/lit/ - Literature

I haven’t finished it but I read a few stories. The first one that I think is called The Frolic is by far the worst and the most different from all the others. Don’t judge the rest of those stories by the first one

>>12705079

I like it better than his later stories. It's just more interesting for me to read Ligotti trying out different types of horror stories and experiment a little.

As a fan of Lovecraft, Poe, and Kafka, I was seduced into acquiring this collection of short stories by the promises held out in the jacket notes suggesting that they somehow embodied the spirit of works by those earlier authors. They do not. However, my initial disappointment engendered by the marketing hype was quickly transformed into admiration for Ligotti’s works as I soon realized that their merits in the realm of horror fiction are wholly original.
Due to the elements of suspense that pervade his stories, I will not substantiate my opinions by giving examples from his writings because I do not want to give away plots lines that would serve as spoilers.
Suffice it to say that his writings are psychologically disturbing at an existential level because the experiences of the characters in his stories challenge conventional conceptions of reality.
Ligotti does so not merely by employing naïve subjectivism, which is based on the idea that perception is reality, a view that is preposterous because perceptions often vary from person to person and whatever is to count as “reality” must at least be inter-subjective, i.e., be the same for all.
Nor does Ligotti incorporate the more plausible realist viewpoint that objectively interpreted perception is reality, a position designed to preserve a univocal reality, and attempt to create the sense of existential disorientation on quirky psychological interpretations of the characters .
Rather, his stories have a Postmodern cosmological twist with mind-bending epistemological implications: these stories are based on the notion that there are no criteria for determining what is real, for what are called “objective interpretations” of perceptions are merely perceptions of perceptions, i.e., there is no way to break out of the realm of perceptions to discover some underlying reality.
As a result, the stories are truly horrific because, in the final analysis, they leave his characters, and so too the reader, with the ultimate nightmarish vision of life as a series of experiences that we call people, places, and things that cannot be trusted to actually represent anyone, anywhere, or anything.

>>12705079
Bad creepypasta tier horror. We're talking Jeff the Killer levels. Horrendous.

>>12705079
I don't understand how materialism can be scary. It would be a relief if you just died and that was it. That sounds a lot less horrifying than hellfire. Actually maybe I'll start a new horror genre. Christian and Muslim horror.

Genuinely one of the most disappointing reading experiences I have had. Try Ambrose Bierce or CA Smith or something

>>12705215
that's disappointing to hear. I do want to get into CAS, though. Probably going to get the Penguin edition tomorrow.

>>12705210
You've never heard of the Left Behind series?

>>12705264
Yes but that's irrelevant. I'm talking about books that portray a personal God who apprehends our reality as the ultimate eldritch horror

>implying it is not

Read most of it but never felt myself obliged to polish it off. A few of the stories were interesting. Overall I think he is better when he restrains his style and avoids over written descriptions.

My advice would be to read for entertainment. Ideally alone at night.

>>12705308
>Ideally alone at night.
This. This makes every horror story like 150% more effective.

>>12705308
Were you a bit disappointed? I remember all the hype, the poe/lovecraft comparisons... And then, it's just something like nosleep with a touch of better prose. There must be actual horror, good horror, somewhere.

>>12705165
Written like Poe/lovecraft prose

>>12705079
Any good horror charts, /lit/?

>>12705079
I thought the stories in Testro Grotto or whatever were better overall.

I think the biggest thing is that people talk about him as an inheritor to Poe and Lovecraft when much of his stories take far more from Kafka. It’s less about confrontations with a large unfathomable cosmic horror as it’s about running into the horror of the absurd. It’s absurdism except instead of the absurd being humerous it’s terrifying.

On the surface a lot of the ‘horror’ punchlines are pretty commonplace, and can often be seen from a mild away, there real effect is in his depiction of the human condition in general.

But if you want a story that reasonably does both, I think Bungalow House is a good place to start. The Town Manager is him at his most Kafkaesque.

>>12705210
If you want to see a purely materialist nightmare story, look up the manga short story Long Dream by Junji Ito.

>>12705079
I've only read a few of Ligotti's stories, but from what I've seen, they're pretty good. Nethescurial was an interesting take on cosmic horror, being both a critique of the usual Lovecraftian schlock, and a fine example of it at the same time.

>>12705351
if you wanna feel real horror just go for a night walk, forgone any kind of self protectiond and carry most of your last pay check half sticking out your pocket.

No list would be complete without One for the Road.

Wouldn't you agree, my fellow Stephen King fans?

>>12705079
I dont think I really "get it", because although I find the stories occasionally interesting I dont find them at all horrifying. It's written to me like a collection of dark fantasy stories and not actual horror.

I've read his short story comps and almost without exception they consist of a great core idea that is squandered with some really terrible prose. In casting around for another word to describe a bouquet of flowers he settles on 'armful of vegetation,' which is so bad that it wouldn't even occur to someone who wasn't so concerned with their own overflowing word vomit. Some stories are thinly veiled essays with literal 'and then John was a zombie' and 'then who was phone' tacked on the end, but not even in a way that comes across as an intentional twist, it's just an event that happens so the story can be said to be about something.
True Detective season one is a far more pleasurable and concise Ligotti experience than actually reading Ligotti. Clive Barker is more fun, Murakami is more absurd and horrifying, Lovecraft has better prose somehow, Kafka's observations are more timely and incisive, Poe does atmosphere better, China Mieville waffles on for longer. Nothing Ligotti does is not done better elsewhere, he's like the Joss Whedon of entry level obscurity junkies.

hit and miss but I preferred teatro grottesco

>>12705574
>>12705351
Ignore these people.


Ligotti takes the cosmic horror of Lovecraft, the prose of Poe, the absurdity of Kafka, and the postmodernism of Burroughs and mixes together. He’s definitely the most literary of horror writers alive right now, he’s definitely not just a fancy Whedon-like or no nosleep post.

I was a lot like the others in the thread and didn’t really get Ligotti at first.

But now I’m rereading Songs of a Dead Dreamer and I think he’s starting to become my favorite horror writer.

>>12705079
/ourguy/ reviewed Conspiracy Against the Human Race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH53vje0SEU&t

Some other horror writers lit should talk more:
Ramsey Campbell
Peter Straub
Dennis Etchinson
Caitlin Kieran
Brian Evenson
Laird Barron

>>12705351
Lol what? Nosleeps posts are mostly just “Hey, saw this weird thing on my security cam in my house. Scared shitless.”

Ligotti are weird, surreal horrors that only the best writers can make scary.

>>12705165
what is an actually objective viewpoint? the word objective means nothing as it is a state that is entirely possible and even undefinable.

>>12705210
>it would be a relief if you just died
yes that is the point of ligotti's writing

I demand everyone in this thread to get a copy of Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman.

>>12705351
>T. Read one story going in with unreasonable expectations and getting mad because you didn't get what you envisioned
Finish Teatro Grottesco. The last three stories, with the last being his best, surpass Lovecraft.

>>12705215
>>12705225
I really, really hate CAS. He can't do scary stories, they don't have a great pacing and they're very boring. Les Fleurs is superior to the mother of toads, The Beast of Averoigne and that one story he did about a sculptor that's basically Pickman's Model.

None of the presentation is really scary, the pacing is slow, it's pretty generic. I will say I appreciate the more fantastical nature but it just doesn't feel like horror and doesn't have a unique feel to them.

>>12705390
You have to understand that Ligotti's like an escalator. You gain a greater appreciation for his work as you go further on.
Songs of a Dead Dreamer starts with The Frolic, his more 'normal' generic story. You then read through that book and become introduced to ideas of shared dream states, the clown imagery he loves, the scatological/detritus lens he views reality through and how he likes to do pastiches of older horror ideas made more horrible (Drink to Me Only With Labyrinthine Eyes is a darker version of The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, Masquerade of a Dead Sword is a clear nod to The Conqueror Worm and Masque of the Red Death).

Then, you read Grimscribe. Stories here become more esoteric such as Flowers of the Abyss, Nethescurial and The Dreaming at Norfolk. Noctuary continues this train and then Teatro Grotessco is almost entirely different to SoaDD in pacing and attempts at horror.

He has a massive variety of voice, story presentation, structure and concepts (he made a guide to write horror a horror story), an excellent control of the English language while having a laser focus on the themes he likes and the motifs he uses to elict them. Only Laird Barron has a usage of motifs to rival Ligotti.

>>12705574
>armful of vegetation
That's from Les Fleurs where the main character is a pseudointellectual, he's depicting the character's voice.

>>12705415
Underrated

Idk how well SOADD/Grimscribe and Conspiracy Against the Human Race sold for Penguin but I really hope it was well enough for them to publish Noctuary and The Agonizing Ressurection of Frankenstein.

I already have those first two and Teatro Grottesco. I need some more Ligotti.

>>12707011
Barron’s first three collections and his novel The Croning are good but his last collection and that non-horror mystery novel that came out are kind of subpar.

>>12707301
One thing I hate about the horror genre is how many books get published in limited runs and end up being prohibitively expensive.

>>12707315
Honestly, it was great for Pizzalatto to mention Ligotti. Now his work is started to get a lot more noticed. He really was only available in the small presses before that.

>>12705574
As somebody else pointed out, that whole story is filled with things that are meant to characterize *the narrator*, not Ligotti. In the entire story the narrator doesn’t speak like a human, he speaks like a narcissistic psycho killer who ‘fancies himself an intellectual’.

You can see the same device in the first paragraph of Nethescural; “If I am any judge of antique documents, which of course I am...”. As Vandermeer points out in his forward Ligotti is actually a really funny author, but most people underrate that aspect of his work because they have the mindset he’s a ‘horror’ writer, and because the laugh lines are always subtle.

>>12707310
He's like a more extreme version of King where his ideas are great, his execution is good and his endings are dog shit.

>>12705390
I'm just starting with Ligotti and Town manager certainly was one of the best until now.
Great read.

>>12705756
>Laird Barron
Seconding this. He's focusing more on Detective Noir style stuff right now, but he's written some of the best short stories I've read, and The Croning is my favorite horror novel.

Off the top of my head, some short stories to check out are The Men from Porlock, The Broadsword, Hallucigenia, The Procession of the Black Sloth, and Occultation.
As an aside, it seems to have mixed reception but I also really enjoyed his first non-horror novel last year.

>>12705079
are there any horror stories that aren't genreshit?

>no one has mentioned Richard Gavin

Very disappointed, /lit/

>>12707534
How would that even work?

Reggie Oliver is like a modern M.R. James but with more stage plays & theatre settings derived from his own experience as an actor. Great stuff.

>>12707530
I don't stand the Imago Sequence; the Royal Zoo is literally about nothing, the ending of Black Sloth Hell is crap and the titular Imago Sequence is great until the ending.

His endings suck but his ideas are neat. I really like how they gel with Ligotti.

>>12707539
not sure, i mean crime and punishment is technically a crime novel, but it's not a "crime novel" if you know what i mean, not sure if there's something like that for horror

>>12707534
Poe and Lovecraft.

>>12707559
You're not being specific about what you want. I wouldn't consider Ligotti genreshit though.

>>12707561
You're kidding right? Poe you could argue but Lovecraft?

>>12707565
>You're kidding right? Poe you could argue but Lovecraft?
Compared to King, he's not genreshit. The point of his stories isn't to horrify you or diagust you. There's a theme and ideas going on. There's a unique perspective.

>>12707565
>but Lovecraft
What would his genre be anon?

>>12707606
Science fiction/cosmicism horror.

>>12707604
If King is genre shit, Lovecraft definitely isn't. I misunderstood what you were terming genre shit.

>>12707534
H.P. Lovecraft
Edgar Allan Poe
Franz Kafka
Thomas Ligotti
Laird Barron
M.R. James
Susan Hill

>>12705165
you write like a child

>>12707791
Not that anon but what the fuck do you mean?

>>12707633
I’ll add Ramsey Campbell, started writing Lovecraftian stories but grew into more influences like Nabokov and Burroughs.

>>12708254
I've read some of his work and found it quite poor. What would you recommend anon?

>>12707791
It's an amazon review, you dunce lmao

>>12705165
this nigga said seduced

>>12705212
>>12705165
is this bait?

>>12708576
do you dislike ligotti?

>>12705079
read conspiracy against the humanrace, thought it was mostly just annoying

is ligotti scary

>>12708301
Get his best of collection Alone with the Horrors. Or look at the TOC and find one of the stories online. His best story is considered to be Mackintosh Willy.

T.E.D. Klein has some excellent novellas like "The Events at Poroth Farm." Too bad he hasn't written anything in years because he's a fantastic horror writer.

Best Richard Laymon books?

>>12705079
this niggas lineup is clean as shit.

>>12709724
what

>>12709763
that niggas lineup is clean as shit unlike your filthy response

>>12710242
i don't know if this is good or bad

>>12710278
its clean as shit

>>12705079
I always see Freddy Mercury when you guys post that

>>12710329
I am on this board often butterfly. You have no need to worry. Your beautiful unused sopping wet, tight pussy will be mine. On top of that I’ll make sure no one else hits on you

:3

>tfw like Caitlin R. Kiernan but can't discuss her work on /lit/ because she's a tranny and all the artwork for her books are total shit

>>12710413
Recommend me something.

>>12710413
I kind of know how you feel. From what I’ve heard that book you have as pic related is pretty good.

But yeah, she’s trans but the few stories I’ve read so far by her she doesn’t seem to put any of that into her story.

>>12710340
Stop feeding tripfags attention you insect.

>>12710413
>she
That mutilated pseudo snatch must be horrifying, yes.

>>12710474
I ignore him. He’s feeding you

>>12710436
The Drowning Girl is her best novel, and she has a Very Best Of collection of short stories that just got published. Her works are filled with allusions to fantasy and folklore but she's mainly a psychological horror writer. The protagonist and narrator of The Drowning Girl is schizophrenic, and I can't say how accurate it is to real schizophrenics, but the point is that it's more of a mindfuck story. Also horror gatekeeper S.T. Joshi likes her work.

>>12710468
>But yeah, she’s trans but the few stories I’ve read so far by her she doesn’t seem to put any of that into her story.

The Red Tree and The Drowning Girl both have lesbian protagonists, and the latter has a trans love interest, but they don't go full on SJW at all. No grr ebil cis men garbage. She just wants to tell a spooky story while following the "write what you know" advice, I guess.

>>12710436
As far as I’ve heard The Silk and The Drowning Girl are her most well regarded novels. I have no idea as far as short stories go.
It’s absolutely baffling they have the covers they do. S.T. Joshi (probably the leading scholar/critic of “weird fiction”) considers her the best active writer of weird fiction now that Ligotti isn’t publishing new material anymore.

>>12710508
You don’t ignore me :3

>>12705574
t. Can't separate author and narrator

This "reading" thing isn't going to work out for you kid

>>12705212
Who's the bloke on the right?

>>12705079
Thoughts on this bad boy right here?

>>12710598
thomas ligottie lmao

Teatro Grottesco is real good. My Work Is Not Yet Done is also pretty good. He's much more Kafka than Lovecraft but with a slightly more academic, self-consciously philosophic bent. I find the world as presented through his works to be very appealing.

>>12705210

a good bit of his stories actually involve people being trapped in some torturous after existence where their uniqueness is slowly stripped away.

>>12705079
Largely flamboyant flowery garbage prose. There are a couple of good stories (the one about the clown historian and the visit to the down to do an ethnographic study gone wrong was pretty interesting), but it is overall a boring tedious read. I wouldn’t bother. I haven’t read his earlier or later work, though; I can only speak from his collection.

Anything in a similar vein to Silent Hill 2, in which the horror is palpable and real, but the true horror is that the extraordinary things happening are actually manifestations of characters' hangups and flaws? Not like exactly that, but just something more literary than "a rotting corpse gets to its feet and chases you", doesn't even have to be categorized as traditionally a "horror" novel. I want a book where the zombie (or what the hell ever) is rotting because the protagonist is themself deteriorating in some way, where the zombie is standing up because it's a symbol of an erect dick. I don't give a shit, just something with appreciable substance and literary value outside of historical context or contributions to this under-achieved genre. There HAS to be something worthwhile out there. I've read Barron, Lovecraft, Langan, James, King, and others, but nothing scratches the itch. Are there any fiction books maybe not genre-fiction that can be argued to be horror?

>>12711132
try Adam Nevill

>>12709763

>>12711132
Try Del Toro's The Strain trilogy. Del Toro uses symbolism + horror a lot.

>>12710599
great as fantasy works, terrible if you're looking to get spooked.
Like, I dig Xothique and that it's all horrible people doing horrible things to each other because its the end of the world and there's nothing left to do but horrible things, and I dig his actual style, but I just don't think the dude was cut out to do horror.

>>12710517
>now that Ligotti isn’t publishing new material anymore.
Let's hope he gets another "almost death experience" which may propel him to write again.

>>12710855
>and the visit to the down to do an ethnographic study gone wrong
What story is this?

>>12705079
I just finished Songs but haven't read Grimscribe yet, and I can say that it is definitely worth a read. The styles of his stories in Songs differ a bit, so there will be some stories you'll be less interested in than others, but trust me when I say that some of the stories (for me it were the first 4 and the last one) are really impressive.

>>12710599
Some good, some bad. The thing to remember is that he was writing to support himself and his parents, so he didn't always have time to inspect for quality. Or, when he had the chance, the magazines he sold the stories to would mangle them beyond recognition. Quite a few of the works in that particular book have good concepts, but the execution is flawed. If you're a writer, it might be worth it just for the inspiration, since seeing how someone else fucked something up can help you avoid the same mistakes.

A lot of it's really enjoyable stuff - Hyperborea is darkly humorous, Zothique is dark and nihilistic, his science fiction is weak, but passable enough for the Gernsback pulps, and his horror... Eh. He was friends with Lovecraft, but he tended toward a more traditional horror, populated by witches, ghosts, and various creatures of the night. If you're into gothic horror, there are better examples.

His poetry is what really shines, but there's not a lot contained in that particular volume. I'd recommend just reading his stories online, since they're pretty much all available and not under copyright.

>>12710413
I read that book. It's pretty decent but the ending is a bit of a let down. The lesbianism/imagery/photography/art stuff is good. He also does the voice of the main character very well.

>>12712129
Last Feast of Harlequin

Is that a Pyke Koch painting on the cover? Based.

This is legit one of the spookiest things I've ever read and I don't scare easily at all. Blackwood was legit into the occult and a travelling outdoorsman so he knew from experience what it's like to be face to face with the wrath and isolation of nature, especially with a place like the Danube. It is the patrician weird tale.

>>12705079
Yeah some of the stories are fucking dope. Not like Lovecraft though. Only one really Lovecraftian story in there iirc
But they're unique and interesting

>>12712410
I'm planning on reading this, and now I'm even more hype. Are there any other stories/novels you recommend?

>>12705165
Thanks for wasting our time

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Dreamer-Grimscribe-Thomas-Ligotti/dp/0143107763&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiLzefEt-3gAhURy1kKHcRoAuQQFjAAegQIChAB&usg=AOvVaw2GGlWAJRvDjSGdzAGb2Njz

>>12712410
It's really good yeah. One of the best. Michael Shea's 'The Autopsy' is good

>>12705079
Lovecraftian bullshit.

>>12705225
CAS is sick, highly recommended. Just don't be expecting really horrific stuff; he's much more on the fantastic than the terrifying.

I'm interested in reading his conspiracy against the human race but I don't really know anything about him.
Should I read his other work before going into that?

>>12712508
>>12708428

>>12712387
No, it’s a painting by Chris Mars, former drummer for the band The Replacements.

>>12712410
The Willows might be the best cosmic horror story of all time. Blackwood is a great author.

Those Muddy Creek mud monsters still creep me out.

>>12712410
How is the rest of his work in comparison to The Willows?

>>12714425
Cringe

bump

>>12715202
The Wendigo holds up almost as high in quality but I remember the rest of his stuff being really meh

To the anons ITT: what are the greatest gothic and/or weird horror stories/horror story collections of all time in your opinions?
I want ideas for books to read and maybe buy.

>>12714425
Based goosebumps poster

>>12705079
Currently reading pic related.
Its not scary in the conventional sense, though there are certain scenes (like the teachers nephew silently photographing the two main characters repeatedly).
But im definitely getting a heavy undertone of existential dread from the father character as well as the duality of man from Jim and Will.

Anyone read or heard of this shit before? Got recommended it in a /x/ thread all the way back in 2017, still havent read it. Here's the synopsis:
>Footsteps echo in the darkness. We know not the passengers they carry. We cannot recognize their power, alleviate their burden, or understand their pain. We can never comprehend their sorrow, ease their loneliness, or experience their fear. The Gatherers and Hunters walk among us. They are everywhere, yet we do not know them. .But they know one another. Within its borders, what appears seldom is. The impossible is common. Identity is fluid. Death is not the end. Places exist not found on any maps, but they are there, known to those whose footsteps echo in the darkness. .Welcome to Oogie Boogie Central. Meet Milo Tucker, a quick-witted store detective, and Alex Harrison, a tragic youth who works in a bookstore. Their lives intersect when they confront Theodore Munsch, West Virginia's most notorious serial killer, and both are forced to confront their greatest doubts, their deepest fears. .And a murderer who will not die.

>>12716290
This

>>12705752
Conspiracy Against the Human Race just isn't good philosophy, but his writing is good enough that it fools stupid people.

>>12705752
What is he joking?

>>12705756
>Ramsey Campbell
He did write some great short stories for sure.

>>12717250
of course not, most nihilism is just sadness or anger in disguise

The Dark Chamber by Leonard Cline

A very strong story that was written in the 1920s. Leonard Cline was a really superb writer. It's a shame he didn't live to write more.

>>12705378

>>12718006
>If you don't believe in some philosophical nonsense then it means there's something wrong with you
While there is probably a shred of truth to that, to the extent that our beliefs are normal human coping mechanisms, I don't think it's a convincing argument against nihilism at all. It just sounds like something that someone who feels threatened by it would say, in order to pass it off and avoid any substantial interaction with it.

>>12705378
1/2

>>12705378
>>12718632
2/2
Not necessarily horror, but a good chart anyway

>>12718511
>it means there's something wrong with you
no, it means you don't get to even talk about """wrong""" anymore, you can't have the cake and eat it too, it's either nihilism, or it's things being """bad""", but it's not both

>>12716808
>Vandermeer, Moorcock and Mieville
Bunch of faggots.
New Weird was a mistake honestly.

>>12718668
That was my summation of anon's ad hominem against nihilists. Besides, if I were a nihilist, there would be no problem (how could there be?) with me utilizing terms like "bad" and "wrong" for rhetorical purposes (or any purpose I choose), or simply being contradictory because I can. But that's not what I was doing.

>>12718676
Why?

What are his best individual stories?

I haven’t read him extensively but so far I’d say “Bungalow House” and “Les Fleurs” are my favourite. Also I’d mention “Purity”, while the horror ‘reveal’ you can see coming from a mile away just as a short story, rather than a ‘horror’ story it’s very good, and very weird.

>>12718842
“Our Temporary Supervisor” gave me quite an existential dread. It’s definitely a parable for what might happen if we just keep following orders at work.

>>12718816
I find only a few of them to be worthwhile. Ligotti being one of the good ones.
The stuff I read from Vandermeer was very mediocre for the most part and didn't really feel weird or out of the ordinary most of the time.
Perdido Street Station was probably the worst book I've read in a very long time and I was incredible salty how that book got so many awards and recommendations.
Both of their worlds seem perfectly reasonable and not weird in the slightest because for the protagonists things are perfectly in order most of the time. In PSS you have these incredible wonky Bug people that shit out sculptures with their heads and other crazy stuff but it is just part of the world that is painted. In city of saints and madmen you have squid cults and mushroom people, but these are very mundane things no one thinks about twice.
Maybe some of their other works are better and I just didn't get into it.


Moorcock wrote Elric which are for the most part very solid books but he also doesn't really fall under the whole new weird movement if you want to call it that. He and Mieville seem to have some strange feud with Tolkien though where they feel the need to shittalk him for whatever reason.

>>12705574
when idiots wants to look smart. if you are above 18 may god help you.

>>12713016
not even close sweetie (and kys).

>>12705079
Haven't read all of the stories, but some good ones for existential horror.

>>12705574
>and then john was a zombie
>then who was phone
What's actually wrong with these concepts in horror? They're used frequently for a reason because they strike at personal horror so well.

>>12705409
Where can I find more? This is fucking excellent.

>>12710599
He's not scary, don't read him to be scared. Instead, read him if you find the mystic elements of Robert E Howard and Lovecraft interesting.

>>12710855
That's his first collection of his work but I really disagree. The Frolic, Dream of a Mannequin, Nethescurial, Drink To Me Only With Labryithine Eyes, Notes on Writing Horror, The Greater Festival of Masks and The Chymist were all chilling to me.

I think the scariest image I've ever encountered in written text is the scene in Nethescurial when he reaches the puppet show.

>>12705574
>Implying who was phone is not the greatest horror story of the twenty-first century

>>12718511
>>If you don't believe in some philosophical nonsense then it means there's something wrong with you

Nihilism is some philosophical nonsense

>>12717250
>>12718006
>>12718511
>>12718668
>>12718681
>>12720477
Are you people retarded? Conspiracy Against the Human Race is a pessimistic, not nihilistic, book. He makes it a point to say that human existence is a negative value, not a non-value.

He also directly references this line of argumentation in the book.

>>12719024
I’m reading the Southern Reach books right now and I think they are the best genre fiction I’ve read in ages.
I’ve never read anything by Miéville though

>>12721094
Have you read other weird/horror? What are other recommendations/avoids in your opinion?

>>12719024
The Scar and Kraken are better than Perdido. It's a neat idea but Mieville's executed better stuff.

A lot of the New Weird stuff seems to be weird for no reason other than to be weird and strange. Not cohesive at all.

>>12721112
Scott Cole's stuff is pretty enjoyably weird if you want something slightly off-center.

>>12706984
>>12705116
what are the best of ligotti's works?
what's worth getting?

>>12705390
whats his best book to get anon?

>>12721190
>>12721231
Get the book in OP. It's the best introduction to Ligotti; Songs of a Dead Dreamer is intended to introduce people to him and Grimscribe is the follow up.

>>12721190
Teatro Grottesco has 'The Red Tower' which I think is his best piece

>>12721190
>>12721231
Personally speaking I first got Teatro Grottesco, and liked it enough I got the Songs/Grimscribe combo. Either I think are a good place to start. “The Town Manager” or “The Bungalow House” are good stories to start with in Teatro.


>>12721112
I’m just getting into the weird, so I’m no expert.

There's a Laird Barron story where he takes the piss out of Ligotti basically saying he wasn't a real person, just the collective imaginations of an inside joke of a group of horror writers at a convention or something along those lines

>>12710598
I think it’s Christopher Walken

>>12705212
Who would be the actual holy spirit?

>>12716303
>collect Goosebumps books as a kid
>own every one of the original run
>feel sentimental towards them, so keep them tucked away until I'm about 15
>finally remember then and decide to donate them to the library I used to go to as a kid
>they only have a few that are almost always all checked out
>show up with 60+ of the library's most demanded books
>cute, young librarian girl with a huge rack is absolutely ecstatic
>they apparently never get donated and it makes her sad to always have to tell kids they're out
>bear hugs me and kisses me on the cheek
>narrowly avoid expelling my spaghetti
A large part of what got me into horror were those books. I like to think of that as Goosebumps' last parting gift for me. I'm sure some of my old copies are still there.

>>12721679
It's called "More Dark". It's his collection "The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All" (Which is a line from that story). Supposely Ligotti was not happy about it.

I read this a while ago, very good book, would recommend.

>>12722583
I would add to get his recent Penguin Classics edition of his short stories.

>>12722477
>Supposely Ligotti was not happy about it
Any further reading for the drama between them? I've never read any Barron, but this just makes him sound like a petty wanker.

Shameless bump for my as-yet-vacant Ligotti thread
>>12722541

>>12722477
That's it. Laird seems extremely petty about shit and other writers with different views than him

bump for interest

>>12723885
Anything you wanna particularly talk about?

>>12723944
I'm the anon who just finished Songs and started Grimscribe, and I was wondering if there are any other books like this that you'd recommend. I didn't really get an answer when I asked it, and I'm pretty curious to what other books have the same kind of quality/style.
(I have read 2/3rd of Lovecraft's stories, The King in Yellow, The Great God Pan, The Haunting on Hill House)
Opinions on New Weird is very divided in this thread, all I got so far was that Teatro Grottesco and Hell House are both good.

>>12722642
I think Barron said it in an interview. Barron did just because he doesn’t agree with Ligotti’s worldview.

>>12724465
Because that's exactly the thing you do when you don't agree with an author's worldview.