Suburban Gothic

Chen (Three Terrible Tales) smoothly shifts between realism and fantasy in this unsettling collection. In “The Zhangs and the Zumans,” a couple visits their former starter home, which they’re renting out, and are surprised to find their tenants getting along with the chaotic next-door neighbors who drove them away. In the story’s surprise ending, Chen reveals how the couple’s attitude toward their former neighbors says more about themselves. “Wedding Day at St. Thomas” explores themes of complacency and passivity, as a woman realizes during the disastrous first kiss with her husband at their wedding ceremony that she’s having “one of the most terrible moments of her life,” but goes through with the marriage anyway. In “He’s Just Fine,” a mother enrolls her son at day care despite worrying he won’t be properly cared for, only to learn her fears have come true. Interspersed with these longer entries are flash fictions, often with more overtly creepy situations. In “Paradox,” for example, a woman fleeing a multiheaded dog takes refuge in her friends’ house, only to get lost in the home’s endless hallways. With a wide range of tones and subjects, Chen demonstrates an impressive ability to pinpoint the traps her characters get caught in. This allures and alarms in equal measure. (Self-published)