New Reader Needs Help!

[Azmodeus]

I have recently read My work is not yet done - and i was blown away. How can I be a horror reader and somehow have missed Ligotti. Stupidity on my part, partially. The second reason must be availability. But here I am.

I recently stumbled upon a good reading copy of Nightmare Factory at the used book for $6. I also picked up the limited HC of the shadow - that was recently released. I am reading the limited, then reading the remaining stories in TNF. After that???

I need help on the rest of the stuff. what should I get. The rest is difficult to get and sketchy in contents to me. Can someone help me with the details on books like the agonizing resurrection... Why hasnt that book been reprinted for instance and how are the contents. I am a collector but a collector on a budget. Can someone help me out with the ins and outs of Ligottis books?

Thanks in advance!

	TNF The Nightmare Factory

[adam]

Well, I'd suspect that Shadow and TNF will keep you busy for awhile. Those are the two best collections at the moment (pending closure on Teatro Grotesco). You will never regret acquiring TNF. I actually had to get a second copy so I could lend it out without fear of something happening to my only copy. Once you get through that you basically start chasing the harder to find stuff. I definitely recommend Sideshow and Other Stories and IAFTIAFL unconditionally if you like what you've read so far. As far as TAROVFAOGT goes, I'd try to get a copy of Noctuary and check out the vignettes in the last section that were not reprinted in TNF first. Not everyone likes that style as much, and that's probably the most accessible way to get an idea of what Agonizing Resurrection is like (though TAROVFAOGT is much more humorous than Notebook of the Night, being a sort of play on classic horror stories/movies/etc). If you like MWINYD, you can probably get copies of the other "Corporate Horror" in the original Weird Tales printings without too much trouble (or even the Subpress versions, but I'd recommend trying for the originals given the price of the limited volumes). I'd also recommend finding the Current 93 CD of IHASPFTW before looking for the limited edition book of the same name/content as it's much easier to find. Grimscribe was reprinted in its entirety in TNF (except the introduction which I posted somewhere on this site a while back), so you've already got that. SOADD has a few things that were not reprinted in TNF (bascially the two stories about writing horror stories), which are worth trying to find if you can. The 1989/90 reprint has these. The 1985 version also has a couple of the vignettes that appear later in Agonizing Resurrection, but is ludicously expensive and hard to come by. That leaves us with This Degenerate Little Town, which I can't comment on, as well as Crampton and Death Poems. Crampton is a screenplay (for what was orginally supposed to be an X-Files episode, but was later changed to be more generic, though you can still tell its original intent) written with Brandon Trenz which also came with a CD of related music by TL (speaking and playing guitar). Death Poems, which is a favorite of mine, has gotten mixed reviews. It's a small volume of poems about death/dying that I find quite uplifting and humorous (in a pessimistic sort of way).

Welcome! I hope I have addressed your question adequately (though I'm sure I missed some stuff).

	TAROVFAOGT The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales

	TNF The Nightmare Factory

	SOADD Songs of a Dead Dreamer   Songs of a Dead Dreamer was the first book published featuring a collection stories by Thomas Ligotti. Original Printing Revised Printing

	MWINYD My Work Is Not Yet Done

	IAFTIAFL In A Foreign Town, In A Foreign Land

	IHASPFTW I Have A Special Plan For This World

[The Silent One]

Songs of a Dead Dreamer: Well, dreamlike. Very subtly horrible. A developing writer. Mostly in TNF. Both missing stories ("Notes On the Writing of Horror", "Professor Nobody's...") are trestises that turn into horror stories themselves.

Grimscribe: All in first person. More grotesqueries. All in TNF. Some of Tom's most surreal stories can be found here.

Noctuary: Most straightforward collection. Entire "Notebook of the Night" section missing from TNF. Near sadistic little vignettes exploring the many aspects of horror. Best are "New Faces in the City", "The Spectral Estate", "Autumnal", "One May Be Dreaming", "The Career of Nightmares", "The Order of Illusion"... Really, take your pick.

IHASPFTW: Ominous prose-poetry with a most unusual POV. No solidly defined characters, all über-freaky atmosphere. You can listen to a reading of it by the illustrious David (Late) Tibet in the MusicBox.

This Degenerate Little Town: More prose poetry, also available here, read by the man himself! Not so much disturbing as alienating... From the author, others, self...

TAROVFAOGT: Black humour abounds. All vignettes putting new twists on old ghouls. Some are pure brilliance, others are entertaining strangeness. Annoyingly rare. Getting one makes you feel like you're in an elite club. And then you realise you are a sure Ligotti geek.

IAFTIAFL: Four interconnected stories of a strange "town on the border". More a novella than a collection. I think Current 93's "soundtrack" is still here.

My Work is Not Yet Done: More black humour. A novella and two shorts, one a sequel of sorts, the other a related series of experimental Burroughsian vignettes. All about the inherent horror of the corporation.

Across the Border: More corporate horror. Less humour.

Sideshow: Stories within a story. The vignettes hold up on their own, but as a whole it's pretty damn creepy.

Teatro Grottesco: You're just missing "The Town Manager", "The Shadow, The Darkness", and, interestingly, some of that rarer stuff!

	TAROVFAOGT The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales

	TNF The Nightmare Factory

	IAFTIAFL In A Foreign Town, In A Foreign Land

	IHASPFTW I Have A Special Plan For This World

[Azmodeus]

I appreciate the help greatly. With the new Teatro limited, which I have pre-ordered, does that leave me needing only tarovf and the poetry collection for the most part?

Thanks for the help. I am currently on vacation and working my way through nightmare factory. Fantastic stuff!

[unknown]

good luck trying to obtain a copy of TAROVFAOGT...if you do find one, be prepared to shell out at least $300

	TAROVFAOGT The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales

[G. S. Carnivals]

Azmodeus, welcome to TLO. A tiny handful of Thomas Ligotti's works remain "uncollected." To avoid redundancy, I refer you to Mr. Ligotti's bibliography. It is easily accessed by clicking on Content in the menu bar on the TLO homepage, and then Ligotti Bibliography from there. The short (and very early) piece "Sardonic Mundane" by Ligotti was added to the Nightmare Network Forum not too long ago by our esteemed fellow member bendk. This is where the Search function comes in handy. Happy hunting!

	TLO THOMAS LIGOTTI ONLINE