Queneau's Alphabet in Bloomington, MN

Arnie's mother oversees Queneau's Library at the end of their street, quite a grand structure if you omit those rotting, flooded lower levels. Still, it's an interesting place to hang out with his three best friends. This boy's dark adventure introduces us to Queneau's neighborhood, where the pre-WWII bungalows are lettered rather than numbered, originally meant to help young children learn their alphabet. But these quaint-looking facades hide a history of sinister events. There's a story for each house, each letter of the alphabet, 26 tales in all plus a coda. Over the course of
Queneau's Alphabet
a variety of horror themes, characters, and motifs are explored: folk horror, killer clowns, drunken Santas, Halloween terrors, ghosts, possessions, nightmares, nameless creatures, dark crimes, and one ancient, infamous vampire. Six stories are original to this volume. The reprinted pieces are from a range of sources, including
The Dark
,
Nightmare Abbey
Black Static
Supernatural Tales
Weird Horror
, and such anthologies as
Wilted Pages
October Screams
Shakespeare Unleashed
, and
Best Horror Of the Year
. Praise for Steve Rasnic Tem: "His work...will haunt your imagination and your heart in equal measure, and it both expands and defines the genre." -
Weird Fiction Review
"Tem's work in mixing genres has been textbook 'weird fiction' since before the term gained popularity." - Simon Strantzas "One of the undisputed masters of the modern genre. " -