The Nightmare Factory [Paperback]

Thomas Ligotti, in his own words, writes of "a world that both surpasses and menaces this one." He is the contemporary master of the "weird tale," and yet his style is so intellectually intriguing, he has as much in common with Borges and Kafka as with Lovecraft and Machen. If you haven't discovered Ligotti yet, this edition is a great opportunity to do so: it collects all 39 stories from previous collections, plus 6 new ones--also, a forward by Poppy Z. Brite, and an introduction by Ligotti on "What are the consolations of horror?"

For more on Ligotti, see reviews of Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Grimscribe: His Life and Works, and Noctuary.

In this stout volume, Ligotti offers American readers selections from three previous collections not readily available in the U.S. and, in a concluding section, some entirely new pieces. Very little seems to be known about Ligotti, but to judge from his stories, he is well traveled, has a superb command of setting and tone as well as of the English language, and is strongly biased toward the darker end of the fantasy spectrum. He also exhibits admirable economy of words, for more than 50 of his stories fit between the covers of this book. If there is very little here that will slake the lover of vast, sprawling horror novels, connoisseurs of literary skill who are willing to be frightened will find the book a feast, albeit one best consumed in small helpings. Roland Green

A large and generally very impressive gathering of imaginative and stylish horror fiction, adding several new stories to those culled from Ligotti's previous collections Songs of a Dead Dreamer (1990), Grimscribe (1991), and Noctuary (1993). Poe and Lovecraft are the obvious influences in these richly atmospheric (and often funny) tales of introversion blossoming into obsession, and of antiquarian scholars unwisely uncovering things that really ought to have been buried. Ligotti's prefatory essay on ``The Consolations of Horror'' broods wittily about the kind of person who enjoys this sort of thing, advising helpfully that, in reading such material, ``for a little while we can pretend to stare the very worst right in the rotting face.'' Of the new stories, ``Teatro Grottesco'' and ``Severini'' portray with perhaps excessive flamboyance the neurotic sources and feverish aftermath of artistic creation. Both ``The Clown Puppet,'' whose absurdly menacing title figure memorably objectifies its narrator's ``nonsensical'' existence, and ``The Red Tower,'' about an abandoned factory whose unspeakable products are surreptitiously still being sent out into the unsuspecting world, show Ligotti doing what he does best: Turning the abstract matter of our unguarded dreaming moments into vivid and compelling nightmares. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

A selection of writings from one of horror's darkest writers. Thomas Ligotti is the author of "Noctuary", "Grimscribe" and "Songs of a Dead Dreamer". --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.