Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Box
Title
Manuscripts
Date(s)
- 1975 - 2005 (Creation)
Extent
1 box
Name of creator
Biographical history
Steve Rasnic Tem is an award-winning writer of horror, as well as fantasy, science fiction, crime, and other genres, and also (as his website notes) "a less-classifiable imaginative prose more than one critic has called "Temism"". Born in Jonesville, Virginia on September 14, 1950 as Steve Rasnic, Tem attended both Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and Virginia Commonwealth University, the former from which he graduated with a B.A. in English Education. Rasnic moved to Colorado in 1974, and he attained a M.A. in Creative Writing from Colorado State University. While attending a writer's workshop, Rasnic met fellow writer Melanie Kubachko; the two married in 1980 and took the joint surname "Tem". They were loving partners and collaborators for over three decades, until Melanie Tem's death in 2015. He still resides in Colorado.
Tem's writing career has spanned over four decades. His first published stories were "Hideout" and "The Painters Are Coming Today", both included in the fantasy anthology Other Worlds 1 in 1979. He has gone on to create a large and well-received, multi-faceted body of work that includes novels, chapbooks, novellas, short stories (over 450), and poetry. Some of Tem's more notable works include the 2000 novella The Man on the Ceiling (written in collaboration with Melanie Tem, inspired by the death of their son Anthony), which won the 2001 World Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and International Horror Guild Awards; the 1983 British Fantasy Award-winning story "Leaks"; the 2001 Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction winner "In These Final Days of Sales"; the 2002 multimedia collection Imagination Box (w/Melanie Tem), which won the Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Alternative Forms; the 2014 Southern Gothic novel Blood Kin, which won the Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel; and the 2000 IHG winner for Best Collection City Fishing.
Tem's short stories have been assembled into 17 collections, starting with 1991's Absences: Charlie Goode's Ghosts. He has written or co-written 8 novels (the first, Excavation, appearing in 1987), 8 chapbooks, and edited two anthologies: The Umbral Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry (1982, nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award) and High Fantastic: Colorado's Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, and Science Fiction (1995, nominated for the World Fantasy Award). He co-wrote with his wife a handbook on writing, Yours to Tell: Dialogues on the Art & Practice of Fiction, published in 2017.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
1-1/1: "The Assassination" (1976), earlier typescripts (shorter, 380 words)
1-1/2: "The Assassination" (1976), later typescripts, one with handwritten edits
1-1/3: "Frank at 26" (1978), partial typescript
1-1/4: "Frank at 26" (1978), partial typescript, and typewritten notes
1-1/5: "Frank at 26" (1978), typescript with handwritten edits, and photocopy of published story
1-1/6: "A Letter Written to Gabriel After His Death" (1978), photocopy of typescript
1-1/7: "Lie Down with the Sun" (1978), typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/8: "The Mystery of the Melungeons" (1978), photocopy of typescript
1-1/9: "Hideout" (1979), early typescript wit handwritten edits, and later typescript
1-1/10: "Hideout" (1979), partial typescripts, one with handwritten edits
1-1/11: "Hideout" (1979), 'latest draft' typescript, and shorter typescript (2200 words) with handwritten edits
1-1/12: "At The Bureau" (1980), early draft with handwritten edits, and 'final draft' with handwritten edits
1-1/13: "At The Bureau" (1980), later typescript with handwritten edits, and later typescript
1-1/14: "At The Bureau" (1980), typescript of screenplay for "Bureau of..." (by Khang Mai) with handwritten edits
1-1/15: "City Fishing" (1980), original typescript with handwritten edits, and early typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/16: "Fimmaker" (1980), earlier typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/17: "Filmmaker" (1980), later typescript
1-1/18: "Forward" (1980), typescript and photocopy of published story
1-1/19: "Again, the Hit and Run" (1981), typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/20: "Boy Blue" (1981), untitled early drafts with handwritten edits
1-1/21: "Boy Blue" (1981), partial early transcript with handwritten edits, and partial early typescript
1-1/22: "Boy Blue" (1981), photocopy of early transcript, with handwritten edits; and photocopies of early typescript
1-1/23: "Boy Blue" (1981), typescript 2nd draft
1-1/24: "Boy Blue" (1981), later typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/25: "Boy Blue" (1981), near-final draft typescript
1-1/26: "Boy Blue" (1981), 'final' draft typescript
1-1/27: "Boy Blue" (1981), photocopy of published story with handwritten edits, and photocopy of published story
1-1/28: "Early Warning" (1981), typescript with handwritten edits (under old title of 'Nightmare in Light') - 2 versions
1-1/29: "Early Warning" (1981), later typescript - 2 copies
1-1/30: "The Giveaway" (1981), earlier typescripts with handwritten edits, and later typescript
1-1/31: "In All Things Moderation" (1981), original typescript with handwritten edits, typescript with handwritten edits, and photocopy of published story
1-1/32: "Interlude in a Laboratory" (1981), earlier typescript with handwritten edits, and later typescripts - 2 copies
1-1/33: "Kiss" (1981), earlier typescript with handwritten edits, final typescript, and photocopy of published story
1-1/34: "The Messenger" (1981), first draft typescript with handwritten edits (under old title 'Western Union Man')
1-1/35: "The Messenger" (1981), later typescripts with handwritten edits, and photocopy of published story
1-1/36: "Morning Talk" (1981), photocopy of published story
1-1/37: "Night Cry" (1981), early typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/38: "Night Cry" (1981), typescript with handwritten insert
1-1/39: "The Owl With Human Eyes" (1981), early typescript versions, one with handwritten edits
1-1/40: "The Owl With Human Eyes" (1981), later typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/41: "The Owl With Human Eyes" (1981), later partial typescript, and photocopy of full typescript
1-1/42: "The Sounds of Hawkwings Dissolving" (1981), early typescripts with handwritten edits
1-1/43: "White Rose" (1981), photocopy of early typescript, and later typescript (2650 words)
1-1/44: "White Rose" (1981), partial typescript with taped additions/cuts and handwritten edits
1-1/45: "Alan's Matter" (1982), typescript with handwritten edits, and photocopy of published story
1-1/46: "Firestorm" (1982), original typescript (under old title 'Winds in Flame') with handwritten edits
1-1/47: "Firestorm" (1982), photocopy of typescript - 3 copies, all with handwritten copyedits (under old title 'With Flame in Their Limbs')
1-1/48: "Firestorm" (1982), partial typescript and notes with handwritten edits
1-1/49: "Firestorm" (1982), later typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/50: "Firestorm" (1982), later typescripts - 3, one with handwritten copyedits
1-1/51: "Firestorm" (1982), final typescript, and photocopy of published story
1-1/52: "Firestorm" (1982), photocopy of published story, with handwritten edits
1-1/53: "The Hijacker" (1982), partial typescripts, one with handwritten edits
1-1/54: "The Hijacker" (1982), later typescripts
1-1/55: "Housewarming" (1982), early typescripts with handwritten edits
1-1/56: "Labyrinthine" (1982), early typescript with handwritten edits (under old title 'Labyrinthian')
1-1/57: "Labyrinthine" (1982), later typescript with handwritten edits, final typescript, and photocopy of published story
1-1/58: "On a Path of Marigolds" (1982), early typescripts with handwritten edits (under old title of 'A Path of Yellow Marigolds')
1-1/59: "On a Path of Marigolds" (1982), later typescripts with handwritten edits, and photocopies of published story
1-1/60: "The Poor" (1982), early typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/61: "The Poor" (1982), typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/62: "The Poor" (1982), typescript, photocopy of published story, and publisher's letter (1999)
1-1/63: "Preparations for the Game" (1982), partial typescript with handwritten copyedits
1-1/64: "Preparations for the Game" (1982), typescript with afterword by Tem
1-1/65: "Preparations for the Game" (1982), typescript - 5 copies
1-1/66: "Preparations for the Game" (1982), typescript, various pages
1-1/67: "Preparations for the Game" (1982), correspondence, 1985, 1996, 1999
1-1/68: "Sleep" (1982), typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/69: "StoneHead" (1982), typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/70: 'War on the Downside" (1982), earlier typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/71: "War on the Downside" (1982), later typescript - 3 copies, photocopy of published story - 2 copies, and acceptance letter from StarLance Publications, April 4, 1992
1-1/72: "Crutches" (1983), early typescripts with handwritten edits
1-1/73: "Crutches" (1983), later typescript with handwritten edits, and later typescript
1-1/74: "Derelicts" (1983), early typescript with handwritten edits, and later typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/75: "Derelicts" (1983), later typescript
1-1/76: "The Enormous Lover" (1983), partial typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/77: "The Enormous Lover" (1983), partial typescripts with handwritten edits
1-1/78: "The Enormous Lover" (1983), typescript pages with handwritten edits
1-1/79: "The Enormous Lover" (1983), later typescript - 2 copies, and photocopies of published story - 2 copies
1-1/80: "The Farmer" (1983), early typescripts - 1 with handwritten edits (under old title of 'Farming')
1-1/81: "The Farmer" (1983), reviewed typescript from February 1982 (under old title of 'Farming')
1-1/82: "The Farmer" (1983), reviewed typescript from March 1982 with handwritten edits (under old title of 'Farming')
1-1/83: "The Farmer" (1983), selected typescript pages with handwritten edits, and photocopy of published story
1-1/84: "First Rights" (1983), earlier typescripts - 1 with handwritten edits
1-1/85: "First Rights" (1983), later typescript
1-1/86: "Long Haul" (1983), typescript
1-1/87: "A Mask in My Sack" (1983), typescript - 4 copies, one with handwritten edits
1-1/88: "Mechanic" (1983), earlier typescript with handwritten edits, later typescript, and photocopy of published story
1-1/89: "The Moths" (1983), early typescript with notes and handwritten edits, and later typescript
1-1/90: "The Orchard" (1983), earlier typescript with handwritten edits, and layout for published story (ultimately unpublished by Ace, 1981)
1-1/91: "The Orchard" (1983), early typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/92: "The Orchard" (1983), later typescripts with handwritten edits
1-1/93: "The Orchard" (1983), final typescript, and photocopies of published story
1-1/94: "Save The Children" (1983), typescript with edits (under old title of 'Think Of The Children')
1-1/95: "Save The Children" (1983), typescript with handwritten edits (under old title of 'The Children')
1-1/96: "Save The Children" (1983), photocopy of published story
1-1/97: "Shadows of the Grass" (1983), typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/98: "Shadows of the Grass" (1983), later typescript - 2 copies, and correspondence (1993, 1999, 2005)
1-1/99: "The Sky Come Down to Earth" (1983), original typescript with handwritten edits (under old title 'Snow')
1-1/100: "The Sky Come Down to Earth" (1983), later typescript - 2 versions, one with handwritten edits (1 under old title of 'Snow')
1-1/101: "The Sky Come Down to Earth" (1983), later typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/102: "The Sky Come Down to Earth" (1983), final typescript, and photocopy of published story
1-1/103: "Ten Things I Know About the Wizard" (1983), earlier typescript with handwritten edits
1-1/104: Ten Things I Know About the Wizard" (1983), later typescript, photocopy of typescript, and photocopy of published story