Unfortunately, didn't love this one. I've really enjoyed Tem in the past when I've encountered his stories in collections, but these were all pretty much a miss for me. I liked a couple, though. Think this is just a matter of taste.

I enjoyed this as it was a lot of short stories, very easy to read and get into and a lot of suspense. This is really good if you are on a break at work and enjoy reading as they're very quick to get through. My favourite was half light. I enjoyed the story of Elaine and the half light she sees outside of her window. However we are unsure if she is mentally unwell.

THE NIGHT DOCTOR AND OTHER TALES - By Steve Rasnic Tem – Rerelease

I may dive back into this Collection at a later date, but for right now I’m putting it aside at 31%.

From what I have read thus far, the following are my favorites:

‘Blattidae Wine’ – Creepy And Oh So Disturbingly Good

‘Breathing’

‘Red Rabbit’

‘Paula Breaks’

‘Lost in the Garden of Earthly Delights’

Thank you, NetGalley and A Macabre Ink Production (Crossroad Press), for providing me with an eBook of THE NIGHT DOCTOR AND OTHER TALES at the request of an honest review.

Unfortunately, I have been locked out of my netgalley account for a few months and was not able to see which books I had on my list, in order to properly read and review. I do apologize and am doing a 3 for neutral. Will update once I’m able to obtain a copy and read!

This book is great fun. There's a really good mix in here. These short stories are perfect for reading on a coffee break or waiting for the bus but definitely do not read in the dark if you ever hope to get to sleep. Some are better than others but all are worth reading. I enjoyed this collection.

4 Stars!

Steven Rasnic Tem has been around for a long time and all his stories are not only frightening but they also make the reader think. Tem as a unique style that makes the reader ponder the meaning of his stories even while that same reader is entertained and not thinking about the cerebral part of his stories. They are thoughtful yet easy to sink into. When I got a copy of his new short story collection, The Night Doctor and Other Tales, I knew I had to read this book and bumped it toward the top of my digital TBR pile.



Most anthologies feature stories of varying quality, and The Night Doctor and Other Tales is no different. Some of the stories are superb while others left me scratching my head. While the anthology does not have a central theme, there is a sense of loss that travels through many of the stories and seems to tie them together in some bizarre way. They are all written very well which is not surprising as Tem is a strong writer. He also leaves the meaning of the stories up to the reader and many of them feel almost a bit poetic as they are packed with meaning but somewhat vague so the reader can fill in the blanks. This type of storytelling may not be the best fit for all readers but fans of Tem’s works will find it satisfying.



The anthology kicks off with “Breathing” which is one of the stronger stories in the book as well as one that deals with the loss that seems to dwell within these pages. When a man who has recently lost his wife starts to hear someone else breathing, he becomes obsessed with his own breathing and the idea that he is hearing his wife. This is a strange story but one that seems to have a powerful message which worked well for me. The second story, “Apartment B,” did not work as well for me but the third story may be the best in the book. “Red Rabbit” is the story of a couple who keep seeing dead rabbits on their porch every day. The couple’s relationship is on the rocks and there is something very wrong with wife. This is a very creepy story that plays on the reader’s mind and emotions on multiple levels. This is a story that is sure to stick with the reader for a long time.



“Between the Pilings” is another story that works very well. When a man returns to a beach town he stayed at as a child with his parents, he finds that many things have changed. He also discovers that just as many things have not. Like the sand that keeps creeping into everything, the memories of that summer peek out from the blurry pool of his memory. This is a creepy story in a Lovecraftian fashion. “Mister Ainsley” is another story that comes to mind as being among the best in the anthology. When a man is visited by a volunteer organization going door-to-door, he soon finds that there is much more going on. The visitors are not what they seem, nor are they innocent. This is another very creepy story in a book full of them, but one that stands above the crowd.



The Night Doctor and Other Tales is a strong anthology overall. Some stories did not work well for me while others thrilled and terrified. This is to be expected from almost any anthology or collection of short stories. All of the stories, however, are very well written and entertaining to some extent. Tem may not be the biggest name in dark fiction but he has been around for a long time and fans of the genre know his work to some extent. If you are looking for stories that walk on the weird side and read like literature, then this is the book for you.



I would like to thank Crossroads Press and NetGalley for this review copy. The Night Doctor and Other Tales is available now.

Another great collection from Steve Rasnic Tem. Many great stories, and had to pick the best (maybe the title story). Steve Rasnic Tem never disappoints. #TheNightDoctorOtherTales #NetGalley

It was some work just to read the first story and the longer it went on the worse it was. I just didn't feel the suspense or discomfort I was hoping for. The book was just too similar to other stories I have read that were better

Overall: 3.5, rounded up to 4 out of 5. I'm also giving individual ratings to each story.

Breathing - 3/5
A man has recently lost his wife. Every night, he hears breathing. He’s haunted by the idea, the memory of her, and he doesn’t know how to deal with it. The ending is kind of weird, but I can somehow grasp the concept. Decent, I guess.

Apartment B - 3/5
Three years after the death of his wife, a man enters early retirement and moves into a second-floor apartment unit called Apartment B. He is visited by a strange woman who seems to be able to enter his unit even without a key. This is one weird story… like, really weird. I actually don’t get it that much. I have a vague idea of what occurred, but that’s about it.

The Red Rabbit - 3.5/5
Matt and Clara have been seeing dead rabbits on their porch almost every day. It’s obvious there’s something wrong with their relationship, and it’s also obvious that there’s something wrong with her. Ending confused the heck out of me, but it IS pretty creepy, I gotta say.

The Hanged Man - 3.5/5
I’m not even going to attempt to make a summary for this because it’s so, so weird. However, I do like the descriptions of the man, and I managed to piece together an image of him in my mind as I read. Still, the ending left me with plenty of questions.

The Fishing Hut 2/5
A man goes fishing for relaxation but finds something else entirely. It started out kinda slow and only began picking up in speed after the second half.

A Sudden Event 4/5
Ann sees a chair in the corner, Roger doesn’t. FINALLY. First story I liked.

Paula Breaks 3/5
Kinda weird. I liked how it was going at first, but it’s way too vague.

Lost in the Garden of Earthly Delights 4.5/5
I like this one. Doesn’t feel scary at all, more wholesome. Unless I didn’t understand it again.

Blattidae Wine 3/5
Blattidae is the scientific name for the family of cockroaches. This story is fairly direct to the point in terms of scares, but it’s still confusing as hell. I think that’s one trend that this anthology has. Most of it is confusing. I’m a third into the book and I feel fairly confident saying that.

Half-Light 4/5
Elaine is an old woman confined to a facility of sorts, with nurses taking care of her. Every now and then, she sees a half-light outside her window, which she’s compelled to follow. We’re not sure exactly if Elaine is in a mental health ward, or in a facility for old people. At first, I thought it was the former, though later on it became weirder and weirder and I couldn’t be quite sure anymore. But the writing is beautiful so I actually enjoyed it.

Mister Ainsley 4/5
Mister Ainsley is visited by a campaign volunteering doing house-to-house visits. This is a rather fascinating story, and I’m not disappointed by the ending. It’s more direct to the point than the others but still does a good job at being subtle enough to maintain its creep factor.

The Long Fade Into Evening 3/5
Another strange story. At this point, I’m not even going to bother trying to describe the stories. I’m just going to rate them unless they’re particularly outstanding, I suppose.

Domestic Magic 2/5

The Secret Laws of the Universe 2/5
The Man in the Rose Bushes 2/5

The Night Doctor 2/5
I expected a lot from this story considering it’s the title of the book, but I was a bit let down.

The Enemy Within 3.5/5
I read this one twice. The ending was vague, as is most of them, but the build-up was interesting enough that I re-read it to try to understand it better.

Stick Men 3.5/5
Written beautifully. The ending was still too subtle for my liking but… I liked this one.

Too Many Ghosts 2/5

When You’re Not Looking 4.5/5
This is a good one. The ending was still pretty vague, but I loved it from start to finish.

Between the Pilings 4/5
Whitcomb visits an old motel that he went to with his parents when he was much younger. I liked the ending. I wish it was less vague, but I had enough details.

The Erased 3.5/5

The Wake 3/5

The Weight Lost 3/5

The Monster Maker 2/5

Overall thoughts:
One thing I’m noticing is that the author has a way with words — I’m awed by some of the sentences and paragraphs in these short stories — but the plots don’t make a lot of sense. Or if they do, they’re told in such a confusing way that I can’t make sense of it. I'm also not a fan of the open endings/interpretations... they took away from the creep factor because I wasn't sure entirely where the story was actually going.

3.5 stars rounded up. I've encountered Steve Rasnic Tem's name on award lists (Bram Stoker, World Fantasy) before but this is the first of his work that I've read. Overall, it was a good first experience. I might compare most of the stories to bad dreams: as you read them you're immersed in a creepy, unsettling tone, often with some fuzzy logic and dreamlike imagery, but once you finish not much sticks with you aside from an unsettled feeling. Without any real standout memorable stories I can't rate the collection <i>that</i> highly but it's well worth dipping into for a spooky fifteen minutes at a time. I will certainly pursue more of Tem's work.

The Night Doctor & Other Tales

[Blurb goes here]

I know I've said this often. Anthologies are 70% 'meh' stories, 20% 'not-so-bad' stories and 10% great stories. This one, unfortunately, is no different. I'm not doing the in depth, tale by tale review I should. Instead I will give my opinion on a couple of things that, to me, are important. Steve Rasnic's writing style is beautiful. That alone makes the trip worthwhile. The stories themselves, not so much. Why? Because, as it turns out, most share common themes. They feel repetitive. Also, and this rings true for a lot of anthologies, you'll have to imagine the ending, since most of the stories don't have one. I'm not a fan of the 'leave it to the readers imagination', it feels a bit lazy to me...either that or I'm the lazy one, not wanting to imagine the ending to a story I didn't write. It's all in the eyes of the beholder...

Still, I will have a go at this book again, in the near future. That's how much I enjoyed the tales' eerie atmosphere, and Rasnic's prose.

Thank you for the free copy!

Different creepy tales. Keeps you on edge of your seat. I received a complementary copy and left a voluntary review.

The Night Doctor and Other Tales was difficult to read; almost like listening to a stand-up comic and waiting for the punchline that never comes. The tales do deliver some horror, true, but some just drift off to a sad ending, or not much of an ending. This was my first reading of Tem, so I don’t want to be too harsh; this may just be his style.

Tem's THE NIGHT DOCTOR & OTHER TALES is a solid collection of speculative fiction / horror short stories. I enjoyed the stories, although they felt uneven - some are definitely stronger than others. Still, the prose and voice are clear and strong, and overall, the collection was enjoyable to read.

The Night Doctor And Other Tales is a collection of short dark fiction stories, two of which are appearing here for the first time. Many of the stories are quite short but still haunting and unsettling reads written with beautiful prose.

Tem's writing is very atmospheric and although not usually outright scary, it is quite eerie and leaves you both wanting more and wanting to get away from it- and I do mean that as a compliment. This is the kind of horror book that sticks with you and makes you think of it when you see a shadowy place by your fence or dark mud in a canal. Tem also has a very good way of writing characters that you feel you know well, despite only just now meeting them for a short moment.

As much as I enjoyed most of these stories, some of them did not seem to give a full sense of closure as much as I wished for. I wanted to see these characters through to the end, to know what had become of them. Over all though, I enjoyed this book and particularly Tem's writing quite a bit.

An interesting and creepy collection of short stories, many of whose protagonists walk the line between reality and unreality. As in any volume like this, there are stories that shine (Breathing, The Red Rabbit, Mister Ainsley, Between the Pilings) and others that don’t quite work, some of which don’t even have any definable ending. The writing, as always with Mr. Tem’s work, is outstanding. Overall, a weird (in a good way) assortment of stories.

My thanks to Crossroad Press and to Netgalley for a reader’s copy of this book.