In the worlds of Steve Rasnic Tem a father takes his son “fishing” in the deepest part of downtown, flayed rabbits visit a suburban back yard, a man is haunted by a surrealistic nightmare of crutches, a father is unable to rescue his son from a nightmare of trees, a bereaved man transforms memories of his wife into performance art, great moving cliffs of detritus randomly prowl the world, a seemingly pointless life finds final expression in bits of folded paper, a nuclear holocaust brings about a new mythology, an isolated man discovers he’s part of a terrifying community, a photographer discovers the unexpected in the faces of dead children, and a couple’s aging dismantles reality.

Winner of the World Fantasy, British Fantasy and Bram Stoker Awards, 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.

“One of the finest and most productive writers of imaginative literature in North America.” - Dan Simmons

“Steve Rasnic Tem is a school of writing unto himself.” - Joe R. Lansdale

“He’s one of the true masters.” - Ed Gorman

Reader Reviews

Ben

(5/5)

May 18, 2024

Steve Rasnic Tem’s “City Fishing” has long been one of my favorite weird tales, but I hadn’t read much of his work beyond it until now. Figures Unseen, which collects stories he wrote throughout the last 40 years, proved a wonderful remedy.Among my favorite stories:City FishingA House by the OceanCrutchesEscape on a TrainIn the TreesTwemberHungry

Rich Rosell

(4/5)

Man, there is a whole lot of big-time creepy stuff in this book crammed with some of Steve Rasnic Tem's short stories. Sometimes weird, sometimes wonderful, sometimes fucking dark. Dark. Dark. Dark.Recommended. Very recommended.

Char

FIGURES UNSEEN: SELECTED STORIES by Steve Rasnic Tem is an exceptional example of short fiction. I've been reading Mr. Tem's work for years, but never have I seen so many of his short stories collected into one volume- and what an outstanding collection it is!There are far too many tales to go into each one individually, but my favorites were:JESSE: A very disturbing story that tricked this reader-I picked the wrong bad guy. CITY FISHING: Other than the word "unsettling," I have no idea how to d...

Jayaprakash Satyamurthy

37 stories that will stun, beguile, haunt and, if you read them at all with any real attention, make you in some way a little larger of heart, a little broader of thought. I can't recommend this collection by Steve Rasnic Tem highly enough. I have been dipping into it most of this year and have finally read the final story, my reluctance to finish this wonderful book tempered by the knowledge of a large back (and front) catalogue to explore. Tem not only takes cues from the likes of Campbell, Et...

Terry

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I’m just two years late on my part. I listened to this book in 2018. Parts were chillingly effective. Parts were unsettling. Parts left me cold. But really it’s the sadness that stayed with me. I re-listened to it in 2020 and, having experienced it twice, will attempt to hold up my part of the bargain. Steve Rasnic Tem’s collection of stories can most easily categorized as weird fiction. It’s a catch-all adjacent to horro...

I'm purposely not giving this a star rating because I don't think it would be fair to the writer considering how much I disliked some of this book, but not because it boring or not written well, I think I'm just the wrong audience for most of what he writes.Steve Rasnic Tem seems to have a very strong, unique, very blackly comic, folksy view of the world that I imagine in real life is very understated, and I think someone would have to know him very well to understand him, like a wife, or a long...

Samantha

I can't believe how long it took me to learn about Steve Rasnic Tem. I am utterly blown away by his works collected in this book. The Night Worms team strikes again with an incredible book pick for their clientele in their May "Classic Horror in collaboration with Paul Tremblay" package. A shout-out to Paul Tremblay too for the assist with bringing this to light for them! I felt that something was brushing my skin after the first story and by the end it had completely dug in, laid eggs, and infe...

Benjamin DeHaan

A mega awesome collection of dark tales by a master storyteller. My favorites were:Escape on a TrainWhen We Moved OnPreparations for the GameGrandfather Wolf

Liz Sanchez

4.5 Stars

Amber Mayle

This was a very strong but very dense collection of stories. These stories leaned towards darkness with a rare touch of whimsy. I would have given 5 stars but I did find myself getting bored at times while being enthralled by other selections. The language is beautiful in all of the stories, however and I added many highlights throughout.

Des Lewis

Based on growing evidence, I think Tem deserves a legacy of acclaim equally from the literary world (i.e. by those who recognise such a term), and, as he already has, from the genre world.Genre has always been literary, mind you. And often vice versa.The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.Above is its conclusion.

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Figures Unseen: Selected Stories

Figures Unseen: Selected Stories

Figures Unseen: Selected Stories

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