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Works Novels
New York: Dell, 1991 Once she had a brother. Once she had a family. Now she has emptiness and an inner voice screaming...leading her far, far away. Bram Stoker Award Winner for First Novel "Spectacular, far better than anything by new writers in the hardcover field." -- Stephen King "Prodigal is a descent through the corridors of a very human hell never dreamt of by Dante." -- Dan Simmons "Melanie Tem has written a compelling and eerie tale that is all the more insidious for its subtle blend of innocence and horror." -- Lisa Cantrell "An unusual, unsettling novel." -- Lisa Tuttle New edition now available in electronic form at Fictionwise.com!
London: The Women's Press, 1992 "Things happen when Greg is around...all kinds of things get broken, yet you can't really say he's destructive because you never see him break anything. Other kids are getting hurt or getting into trouble all the time, yet you can't put your finger on just what it is he does...It's as if he spends all his energy being furious with the world; anger is the only consistent thing he's ever had and he'll hold on to it with a vengeance." When Breanne Novak adopts eleven-year-old Greg, she knows she has troubles ahead. But Greg has an uncanny ability to make things happen and Breanne soon realizes she had been totally unprepared for the full impact of the struggle about to rock her life.
New York: Dell, 1992 On a moonlit night in Denver a young girl runs--half transformed, half starving, half innocent. Behind her stretches a legacy of strong women, each possessed by the girl and the terror of the changing. Four sisters lived in four houses. Now their female descendants, steeped in blood and sacrifice and rage, cling to their essence and their ancient rituals while Deborah, runaway, uninitiated, threatens their survival. The family of hunters hunts her down--racing on all fours through the streets of the city and the canyons, gripped by their own quarrels and regrets and their desperate, essential love for one another. They are driven by the need to run, to hunt, driven by the insistent itching of the hair that lies hidden between the flesh and the skin.
New York: Dell, 1994 London: Headline, 1994 What happens when you lose the one you love? To death, to mental illness, to physical disability? You grieve, but, if you can let them go, you find your own life again. If you hold on too long, they haunt you... Hannalore hasn't lost touch with her two children. They still come home for birthdays, even though they've been dead for over a decade. Elinor has a new husband now, for Alzheimer's disease has destroyed the man she married and left a sad, old shell behind. And Bill longs for the return of the son who was a mirror image of himself and will not acknowledge the quadriplegic stranger that came back from the hospital. They, and all the others who refuse to give their loved ones up, owe a debt to Mother Grief--and she calls to them from Revenant. Her call cannot be ignored; it is sent to the mourners through those they have lost. "A heartfelt, cathartic tale...the most genuinely haunting I have read for a long time." -- Time Out New edition now available in electronic form at Fictionwise.com!
New York: Dell, 1995 London: Headline, 1995 My mother did not like men. Most women I knew didn't. Her attitude toward us was more contempt than hatred, more disappointment and disgust than dislike. Joel Desmodus is a male vampire living in a community dominated by female vampires. Unlike the humans who live in the surrounding towns Joel's species is totally matriarchal--from the powerfully mysterious and frightening Old Women to Joel's own fourteen-year-old niece who, despite her youth, is seen to be better equipped to make decisions than he is. Because of the excessive demands placed upon them all, the women need the winter season to hibernate, leaving the men to indulge in orgies and any other hedonistic activities denied them during the rest of the year. And this particular winter Joel is given the unnatural task of managing his younger sister's weird family while she is asleep. When he inadvertently stumbles on a horrific secret which has remained hidden for generations--a secret which, if revealed, would threaten the very structure of the vampire society--Joel is forced to kidnap his niece's newborn baby boy, and in doing so face his own complicity in the fearsome legacy of his people. "Desmodus provides a perversely unique spin on the traditional vampire novel." -- Nancy Collins New edition now available in electronic form at Fictionwise.com!
Increasingly haunted by questions about this woman, Rebecca must also cope with a sequence of strange, sinister and fatal incidents, for which her father claims Faye is responsible. Desperate to stop these events spiraling out of control, yet sensing that an insidious force is possessing many of the already compromised personalities in her care, Rebecca finds that she, herself, is becoming more and more uncertain of where she came from and of who she really is.
Wrenched by shock and grief into currents of reality of which she's never previously been aware, Renata struggles to come to terms with her loss. As she learns to live day to day and moment to moment with the pain, she embarks on an eerie journey through an underworld inhabited by monstrous and seductive creatures that threaten both her sanity and her physical survival. She travels not only downwards but also backwards in time. Finding herself thrown into the lives of other mothers at the moment of their bereavement, Renata takes her first step towards healing--recognizing the fact that she is simply part of an infinite process... A hardcover bestseller in South Africa. Painfully raw, yet ultimately hopeful, this novel about the horror of loss and the amazing resilience of the human spirit confirms Melanie Tem as a "major talent at work." Locus One of the most resonant, moving novels of recent years, this is a near-masterpiece. Darlington Northern Echo The power of her...writing is...extraordinary. You can't stand back from this torrent of emotion; you're swept along with it into the darkness. It's fascinating, overwhelming, compelling...Melanie Tem is one hell of a writer. SFX
All contents © Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tem, All Rights Reserved.
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PRODIGAL
BLOOD
MOON
WILDING
REVENANT
DESMODUS
Rebecca Emig, the twenty-eight-year old administrator of The Tides
nursing home, is way out of her depth, both professionally and
personally. Rapidly deteriorating with Alzheimer's disease, her father,
resident of the Tides, begins to call her by another name--'Faye'--a
name which she does not recognize, but which provokes a violent reaction
in her mother. As Rebecca delves into her father's past she learns that
he was once married to a disturbed and dangerous woman who he now
believes, even in his lucid moments, has returned.
For Renata Burgess--wife, mother, social worker and writer--Friday, March 18,
1988 is just the start of a busy weekend. Her daughter's going to a birthday
party sleepover. Her elder son will be over for Sunday dinner, her nine-year-old
boy clamouring to have a friend over. Just a normal Friday. Until 8:20 pm--when
one of her children is found dead.
