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In the Closet, Under the Bed

by Lee Thomas (Goodreads Author)

4.29 of 5 stars 4.29 · rating details · 14 ratings · 4 reviews

A breathtaking collection of literary dark fiction that will force you to face the terror lurking in the closet, under the bed...

In this collection of fifteen tales, award-winning author Lee Thomas casts light on the shadows in our closets and explores the fear of boogeymen and beasts we sense lying in wait under our beds. Featuring eight original tales and seven acclaimed...more

Paperback, 267 pages

Published December 31st 2009 by Dark Scribe Press (first published 2009)

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Apr 20, 2012 Michele Lee added it

Shelves: 2010, horror-suspense, anthology-collection, reviewed, favorites, signed-arc

Review for The Letter

While Lee Thomas is no newcomer to GLBT-themed horror it's possible you've not heard of him before. If so, this quiet-looking book is your chance to experience a dazzling, sometimes blistering, example of queer horror.

In the Closet, Under the Bed is a collection of fifteen horror tales that range in scope from the horrors of being gay, to the the unique, strange and sometimes erotic horror drawn to an unconventional life. You'll never think of bears the same way again afte...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 13, 2010 Paul Jr. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: stoker-award-nominee, horror, glbt

Having grown up on a steady diet of Hitchcock (films and TV show), the Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Night Gallery, I've always had a penchant for horror and suspense, both in film and in literature. And it is perhaps because of growing up with these influences that horror seldom actually scares me. It is rare for me to read a book or see a movie and get chills down my neck or to worry what might be lurking on the other side of the door in my dark apartment as I read. I just know it all too we...more Having grown up on a steady diet of Hitchcock (films and TV show), the Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Night Gallery, I've always had a penchant for horror and suspense, both in film and in literature. And it is perhaps because of growing up with these influences that horror seldom actually scares me. It is rare for me to read a book or see a movie and get chills down my neck or to worry what might be lurking on the other side of the door in my dark apartment as I read. I just know it all too well. I'm jaded that way. And I have to say, that Lee Thomas' extraordinary collection of short stories is no exception. None of the stories actually scared me....they did something better....they disturbed me.

One of the things that I love about the horror genre is that it -- like sci-fi -- when done well is one of the most interesting and entertaining ways of examining the human condition. Thomas, who has quickly and deservedly become the writer to watch in the dark fiction genre, shows himself to be a master of this with In the Closet, Under the Bed. Each one of these stories is incredibly crafted, with tight, clean prose that evokes mood--sometime brooding, other times ominous and even comedic at times--and creates wonderfully well-rounded characters. These are characters that each of us have met at one time or another in our lives...and perhaps more intriguing is that at times these are characters we ourselves may have been.

And that is what disturbed me so much about Lee Thomas' stories...I'm in them. Not in every story, but in a fair number, I find myself there. Little aspects of who I am creep in that feel familiar, whether it is the man who hides behind his computer...or his career...or his wife and kids. Finding pieces of myself in these stories made me squirm inside as I read, and at times made me angry or uncomfortable to the point of saying "I don't want to read anymore!" But, of course, I read anyway. Because I had to know how it turned out for them and, in a small way, for me.

Now part of this connection to the characters may be that Thomas is certainly writing characters with a gay perspective. But as I read on, I found a universality to the stories. A point where I sat back and realized that a lot of my straight friends would love this book as well. Because I recognized little pieces of them in there as well. And that was creepy, too.

Now, not every story worked perfectly for me. The more experimental pieces left me feeling a bit empty, but that really is more a comment about my particular preference than Thomas' authorial skill. But even in the very few pieces I didn't love, I still walked away thinking, wrapping my head around the subtle themes that run through each story.

That is also what Thomas does so well with this collection. He entertains the hell out of you, but underneath it, he lays in a subtle commentary on the human condition, and in particular, the gay human condition. There are stories about being in the closet, about the 21st century's love for disposability in products and relationships, about growing older. But the beautiful thing is that it is done so subtly, not only do you not notice it until the story is over...what Thomas is weaving in there is wonderfully malleable, open for interpretation. After I read all the stories, I ran through the Foreword and the Afterword and the nuances of theme that David Thomas Lord and Michael Rowe discuss therein--as often as not--were very different than my own interpretation. And that...that is what makes wonderful fiction and impressive dark fiction. Each of us gets to see what they want to see.

In the end, this comes together as one of the most impressive collections of dark fiction I've read in recent years. I understand the reputation that Thomas has earned. Boy has he earned it. It's all right here in these 15 stories. Because what Thomas does so well is to remind us that late at night when we're alone, the most disturbing thing that we can find lurking in the closet or under the bed might just be ourselves. (less)

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Apr 02, 2010 Rhonda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

Lee Thomas' latest horror anthology, In the Closet, Under the Bed, contains fifteen short stories. Six had been printed before, but were new to me. As David Thomas Lord mentions in the foreward of this collection, the title plays a bit on two things... one, the "monster in the closet", or "boogeyman" as many people call it and two, the fact that many people keep certain aspects of themselves hidden in the closet. The most obvious example of this is dealing with one's sexuality, as some people ar...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Pia Veleno rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: zz-collection, genre-horror-thriller-mystery, queer-mm, source-paperback-or-hardcover

Wonderful! If you're a fan of horror, I highly recommend this collection of short but powerful stories.

1 like · like · see review

May 12, 2013 Cole Riann marked it as maybe

Shelves: m-m-anthology-collections, m-m-horror, m-m-short, gay-fiction, 2009-lambda-finalists, fantasy-spec

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Shelves: ghastly-business-it-is, tiny-tales

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Mar 22, 2013 Chris Cangiano rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: gay-themed, horror

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Feb 17, 2013 Chad Helder rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Shelves: horrorshow, m-m

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Dec 04, 2012 Sharyonda rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Shelves: queer

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Shelves: dark-fiction-2-read, short-stories-novellas

Nov 18, 2012 Amit rated it 3 of 5 stars

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About Lee Thomas

LEE THOMAS is the Bram Stoker Award and the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Stained, Parish Damned, The Dust of Wonderland, and In the Closet, Under the Bed. Recent and forthcoming titles include The German, The Black Sun Set, and Focus (co-written with Nate Southard).

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