Fearful Symmetries

Thomas F. Monteleone displays his mastery of the horror genre in the selected short fiction of Fearful Symmetries, collected works spanning more than twenty years of his career. Revel in the deftly deployed classic horror tropes of these twenty-six stories, from their Lovecraftian monsters and archetypal vampires to Bradbury-esque mysteries and Twilight Zone-type tales. In "The Night Is Freezing Fast," a mysterious hitchhiker emerges from a whiteout winter storm, following a boy and his grandfather into an ever-more dangerous evening. "Love Letters"-written as a series of letters from a backwoods Pennsylvanian farmer, a private investigator, and an adult pen pal service-subtly instills psychological suspense into the epistolary form. From celebrity-hunting vampires in "Triptych di Amore" to Lovecraftian behemoths in "Yog Sothoth, Superstar," there's a skillfully told trope for every horror reader.