Decoded Mirrors

The sources of horror in Steve Rasnic Tem's fiction are not monsters, but moments of revelation and self-discovery, when characters find their deepest doubts and fears reflected in the world around them. In Decoded Mirrors: Three Tales after Lovecraft, Tem, author of Excavations (1987), Absences: Charlie Goode's Ghosts (1991), and Ombres Sur La Route, explores three different family relationships in which the power of emotional need transforms both the perceiver and the perceived. Through its powerful evocation of personal alienation, this triptych of "tales after Lovecraft" reminds us that Lovecraft, in teaching us new ways to view our world, also taught us new ways in which to view ourselves.