumes you...turning you into a nightmare version of what you once were. From desolate snowy mountains and apocalyptic wastelands to New York's sex clubs and virtual encounters, Denver Horror Collective brings you, dear reader, visions of horror inspired by the Wendigo.With an introduction from Owl Goingback, authors treating you to this plate of delicacies include Wrath James White, Steve Rasnic Tem, Dana Fredsti, R. Michael Burns, Angela Sylvaine, Ian Neligh, P.L. McMillan, Michael Gore, Amanda Headlee, Joy Yehle, Ross Baxter, K.D. Webster, Ray Zacek, Elana Gomel, Marlin Bressi, Brenda S. Tolian, J.T. Evans, and Christophe Maso.So sit back and take a nibble to satisfy your cravings. Better yet, devour these pages and be CONSUMED by what's inside.CONTENTSINTRODUCTION - Owl Goingback CRAVINGS - R. Michael Burns STARVED - Angela Sylvaine ADAPTATION - Ian NelighTHE SCREAMING TREE - Dana FredstiPLANET OF THE HUNGRY - P.L. McMillanLIKES - Michael GoreJOURNAL OF MILTON PARKER - Amanda Headlee HOARD - Joy YehleUNSOLICITED - Wrath James WhiteTHE HUDSON HUNGER - Ross BaxterTHE ONE THAT GOT AWAY - K.D. WebsterROAD DEMON - Ray ZacekTOUCHING WOOD - Elana GomelEAST OF AVON - Marlin BressiBLOOD MOUNTAIN - Brenda S. Tolian AN GORTA MOR - Steve Rasnic TemCABIN FEVER - J.T. EvansFEAST OF THE SENSES - Christophe Maso NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER - Josh Schlossberg

Since 2005, Valancourt Books has unearthed and republished almost 500 lost and neglected works from the 1760s through the 2000s, and now for this long-awaited fourth volume of the acclaimed Valancourt Book of Horror Stories series, the editors of Valancourt Books are proud to present 15 more great horror tales -- all by Valancourt authors -- from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. This volume features five brand new stories that have never appeared elsewhere, two rare foreign stories translated to English for the first time, and eight more scarce and seldom-seen tales.The stories in this volume will take you inside the vivid dreams of a woman who can kill in her sleep; to the set of a reality show where contestants may be transformed into specimens of beauty--or into freak show monsters; to a hotel where guests are besieged by a powerful hurricane--and by something even more terrible and deadly. You will read of the bizarre and macabre adventures of a man seeking a skeleton in 1960s London as a gift for his medical student cousin--and his quest's shocking outcome. You will learn how a simple grammar mistake can lead to a terrible and untimely end for a traveler in Venice. These are strange, sinister, and scary stories, by turns suspenseful, horrific, and darkly humorous. Featuring a lineup of rarely reprinted classic tales together with new stories destined to become future classics, this collection is a horror anthology like no other.

Praise for 'Shadows & Tall Trees'SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD-WINNER (Vol. 7)WORLD FANTASY AWARD FINALIST (Vol. 6)"Michael Kelly's Shadows and Tall Trees is a smart, soulful, illuminating investigation of the many forms and tactics available to those writers involved in one of our moment's most interesting and necessary projects, that of opening up horror literature to every sort of formal interrogation. It is a beautiful and courageous series."-- Peter Straub, author of Ghost Story"Shadows and Tall Trees epitomizes the idea of, and is the most consistent venue for weird, usually dark fiction. Well worth your time."-- Ellen Datlow, Best Horror of The YearAlison Littlewood - Hungry GhostsBrian Evenson - The Glassy, Burning Floor of HellCarly Holmes - TattletaleCharles Wilkinson - A Coastal QuestC.M. Muller - Camera ObscuraJames Everington - The Sound of the Sea, Too CloseKay Chronister - Too Lonely, Too WildKL Pereira - You, Girls Without HandsKristi DeMeester - The Quiet Forms of BelongingKurt Fawver - WorkdayM. Rickert - The Fascist Has a PartyNeil Williamson - Down to the RootsRebecca Campbell - Child of Shower and GleamSe n Padraic Birnie - DollfaceSimon Strantzas - The SomnambulistsSteve Rasnic Tem - Sleepwalking With AngelsSteve Toase - Green Grows the GriefV.H. Leslie - Lacunae