Vrolyck - Sideshow

[ElHI]

I try to re-read books in between new "unread" ones. So after THE WHITE HANDS by Mark Samuels, I've re-read SIDESHOW AND OTHER STORIES by Thomas Ligotti.

I hadn't noticed before the similarities between SIDESHOW (the Prologue) and Mark Samuels' VROLYCK. Each story is about two insomniac writers meeting late at night in a second-zone coffee shop. One is clearly the "Master" and one the "Student". I think there are even some similarities in the description of Samuels' Vrolyck and Ligotti's unnamed older writer...

Strange. Both books were published in 2003 so they could not possibly have influenced one another directly. Or perhaps VROLYCK had appeared earlier? (I'm pretty sure SIDESHOW hadn't...)

Anyone care to shed some light or give further comments?

[Karnos]

I haven't read Sideshows and other Stories, I actually didn't even know about that book until now (shame on me) and I'm afraid I won't be able to find it anywhere anytime soon.

However when I first read Samuel's "Vrolyck", Ligotti came to mind, not because of the overall eerie feel of the story, but because of the title. It looked to me like a Germanisation of Ligotti's own "The Frolic", since in German "v" has the same sound as "f".

Something silly, but it gave that impression. Somewhere around here Mark Samuels said that Ligotti had actually something to do with the development of Vrolyck, in the form of suggestions and feedback.

[ElHI]

Vrolyck is available as a pdf file on the Tartarus Press website here :

--Documents

Enjoy!