In A Dark Light
Grimscribe
Alas, that's one of the (relatively) few Ligotti stories I have never come across; most likely because Noctuary is pretty much completely unavailable.
Favourite Ligotti Story
- Thread starter majickdog
- Start date
Alas, that's one of the (relatively) few Ligotti stories I have never come across; most likely because Noctuary is pretty much completely unavailable.
ToALonelyPeace
Grimscribe
Which edition of Noctuary? I grabbed the Running Press Book one a while ago for $50 now that one is $80. The Subterranean Press one is available for $180 though that one has always been out of my price range.
In A Dark Light
Grimscribe
£95 is the cheapest edition I've come across, which is considerably beyond my price range.
majickdog
Acolyte
I found it on betterworldbooks for $7 and free shipping. Check this out. I live in Waterloo, Ontario, ordered the book from Texas (I think) and when it arrived it turned out to be an ex library book donated to betterworldbooks by the Waterloo library right down the street from my house. It went from here to Texas and directly back here for $7. So bizarre.
Masonwire
Chymist
Off the top of my head (not ranked):
The Greater Festival of Masks
The Last Feast of Harlequin
The Shadow at the Bottom of the World
Nethescurial
The Tsalal
The Nightmare Network
The Red Tower
Gas Station Carnivals
The Shadow, the Darkness
The Town Manager
Maybe not the most original of choices but these are stories I can re-read over and over again and still find something new and disturbing each time. Mind you, this can be said about most of Tom's work.
The Greater Festival of Masks
The Last Feast of Harlequin
The Shadow at the Bottom of the World
Nethescurial
The Tsalal
The Nightmare Network
The Red Tower
Gas Station Carnivals
The Shadow, the Darkness
The Town Manager
Maybe not the most original of choices but these are stories I can re-read over and over again and still find something new and disturbing each time. Mind you, this can be said about most of Tom's work.
NewTownManager
Mannikin
currently The Clown Puppet is the one that stuck with me in my reading and I've since diverted off for the moment to read Puppet by Kenneth Gross so as to better understand
Rosemary
Acolyte
I have yet to read everything (I don't know if I ever will manage it) but so far, my favourite hands down is The Chymist. One of the rare horror stories I have read that gave me physical reactions of fear.
Other favourites so far:
- The Last Feast of Harlequin
- The Town Manager
- Masquerade of a Dead Sword
Other favourites so far:
- The Last Feast of Harlequin
- The Town Manager
- Masquerade of a Dead Sword
JohnDoe
Mannikin
these all rotate as my current top favorites. But then again, other stories rotate in sometimes as well.
Constantly changing/adjusting...
A Soft Voice Whispers Nothing
The Clown Puppet
My Work is Not Yet Done
The Nightmare Network
The Chymist
Gas Station Carnivals
The Small People
Purity
The Shadow, The Darkness
The Bungalow House
The Night School
Last Feast of Harlequin
Constantly changing/adjusting...
A Soft Voice Whispers Nothing
The Clown Puppet
My Work is Not Yet Done
The Nightmare Network
The Chymist
Gas Station Carnivals
The Small People
Purity
The Shadow, The Darkness
The Bungalow House
The Night School
Last Feast of Harlequin
bendk
Grimscribe
My favorite might be "The Greater Festival of Masks" because it actually saved my life. When I was 40, I got a very serious diagnosis that started "massive, inoperable" It was literally a death sentence. I went to three surgeons who refused to attempt the surgery. Two because I didn't have the money, and one because he had just lost a patient on the table 3 months prior for the same surgery. I knew I had to keep trying but I couldn't think straight. I would go walking for hours. Sometimes I would look up and have no idea where I was. Also, at times I couldn't feel my feet touching the ground when I walked. I was completely disoriented. I tried to shake myself out of my stupor, but nothing worked. I went to my go-to guys for reading: Saki, Wodehouse, Poe, and even Kafka. Nothing worked. I finally picked up Ligotti and read "The Greater Festival of Masks." Something clicked. My head cleared. I made one more call to a surgeon. She agreed to see me. When I walked in, I could tell she was going to say no. Much to my surprise she asked me If I was related to Julie (my last name) who went to St. Vincent's High School. I said, yes, she was my first cousin. Julie is just 9 months older than me, so we were all the same age. I knew I struck gold, because I had a great Julie story. It is somewhat scandalous in our Catholic family. At the downtown church in Akron, is St Bernard's Parish. Every Christmas they have a life-size manger scene inside the church. Well, when Julie had her first baby, she loved that baby so much, that she took Jesus out of the manger and put her son in there to get a photo. It was harmless, but everyone laughed. I recounted this story to the surgeon. She started laughing. She cracked. She said she would look into the operation. She later called me and we set up a meeting, She said she would attempt it, but the prognosis was not good. Well, she did it and it was successful, but it was the most difficult time in the hospital I had ever spent. The post-op pain is indescribable. I was on powdered dilauded and it barely worked. I was only given a dose every 6 hours and it worked for about a half an hour. The next 5 and a half hours I was looking for a way to kill myself. This went on for more than a week; they kept moving me back and forth to ICU. A couple of nights, I knew that if I went to sleep, I wouldn't wake up. Some of the doctors told my parents, that I was most likely going to die. Looking back, it would have been best If I died from my initial blood disease diagnosis at age 15. This existence has not been very fun for me.
Mr Fatigue
Mannikin
Not very original, but for me it is The Last Feast of Harlequin. To be honest, so far I haven't come across any Ligotti's story which I wouldn't enjoy one way or another. When I thought about adding some other positions here, my list kept growing as it is so difficult to decide which ones I favour more. The information about this one caught my attention when I explored Ligotti's interviews, and since I read it, it keeps special place in my mind. In some way, I feel some kind of connection with the cult from Mirocaw (well, except the cannibalism part).
Rosemary
Acolyte
But is it cannibalism when you turn into a different species?
Jokes aside, I'm beginning to feel like The Last Feast of Harlequin is the quintessential Ligotti story. It has everything that makes his writing style unique.
I agree it's difficult to know if one of his stories is truly a favourite when there are so many great ones, and so many more left to read.
Cnev
Chymist
Happy you are with us. Always glad to see you around these parts.
I haven't read the complete oeuvre of Ligotti yet, but my favourite thus far by a long way is 'The Shadow, The Darkness'. For me, it's a masterpiece of metaphysical horror which left me feeling stunned, to say the least, after I'd finished reading it. To this day only one other short story has had such a visceral effect on me, and that's Theodore Sturgeon's 'Bright Segment'. Both, for me, are unparalleled in emotional impact.
It's been a while since I read the collection in which that short story was published, Carlos. The collection is well overdue for a reread. But next on my to-be-read list is Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Not too long ago, I was lucky enough to get my hands on the first edition. It wasn't cheap, but worth every penny. I can't wait to read it as it was before Ligotti revised it for subsequent editions.
Souphead
Acolyte
This reply is to the 2018 comment which I didn't see any one answer. "Notebook of the Night" isn't an actual story but at least, in my Carroll & Graf copy, the named third section of Noctuary. The reason for saying "the whole thing" is because it is 20 very short stories. By short, I mean two to four pages typically. At least completists can know to stop looking for the "missing" Ligotti story.