In the Closet, Under the Bed-Lee Thomas

In the Closet, Under the Bed
Lee Thomas
Darkscribe, Jan 2010, $16.00
ISBN: 9780981863214

This super collection contains nine new stories and six previously published in the past decades. Each tale explores the mobsters In the Closet, Under the bed that people prefer remain hidden from family and friends especially sexuality. That hiding one’s inner desires inside the closet or under the bed hits home immediately with the first tale "All the Faces Change" when Tim learns life is a fairy tale with no happy ending unless you let your loved ones share all of you even when you are ashamed or fearful of revealing all to them; failure to do so means dying alone. This theme particularly with homosexual implications is key to these powerful psychological horror tales; for instance, the well written “Healer" and the exciting sexual asphyxiation tale "Dislocation". "Shelter" takes the spin into the erotic fantasy realm while "The Good and Gone" enters the erotic science fiction arena. Even the internet has closed closet doors. Readers will enjoy Lee Thomas' powerful compilation as the message throughout is simply to avoid the boogeyman In the Closet, Under the bed by coming out of them with your loved ones at your side; as you and they deserve the best of all of you if they truly are those who love you unrequitedly.

Harriet Klausner