Help with Thomas Ligotti stories
Gerard
and without meaning so, I gave up on him. Now after reading Dr.
Locrian's Asylum I believe he is a great writer but, I still can't
understand most of his stories. Can anyone name 4 or 5 good stories
by Ligotti; stories that make sense.
Gerard
Brian McNaughton
Life doesn't always make sense, either. Solid, sensible stories with
a recognizable beginning, middle, and end, and with no unidentifiable
emotions (that would just be in there looking for trouble, anyway)
have always been cranked out by writers like August Derleth, John Saul
and Stephen King..
Borges can be pretty obscure. And what about Robert Aickman and John
Metcalfe, to say nothing of Shakespeare? Shakespeare's literal
meaning seems to drift into an ominous fog in his "horror-plays," most
notably MACBETH and KING LEAR. The worst horrors creep out of the
subconscious (like "The Outsider" creeping out of his castle) and the
language of the subconscious, operating by puns and free associations
and short circuits and brilliant intuitions, can be foggy. Dreams can
scare the hell out of us without making much sense at all, and many of
Ligotti's stories are very much like dreams.
Two stories stand out vividly in my mind -- "The Dreaming in Nortown"
and "The Last Festival of Masks." I don't remember whether they make
perfect sense or not, but they are great stories.
--Brian McNaughton
Steven Kaye
(Gerard) wrote:
> In the past I read many stories by Ligotti but, most seemed confused
> and without meaning so, I gave up on him. Now after reading Dr.
> Locrian's Asylum I believe he is a great writer but, I still can't
> understand most of his stories. Can anyone name 4 or 5 good stories
> by Ligotti; stories that make sense.
>
> Gerard
"The Frolic" (I think that's the title - don't have any Ligotti handy
except NOCTUARY). "Drink to Me Only With Labyrinthine Eyes." "Gas Station
Carnivals" (in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR). "Mrs. Rinaldi's
Angel."
Does it help to point out that many of Ligotti's stories are supposed to
suggest unsettling ideas ("The Medusa," for example) to the reader or
evoke specific moods in him/her? Perhaps if you picked a specific story
Dr. Locrian and the rest of us could help you understand it.
Steven
--
Steven Kaye
box_...@ix.NOSPAM.netcom.com
GigiloAunt
understand most of his stories. Can anyone name 4 or 5 good stories
by Ligotti; stories that make sense.<
"The Last Feast of Harlequin," "Drink to me Only with Labrynthine Eyes,"The
Greater Festival of Masks,"The Spectacles in the Drawer," "The Shadow at the
Bottom of the World," "The Strange Design of Masater Rignolo."
"The Greater Festival of Masks," "The Shadow at the Bottom of the World," and
"The Strange Design of master Rignolo" are not too strong as far as plotting
goes, so you might leave them till last. One of my personal favorites is "The
Voice in the Bones" which is also short on plot, but long on dark and
disturbing imagery.
When reading Ligotti, try and let go of conventional ideas about stories and
plots as such, just try and foll9ow the images and characters and the emoptions
they evoke in you. I think Ligotti gets lumped in with HPL as a matter of
route even though he is different and deserving of his own little branch in the
genre. Like most great authors he had his influences, but his ideas, stories
and style are his own.
Richard
"That's Syd having a bad trip. We put him in the linen cupboard."
-Harry Dobson
http://members.aol.com/GigiloAunt/index.html
Gerard
friend {sorry I don't remember his name it's been a long time} who
loves to start fights about strange topics only so, he can admit he
was wrong; after that he {the lead guy} talks to him about Medusa for
a bit, later he gets a clue he takes an old book to a used book store
only to find his friend's wife played a joke on him. They throw him a
party to make up for the joke; at the party he see the woman who
helped play the joke on him, she looks strange later he walks into an
old building an sit in a room forever??? I may be wrong but, that all
I remember about the story. Any info on the story would help.
Thanks
drlo...@longshadows.com
Mel...@att.net (Gerard) wrote:
> In the past I read many stories by Ligotti but, most seemed confused
> and without meaning so, I gave up on him. Now after reading Dr.
> understand most of his stories. Can anyone name 4 or 5 good stories
> by Ligotti; stories that make sense.
>
Well, all of the stories make sense to me, but, then again, he's my favorite
living author. You might want to try "Last Feast of Harlequin"
(GRIMSCRIBE), "The Prodigy of Dreams" (NOCTUARY), "Conversations in a Dead
Language" (NOCTUARY), and "Alice's Last Adventure" (SONGS OF A DEAD DREAMER).
Note that I have written up a commentary page for the latter story, but I
don't suggest you read it till you've read the story yourself (the link is
at http://www.longshadows.com/ligotti/ss-ala.html ).
IMO, he is one of the best writers of short horror fiction alive today.
Ligotti is a Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award winner, and his
anthologies to date include SONGS OF A DEAD DREAMER, GRIMSCRIBE, NOCTUARY,
THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY, and IN A FOREIGN TOWN, IN A FOREIGN LAND.
Any of you interested in his work, feel free to drop by my webpage, Thomas
Ligotti Online (the link may be found below). It's not nearly complete, but
it does contain several online stories by Mr. Ligotti ("Dr. Locrian's
Asylum," "Greater Festival of Masks," and "Ghost Stories for the Dead" [the
latter is a previously uncollected story]). Forthcoming stories to be
reprinted online will include "Dr. Voke and Mr. Veech," "Mad Night of
Atonement," "Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel," "Gas Station Carnivals," and
"Nethescurial." Look for them online soon.
I'm also working on a Ligotti FAQ (hopefully completed sometime latter
this week in first draft), and Commentary pages on each story and vignette;
for an example, check out http://www.longshadows.com/ligotti/ss-ce.html , to
see what I mean (incidentally, you can also find links to new and used
bookstores in order to start looking for his published work). Currently
completed pages include commentary on "Alice's Last Adventure," "The
Bungalow House," "The Christmas Eves of Aunt Elise," and "The Cocoons."
More story commentaries will be posted sometime this week.
This page has a few Ligotti links of interest, including information about
the Ligotti newsgroup, alt.books.thomas-ligotti (including a link to DejaNews
archives), links to superb works of related fiction, links to Leon
D. Wild's beautiful "Library of Dead Dreams," and links to the musical UK
group that Ligotti has collaborated with in the past, Current 93. New
interviews with the author are forthcoming.
Bear in mind that the webpage as it stands now is merely a skeleton of
what it will be. If you have any suggestions or comments, please let
me know on any of these newsgroups or at my email address,
drlo...@longshadows.com .
If you're really interested in Ligotti, consider subscribing (or at least
browsing the messages of) the TLO mailing list, which can be perused at
the link below.
Many Thanks,
Dr. Locrian
--
(Thomas Ligotti Online)
http://www.longshadows.com/ligotti/
(TLO Mailing List)
http://www.egroups.com/list/tlo/
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Jason Thompson
: In the past I read many stories by Ligotti but, most seemed confused
: and without meaning so, I gave up on him. Now after reading Dr.
: Locrian's Asylum I believe he is a great writer but, I still can't
: understand most of his stories. Can anyone name 4 or 5 good stories
: by Ligotti; stories that make sense.
Some of his stories are definitely more abstract than others; many are
closer to prose poems. My personal recommendations are:
* DREAM OF A MANNIKIN (relatively understandable)
* THE LAST FEAST OF HARLEQUIN (very understandable)
* NETHESCURIAL (pretty understandable)
* TEATRO GROTTESCO (semi-understandable)
* THE MYSTICS OF MUELENBERG (very understandable)
* NOTES ON THE WRITING OF HORROR: A STORY (totally confusing... even Ligotti
may not like it since it wasn't included in THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY... but I
had to list it simply for its ludicrous meta-horror-story subject matter)
I think his first anthology, SONGS OF A DEAD DREAMER, is a bit more
plot-focused than his later anthologies, although the stories are also
longer and denser, which may make them worse as introductory tales. I think
Ligotti's extremely good, though, so keep reading; I'm sure you'll find
something that conjures that fever-dream feeling of the world melting and
pressing on all sides in delirious darkness.
Jason Thompson
Knygathin Zhaum
annoye...@my-dejanews.com
imagination coupled with an all encompassing positive outlook.
try "the frolic" it's about as straightforward as his stories come.
In article <366a97d...@netnews.worldnet.att.net>,
Mel...@att.net (Gerard) wrote:
> In the past I read many stories by Ligotti but, most seemed confused
> and without meaning so, I gave up on him. Now after reading Dr.
> Locrian's Asylum I believe he is a great writer but, I still can't
> understand most of his stories. Can anyone name 4 or 5 good stories
> by Ligotti; stories that make sense.
>
> Gerard