Five years ago I covered 16 great horror stories by Steve Rasnic Tem here at Horror Delve ( https://horrordelve.com/2020/04/27/sixteen-eerie-tales-by-steve-rasnic-tem/ ). Since then I’ve read several more, so today I want to look at another 11 of his tales. What follows includes all of his stories I’ve read since the last post which is a treat because every one of Steve’s stories are excellent!
THE STORIES (Listed by order of publication)
“Thanatrauma” (2018) – A recent widower struggles to deal with the difficult passing of his wife following her long illness. The horror here involves the trauma involved in coping with everything her prolonged illness and subsequent passing entailed and how he’s able to function in life afterwards. This is a visceral tale of sadness and loss.
“Field of Shoes” (2018) – The narrator comes across a field filled with hundreds of abandoned shoes of all types and varieties. He speculates on who they belonged to and how they ended up there in this flash fiction piece.
“Saudade” (2018) – A widower reluctantly takes a Senior Singles cruise which his daughters purchased for him. He feels awkward and ill-at-ease there but decides he must push on to make them happy. He ends up meeting a woman aboard but something seems unnatural about her which he can’t quite place. This is a superb story by Tem, full of atmosphere and how one attempts to cope with loss.
“By the Sea” (2018) – A woman who grew up being taken to a small beach everyday by her older siblings develops a lifelong distrust of the sea, particularly after having lost a brother to it. Years later, she finally returns to that small beach from her childhood to confront her fears.
“A Stay at the Shores” (2019) – After presenting at a seminar on transcendentalism, a lonely college lecturer is convinced to take a ride to a ship. Despite his years, he’s never traveled in such a fashion before, but he agrees anyway. The vehicle only contains a handful of people and no crew-members can be found. It goes on much longer than it should until eventually docking at an area where no sea is visible, only a deep depression in the ground where it once was. In years past, the place had been the site of a religious cult which worshipped an entity that slept beneath the sea.
“Sundown in Duffield” (2023) – After discovering his recently deceased sister still owned their childhood home, an elderly man convinces his grandson to take him to it. Struggling with insidious memory loss, the man still remembers his parents rushing him and his sister out of the house in the middle of the night years before but can’t recall why. They find the place an abandoned ruin being overtaken by nature but choosing to explore it anyway stirs up memories of why they had to leave so abruptly. This is an excellent haunted house story!
“The Return” (2024) – This eerie tale is about an aging man, in poor health, who returns to the small town where he grew up for the first time in more than forty years. He’s shocked by the desolated condition he finds it in. As he ventures forth about the area, he struggles with memories of his past there. (Appears in Nightmare Abbey issue 5)
“The Stroll” (2024) – An elderly man, living with his daughter’s family, goes out for a walk through the neighborhood and is surprised by how much it has changed as his memories begins to betray him. Is there more to the mysterious things he sees and encounters on this stroll than meets the eye? (Appears in Nightmare Abbey issue 6)
“Jolly” (2024) -An alcoholic, down-on-his-luck, store Santa struggles to keep it all together.Later, he is visited inside his own house by a less than-jolly specter during the Christmas season. (This story appears in issue #7 of Nightmare Abbey Magazine)
“Before and After” (2024) – A man mourning for his lost wife struggles with how his life has changed, resulting in him making a fateful plan. You can listen here for free: https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/before-and-after/
“I Forgot What I Was Going To Say” (2025) – The narrator of this tale laments the creeping haze which has begun seeping through cities and individuals stealing their memories and their vitality. The horror here is found in his recognition of what he has lost so far and what he fears he could still yet lose. (Found in Nightmare Abbey Issue #8)
Article by Matt Cowan
Horror Delve 