NEWS

Melanie’s FRY DAY: Plays & Poems, is now available in paperback, containing a selection of her best poetry and drama. I think arguably some of the best writing of her final ten years appears in her plays. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637897413/

BOOKSTORES & LIBRARIES

If you are an independent bookseller, or a librarian, and would like to stock some of my print titles, use the following links. For the collections Figures Unseen and Thanatraumahttps://www.valancourtbooks.com/booksellers.html

For the collections The Harvest Child & Other Fantasies, Rough Justice: Tales of Crime & Deception, Scarecrows: Appalachian Tales, Everyday Horrors, and The Night Doctor and Other Taleshttps://crossroadpress.com/bookstore-library-orders/

Links

My rather grim Xmas story “I Saw Santa” can be read for free at:  https://stevetem.com/free-fiction/

Wondering which of Steve’s many short story collections to buy or just curious about the differences? You can find that info here.

You can now subscribe to the Steve Rasnic Tem YouTube Channel here.

For information about the Steve & Melanie Tem Collection at Texas A&M click here.

Featured

 

 EVERYDAY HORRORS

Everyday horrors, the unexpected twists encountered during an otherwise normal day. The skewed perspectives, those moments of transformative paranoia when everything appears as it might through a funhouse lens. The dreamlike narratives and rhythms which fracture consensual reality into genre-bending rides. When life becomes unmoored and the prosaic becomes surreal. These are the worlds portrayed in this new collection of 20 previously uncollected stories by Steve Rasnic Tem, winner of the World Fantasy, British Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and the Horror Writer Association’s Lifetime Achievement awards.

Included are such stories as “A Thin Silver Line” (originally scheduled for The Last Dangerous Visions), the folk horror “Gavin’s Field,” an aging man’s final road trip in “The Old Man’s Tale,” the Halloween musings of “When They Fall,” the personal apocalypse of “Privacy,” the Jack the Ripper revelations of “Monkeys,” the pandemic Wendigo tale “An Gorta Mór,” the cosmic horror “The Things We Do Not See,” a bizarre journey “Within the Concrete” from ParSec, and the heartbreaking “Memoria” from The Deadlands.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637891768/

 

SCARECROWS: Appalachian Tales

Steve Rasnic Tem grew up in Lee County Virginia, the western most 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, 17 collections, 8 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.

Scarecrows: Appalachian Tales collects the best of Tem’s writings about his native Appalachia, 2 poems and 24 short stories (including 5 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. Available in both paperback and ebook formats.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637891717/

Biography

“His work…will haunt your imagination and your heart in equal measure, and it both expands and defines the genre. ” Adam Mills, Weird Fiction Review

Steve Rasnic Tem’s writing career spans over 45 years, including poetry, plays, short stories, and novels in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, crime, regional fiction set in the Appalachian South, as well as a less-classifiable imaginative prose more than one critic has called “Temism.” His collaborative novella with his late wife Melanie Tem, The Man On The Ceiling, won the World Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and International Horror Guild awards in 2001. He has also won the Bram Stoker, International Horror Guild, and British Fantasy Awards for his solo work. He is a 2024 recipient of the HWA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

His recent novel UBO (Solaris, January 2017) is a dark science fictional tale about violence and its origins, featuring such historical viewpoint characters as Jack the Ripper, Stalin, and Heinrich Himmler. Steve’s southern gothic novel Blood Kin (Solaris, March 2014), won the 2014 Bram Stoker Award. His other novels are  his YA The Mask Shop  of Doctor Blaack  (Hex, 2018)Deadfall Hotel (Solaris, 2012), The Man On The Ceiling (Wizards of the Coast Discoveries, 2008, written with Melanie Tem as an expansion of their novella), The Book of Days (Subterranean, 2002), Daughters (Grand Central, 2001, also written with Melanie Tem), and Excavation (Avon, 1987). A handbook on writing, Yours to Tell: Dialogues on the Art & Practice of Fiction, also written with Melanie, appeared in 2017 from Apex Books.

Steve has published over 500 short stories. His first collection of stories, Ombres sur la Route, was published by the French publisher Denoël in 1994. His first English language collection, City Fishing (Silver Salamander, 2000) won the International Horror Guild Award. His other story collections are The Far Side of the Lake (Ash Tree, 2001), In Concert (Centipede, 2010-collaborations with Melanie Tem), Ugly Behavior (New Pulp, 2012-noir fiction), Onion Songs (Chomu, 2013), Celestial Inventories (ChiZine, 2013), Twember (NewCon, 2013-science fiction), Here With The Shadows (Swan River Press, 2014), the giant 72-story treasury, Out of the Dark: A Storybook of Horrors, (Centipede Press), Figures Unseen: Selected Stories (Valancourt, 2018), The Harvest Child And Other Fantasies (Crossroads, 2018), the YA-oriented Everything Is Fine Now (Omnium Gatherum, 2019), The Night Doctor and Other Tales (Centipede, 2019), and Thanatrauma (Valancourt, 2021).

A transplanted Southerner from Lee County Virginia, Steve is a long-time resident of Colorado. He has a BA in English Education from VPI and a MA in Creative Writing from Colorado State, where he studied fiction under Warren Fine and poetry under Bill Tremblay.

Interviews

Interview by Ed McManis on The Compulsive Reader website: https://compulsivereader.com/2024/11/17/an-interview-with-steve-rasnic-tem-king-of-the-horror-short-story/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGnX3pleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHeEY4Q-9GFcoZshwOegvM57oky4uuPj8aunK19QFKc2EOVJUCAwgS-qWvQ_aem_HdrAw30XJR9iAJo3Dj6qpg

Interview at Asimov’s SF Magazine From Earth to the Stars blog: https://fromearthtothestars.com/2022/02/18/qa-with-steve-rasnic-tem/?fbclid=IwAR1OFjm1LhrGMlGoqwpjngTebNNLUhcVy5iyTsuT94cMi4ziZoysXMXeRmc

Interview in Westword, Denver’s alternative weekly: https://www.westword.com/arts/steve-rasnic-tem-colorado-author-consumed-horror-11897235

YouTube interview at Visited By Voices Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBdaGPwwPxI&fbclid=IwAR3jps8mwqpsJ1xunb7u3gdrAv8AItxQSmLlXT0W4BLqq3p5PL0M7I3uBQA

Reading & interview for Nebraska Wesleyan’s Nights of Horror: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3vyiPvOoG4

The second half of my interview with the This Is Horror podcast: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/tih-261-steve-rasnic-tem-on-figures-unseen-the-art-and-practice-of-writing-and-the-man-on-the-ceiling/?fbclid=IwAR3hCcIB5xDnHyRh4pkmweQN6dAnRqgUB8L5SXhW8GBVU6WRR5niN4gexek

The first half of my interview with the This Is Horror podcast: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/tih-260-steve-rasnic-tem-on-secret-realities-city-fishing-and-early-life-lessons/

Interview at the Darkness Dwells podcast concerning my new collection Everything Is Fine Now, existential dread, love and loss, and a few writing tips.

Interviewed by Scott Edelman on the Eating the Fantastic podcast.

New interview concerning Doctor Blaack up at MyLifeMyBooksMyEscape.

New interview up on Kendall Reviews concerning my writing in general as well as The Mask Shop of Doctor Blaack.

New interview at Cat After Dark concerning my new middle-grade novel The Mask Shop of Doctor Blaack and other things.

Read the long interview with Steve in the upcoming second issue of Thinking Horror: A Journal of Horror Philosophy.

June 2018 Interview with Steve on theLovecraft eZine Podcast.



See a complete list of interviews on the
Interviews page.

Free Fiction

The Winter Closet,” Three-lobed Burning Eye #36

Black Wings,” The Dark, April 2022

Eye of the Storm,” Daily Science Fiction

Whenever It Comes,” Weird Horror Magazine #4

The Last Sound You Hear,” The Dark, Dec 2021

Mummies,” Reckoning #5

Late Sleepers,” PseudoPod #733

Forwarded,” The Dark Magazine, January 2020

The Family Man,” Paper Butterfly Flash Fiction, October 2019

For All His Eyes Can See,” The Dark,  August 2018

Miguel Prays While His Mother Cries,” Daily Science Fiction, 8/8/2019

Night Vision,” Daily Science Fiction, 4/16/2019

“Red Rabbit,” Borderlands # 6 (reprinted in Figures Unseen)

The Men and Women of Rivendale,” Nightmare #35.

A Space of One’s Own,” Clarkesworld #141, June 2018.

Cats, Dogs, & Other Creatures,” Talebones.


See a complete list of free fiction on the Free Fiction page.

Events

None Scheduled

See a complete list of events on the Events page.

Latest Books

ROUGH JUSTICE: Tales of Crime & Deception

“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.

Collecting the bulk of Steve’s crime stories from such sources as Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, The Saint Magazine, Crimewave, New Mystery, Mickey Finn 21st Century Noir, Cemetery Dance, Argosy, Dark Terrors, Hot Blood, Hardboiled, Savage Kick, Shivers, Constable New Crimes, all the stories from his Ugly Behavior collection, plus the first print appearance of his one act play “Hideous Idea.” 43 pieces in all. 444 pages. Available in both ebook and paperback forms from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJGCBJMQ/

Here With the Shadows Paperback

My 2014 ghost story collection HERE WITH THE SHADOWS is now available as a paperback.
“Taken together, these stories demonstrate why a neglected, uncommercial literary discipline is important. As many have observed, all novels are flawed to some extent, but it is possible to produce a perfect short story. Some of those perfect stories are here.” – The Supernatural Tales Blog

THANATRAUMA: Stories

“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 vision of a highly personalized hell; and “The Way Station,” a tribute to the legendary Stefan Grabinski. Also featured is a special bonus, “August Freeze,” from the lost, undistributed Winter 1985 issue of Weird Tales.

https://www.valancourtbooks.com/thanatrauma-2021.html

The Night Doctor New Paperback

The Night Doctor And Other Tales, out of print in hardcover, is now available in new paperback and ebook editions through Amazon.

 

You can view a YouTube video of Steve reading the title story here.

John Boden at Ginger Nuts of Horror: “Every story in this collection is marvelous. All of them emotionally heavy and steeped in themes of loss, regret, grief (triple helpings on that one) and despair. All painted in lush realistically thick strokes and colors. All of them masterpieces.”

Publishers Weekly starred review: “’Sometimes it takes all our effort to keep the anxiety of simply being human at bay’ … Tem treads a fine line between the weird and the horrific in these stories, and they are memorable for their subtle power and insidious eeriness. This haunting collection is the perfect Halloween accompaniment.”

FRY DAY: Plays & Poems

Melanie Tem’s FRY DAY, Plays & Poems. Over a career of 30+ years, Melanie Tem received the Bram Stoker, International Horror Guild, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Awards for her writing, which included almost a hundred short stories, twelve solo novels, as well as scripts, poems, and storytelling performances. At the time of her death in 2015, she left behind numerous plays, several of which have been produced, but none have appeared in print. These plays arguably contain some of the finest writing of her final ten years. Those who love her fiction will find familiar subjects here: the anxieties and fears which beset families, or anyone involved in an intimate relationship. FRY DAY collects the best of her plays, along with a selection of her poetry. It’s available in both eBook and paperback formats.

To order from Amazon

YOURS TO TELL:

Dialogues on the Art & Practice of Writing

The writing guide I wrote with my late wife Melanie, Yours to Tell, recently went out of print. I’m pleased to announce this new digital and paperback edition from Crossroads Press. In this book we discuss plot, point of view, setting, characterization, and more, all in an informal tone that invites you to become part of our conversation. Learn how to find your stories because they are Yours to Tell.

“As I sat in the Odyssey Writing Workshop classroom where Melanie and Steve Tem were serving as writers-in-residence, I thought how fortunate the students were to participate in that magical experience. Through their unique ‘dialogues on writing,’ Melanie and Steve explored topics in a way that was both liberating and illuminating. Writers could disagree on how to write! And they could prompt each other to dig deeper into their thoughts and processes, eliciting unique insights. Students were delighted and fascinated. Now this book allows more writers to benefit from their invaluable explorations.”
—Jeanne Cavelos, bestselling author and director of the Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SXQF7Y5

Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1133666

Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=1ypgEAAAQBAJ

Kobo:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/yours-to-tell

 

ABSENCE

Melanie’s posthumous YA science fiction novel is now available in paperback and ebook formats.

Nothing is simple in fifteen-year-old Casey’s life. She has two families and two houses and two rooms of her own. Sometimes this makes her feel lucky, but other times she feels practically homeless. She also has a brother with Asperger’s. He’s interesting to have around, and she loves him very much, but he’s also complicated.

And speaking of complicated, Casey discovers she’s a time traveler.

She’ll be doing her Algebra homework, or on her way to work at the restaurant, when suddenly she’s in some other time and place, in some other body, and she’s supposed to do something. Help somebody. Fix some problem. But how?

Order from Amazon here.

 

 

FIGURES UNSEEN

“An incredible collection.” – Toronto Star

Winner of the World Fantasy, British Fantasy and Bram Stoker Awards, Steve Rasnic Tem has earned a reputation as one of the finest and most original short fiction writers of our time, blending elements of horror, dark fantasy, science fiction and surreal nightmare into a genre uniquely his own. This new volume collects for the first time thirty-five of Tem’s best tales, selected by the author, and includes an introduction by Simon Strantzas.  “His writing deftly weaves together fantasy, horror, science fiction, and surrealistic weirdness into tales that are both frightening and beautiful … Consider this collection a must-read for aficionados of the surreal.” Maria Haskins, Barnes & Noble Blog.

“It’s a masterful collection. Story after story grabs you from the first sentence or image, shoehorns you effortlessly into familiar places you’ve never been, allows you into another life as it’s coming apart or, perhaps, just coming to rest. These are sensuous tales, with gorgeously worked language and cadences. They breathe. Their hearts beat soundly beneath your own…The stories of Figures Unseen shimmer with beauty, with felt reality, and with the mysteries forever at the heart of all our lives.” – James Sallis, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

Publisher’s Page

THE HARVEST CHILD AND OTHER FANTASIES

 

THE HARVEST CHILD And Other Fantasies is a massive collection of the wide range of Steve Rasnic Tem’s fantasy tales. These 39 stories include sword & sorcery sagas, chronicles of fairies, elves, witches, wizards, magical creatures, Robin Hood, funny fantasy, and a smattering of science fantasy, as well as some uncollected dark fantasy tales which emphasize the fantasy over the horror. None have appeared in his previous collections.  Just a sampling of sources: After Hours, Paradox, Asimov’s, Dragon Magazine, Elsewhere, Infinite Loop, New Frontiers, Jabberwocky, Chrysalis, Grue, Mythellany, Fantasy Book, Extro, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Order the paperback from Amazon.

Order the ebook from Amazon.

Order from Smashwords.

Order from Barnes and Noble.

 

 EVERYTHING IS FINE NOW

In this all ages collection award-winning horror author Steve Rasnic Tem showcases a variety of ghosts and other creatures aiming to keep you up all night with the lights on. Read about the two best friends chased by a strangely familiar figure. Or the teenager who wakes up with fur sprouting from every nook and cranny on his body. Or the fellow with a crazy mom whose magical powers only make things worse. Or the mechanic who keeps his cars running on oil, gasoline, and blood. These stories range from subtle supernatural tales to the legends heard sitting by a campfire.

“Some sheer literary classics in this book.” – Des Lewis Reviews

Order from Amazon.

For more new book information go to the Books page.