They say it will be his most personal work yet... I wonder what it has in store for us. I thought his testament was going to be Spectral Link. Regardless, if you haven't read The Teatro Grottesco or Spectral Link, you can consider yourself lucky. You still have what is, in my judgment, the best thing Ligotti has written to date.
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Ah, now that you've reminded me, if you haven't read this book by Tom, get to it before reading Teatro grottesco. It's magnificent and utterly addictive. It's almost a thriller, infused with pure cosmic horror and workplace satire. There's a scene involving a human mannequin that's pitch-black in its humor.I almost forgot—did you end up buying this one? I think it came out after the Aurora Dorada book.
Mi trabajo todavía no está acabado - Editorial Valdemar
Tres cuentos de horror corporativoLigotti, Thomas9788477029489GOT-129
It contains three stories. One is an experimental collage made up of different vignettes about a decaying corporation. Another is a tale set in a city perpetually shrouded in a yellowish fog that seems to be responsible for the many murders that occur there every day. The third, and by far the best, is the novella My Work Is Not Yet Done: Frank Dominio is humiliated by his co-workers and, after visiting a gun shop and buying what he needs to get rid of some of them, he becomes possessed by a cosmic force that grants him various abilities. He can manipulate the flesh of his enemies, inflicting grotesque punishments such as fusing them with objects like chairs, shrinking them and compressing their flesh and bones, or sending them to a dimension where they are relentlessly tormented by tentacled beings until they lose their sanity. Each chapter revolves around a different gruesome punishment. The ending features a magnificent twist and a conversation with his boss that brings everything into focus.
It's a very different book from what Ligotti usually writes. It revisits his familiar ideas but expands them in a refreshing, almost playful way. At times, it feels like a suspense series. His prose isn't as baroque or poetic here, but there's a magnificent reflection on the moment when Frank crushes a cockroach and senses the "attunement and bond" with the tiny droplets of darkness that inhabit the insect and set its mechanisms in motion.
Some time ago we got the info about future collection called "Menagerie", which evolved into something spectacular, so I guess (and hope) that we will receive a mix of stories published earlier only in some fanzins (planned for the original project), and some new content. Anyway I am excited, what future will bring in this matter.