[Mr. Veech]

Quote Originally Posted by Shadenuat

And yet majority of reviews are more than positive. Overwhelmingly so. I am happy that TL is available to wide populace and that he found deserved acclaim there, rather than being limited to expensive limited editions and small elitist readership.

It's obviously good that both collections are more affordable. More specifically, it's good for those who were already interested in Ligotti's work but couldn't pay for expensive limited editions. But part of the reason Ligotti's work is of high quality is because he never wrote for a wide audience (he's said this himself in interviews). He only wrote for a small audience to begin with. He never compromised because he probably never had any real hopes about becoming a "writer."

I suspect he will not receive the acclaim he truly deserves until we're all dead. Even though he probably deserved it, it was a downright miracle that Penguin Classics published his work during his own lifetime. Ironically, there was never a chance that a major publisher would've agreed to publish any of his manuscripts before, which is why he stuck to small, obscure publishers to begin with. In the short-term catering to a wide audience almost always implies money is involved, people like Charles Dickens notwithstanding.