Ligotti's stories seem useless after TCATHR

[Druidic]

To James: I was talking to Kalmbach. The idea that CATHR exhausts the fiction is silly.

Ah, it just seemed like a very intense reply for a thread you have posted in before and one about quite an innocuous opinion. I don't agree with what he said, but I don't see it as objectionable. I think 'Conspiracy' was certainly a book Ligotti was building up to write his entire life, so viewing his stories as 'rough drafts' for it, whilst I don't agree with the term used, doesn't strike me as particularly offensive.

I think I feel similarly about Arthur Machen's The Hill of Dreams, in that I think his fiction throughout the 1890s was building up to that one singular work. I wouldn't be pleased to find the prior sentence quoted on a Machen forum, with everybody acting angry for no real reason.

[Spectral Tapeworm]

When I was first getting into Ligotti I was advised (can't remember where) to read his fiction before checking out TCATHR. I did so, I read every collected fictional volume I could get my hands on, excepting MWINYD, before digging into his non-fiction. I actually procured those two volumes at the same time, with every intent on reading the fictional one first... Although once I had my hands on it, I couldn't resist the spell-binding allure of that little black book. It made me feel rather nostalgic, hearkening back to my conflicted adolescence where I would diligently scour pseudo esoteric tripe such as "The Satanic Bible" or the "Necronomicon".

All hogwash, of course.

That being said, I recently finished MWINYD and found it every bit as enjoyable as any of the ones I had read before. Perhaps even more so in a strange way, since I then felt like I had glimpsed behind the curtain and seen the real horror lurking behind the imaginary horror presented on stage. I suppose it really depends on the individual reader and their outlook.

[Reptil]

I feel sorry to say this, but i think some of the stories are easy to predict once you have read TCATHR and understand more in depth Ligotti.
Lovecraft have the same problem, if you want to see this as a problem.
Anyway, Ligotti is over the average for the atmosphere he have the ability to create. The Red Tower for example are just an atmosphere exercise in my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less, select your drug of choice and enjoy .

[marioneta]

CATHR and Ligotti's fiction compliment each other. They are of a piece and CATHR adds dimension and depth to the stories. Taken as a whole, Ligotti's work cannot be reduced to an either or proposition, much less compartmentalized.

[Acutely decayed]

Quote Originally Posted by Reptil

I feel sorry to say this, but i think some of the stories are easy to predict

I feel sorrier to say this, but please ...predict as our interpreting intermediary any new uncreated story based on CATHR that we have not yet read (due to it's lamentable non-existence) – communicate and phrase it, in any whimsical syntax you desire – I at least am catholic in taste- if it is as intoxicating as TL’s works - I will surely select you as my drug of choice and enjoy...once again most sorry again if you then come to see this subsequently as a problem...

[cannibal cop]

Most of Ligotti's fiction to date was written long before TCATHR. I'm sure it helps to work your way through the fiction first before tackling Conspiracy. That way you can follow the natural trajectory of his creative evolution to its ultimate manifestation, as it emerges fully formed from the visionary landscape of his fiction into awful, undeniable reality.

Otherwise it's a little like watching the apocalyptic climax of the movie first, and then going back to catch up on everything that builds up to it.

Most horror fiction is easy to predict. Most genre fiction is easy to predict. I don't read Ligotti to be surprised. I read him to enjoy his potent atmosphere of melancholy, gloom and terror. The inevitability in horror fiction often adds to the dread. Nobody seriously thinks when starting The Frolic that these characters are going to have a normal evening of television while John Doe sleeps soundly and securely in his cell.

[Hecatombs For Hecate]

If you're looking to interpret every Ligotti story according to the TCATHR, then you're not really putting yourself in a mindset to be surprised.

[Reptil]

First of all, sorry for my bad english, is not my mother language.

I bought and read a full book of stories (Noctuary) before Conspiracy, i find myself very surprised by the fresh style of Ligotti in my first approach to his works at Noctuary.

Then i bought and read Conspiracy who i totally love, i think is his masterpiece, far beyond his short stories.

Actually im hearing more short stories via ivoox, and i found myself not suprised by the ending of their short stories, who i figure out around the middle of the story.

This also happens to me when i read Lovecraft.

Anyway the best part of Ligotti stories are the atmosphere.

This is just my personal opinion.

So my advise, based on my personal opinion is: read short stories first, once you are "used to" Ligotti, read Conspiracy. In my opinion, if you read Conspiracy first, the short stories will not feel as fresh as if you havent read Conspiracy.