From Publishers Weekly
Ligotti's ( Grimscribe ) clever title suggests the marriage of "nocturne" and "mortuary," an appropriate preparation for this dark grouping of tales. In the foreword, the author explains that they fall in the category of "weird fiction," that is, extreme gothic horror, featuring macabre endings and unremitting doom. The studied extravagance in the narration of the some of the stories verges on stylistic overkill. Nevertheless, as gothic tales, a number of them are interesting. Three good tales are "The Medusa," which tells of a scholar obsessed with the Gorgon whom Perseus apparently did not kill; "Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel," a tale that lends new meaning to the term "bad dreams"; and the novella-length "The Tsalal," a gothic work of demonic prophecy that boasts a gruesome ending. These 27 stories describe shadowy worlds of blurred dimensions and ill-lit interiors; as with all such tales, the "when" and "where" are much less important than the atmosphere of gothic horror produced by Ligotti's baroque prose.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Ligotti has written another colorful collection of horror stories ( Grimscribe , Songs of a Dead Dreamer , both Carroll & Graf Pubs., 1991), which spring on the unsuspecting reader the combination of supernatural characters, natural props, and "weird" circumstances. Stories include "The Medusa," which recounts the horror of Lucian Dregler, a man obsessed with finding the Medusa, the hideous woman with serpents on her head whose look turns men to stone. "Conversations in a Dead Language" is told from the perspective of an insane candy giver on three subsequent Halloweens; suspense mounts with each year as the reader witnesses the narrator's physical and mental deterioration. The last section of the book, "Notebook of the Night," is filled with short, lurid vignettes--snapshots of horror that demonstrate Ligotti's command of language and rich imagination. Starkly colored images keep the reader gasping. Recommended for horror collections.
- Stacie Browne Chandler, Plymouth P.L., Mass.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
