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The Nightmare Factory (Paperback)

~ (Author), Poppy Z. Brite (Foreword)
Key Phrases: gas station carnivals, subterranean graveyard, sympathetic organisms, Red Tower, Alb Indys, Miss Locher (more...)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Thomas Ligotti, in his own words, writes of "a world that both surpasses and menaces this one." He is the contemporary master of the "weird tale," and yet his style is so intellectually intriguing, he has as much in common with Borges and Kafka as with Lovecraft and Machen. If you haven't discovered Ligotti yet, this edition is a great opportunity to do so: it collects all 39 stories from previous collections, plus 6 new ones--also, a forward by Poppy Z. Brite, and an introduction by Ligotti on "What are the consolations of horror?"

For more on Ligotti, see reviews of Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Grimscribe: His Life and Works, and Noctuary.



From Booklist

In this stout volume, Ligotti offers American readers selections from three previous collections not readily available in the U.S. and, in a concluding section, some entirely new pieces. Very little seems to be known about Ligotti, but to judge from his stories, he is well traveled, has a superb command of setting and tone as well as of the English language, and is strongly biased toward the darker end of the fantasy spectrum. He also exhibits admirable economy of words, for more than 50 of his stories fit between the covers of this book. If there is very little here that will slake the lover of vast, sprawling horror novels, connoisseurs of literary skill who are willing to be frightened will find the book a feast, albeit one best consumed in small helpings. Roland Green
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 552 pages
  • Publisher: Carroll & Graf (June 27, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0786703024
  • ISBN-13: 978-0786703029
  • Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #482,314 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #8 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( L ) > Ligotti, Thomas
    #12 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Brite, Poppy Z.

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Thomas Ligotti
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
gas station carnivals, subterranean graveyard, sympathetic organisms, visceral artist, artistic underworld, crimson woman, dream monologue, skeleton town, delirious episodes, puppet creature, bungalow house, small plastic table, purple woman, outrageous nonsense, clown puppet, puppet thing, medicine shop, intestinal virus, sideshow tent, derelict factory, great blackness, novelty goods
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Red Tower, Alb Indys, Miss Locher, Miss Plarr, Arthur Emerson, Andrew Maness, Reverend Maness, Aunt Elise, Crimson Cabaret, Victor Keirion, Instructor Carniero, Alban's Marsh, Imaginary Museum, Teatro Grottesco, Winter Queen, Christmas Eve, Hill House, New England, Street of Lamps, Grosse Pointe, John Doe, Old Jack, Ticket Man, Fine Arts, Miss Plan
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Stuff of Our Best Nightmares, December 9, 2000
Mr. Ligotti is the true Master of contemporary horror. He understands how to communicate the breakdown of rationality. If you have read Kafka, you probably know what I am talking about. His stories take place in a bleak post-industrial zone of decaying cities, drifting artistic failures and dark mystics playing with the soul-searing secrets of an unfriendly cosmos. In a King or Koontz story, you may be chased by a horrible monster. But you still retain your identity and place in linear space-time. Not so with Ligotti's world. He submerges his doomed characters in a void where everything becomes menacing and lawless. One of his stories describes a sect who once believed that everything was filled with a divine essence. Exploring the matter deeper, however, they discovered that the reverse was true. The entire universe was filled with a hostile decaying essence and the only hope for happiness is ignorance. People tried to find out the ultimate truth, discovered to late that it was unspeakably horrible and then could not forget what they had learned. Pieces of an idol representing the foul nature of existence were scattered like the body of Osiris to the ends of the earth so as to hide the truth from the innocent. Another story concerns enchanting music played by mysterious performers in an abondoned building on nights when the moon is full. Anyone who hears the music is found mutilated and wrapped in a web-like bandages the next morning. We are never told why this happens, but it communicates a feeling of dread--humans are being preyed upon by incomprehensible forces. A small town is dominated by a creepy clown-like cult that are anything but funny. A grown man is driven near madness by memories of a disturbing carnival sideshow attended in his boyhood. These stories are for you if you like to be challenged to take a look at the world from a radical new perspective. Philosophical pessimists will them for their bleakness, poets for their haunting use of language and vague but emotionally charged descriptions. People just looking for something different will not be disappointed. This book was out of print for a while but, thankfully, it is available again. Buy it while you can.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Carrying the traditional weird tale into the next century, March 18, 2002
By Nevzat Evrim Onal (Istanbul Turkey) - See all my reviews
The work of Thomas Ligotti is the revival horror literature was in dire need of since the swamping of the genre by writers with below-average imagination and a writing rate of three paperbacks a year. If you have liked the works of E.A.Poe, or H.P. Lovecraft, or both, then Ligotti will come as a blessing to you.
"Nightmare Factory" combines the four collections of Ligotti, sadly missing the drawings and poems that were included in the original editions of "Songs of a Dead Dreamer", "Noctuary", "Grimscribe" and "Teatro Grottesco". Being a nihilist himself, Ligotti delivers a verse that carries a very strong sense of foreboding gloom. His settings are out of place, nightmarish and maddeningly surreal. As you read through paragraphs, you feel yourself walking just steps behind the helpless protagonist into dread regions of madness where everything is a broken reflection of its original self. Horror unfolds as the "Greater Festival of Masks" nears its time of unmasking, where faces without soul take the stage. Young girls are abducted into frolicking, without a scream, without a whimper. A way lost in twisted alleys ends up in the worst place one can possibly hope not to get. Reflections in windows refuse to leave until people step over their dread and step into shuttered rooms. Sects worship idiot gods, intoning phrases and chants neither they, nor their idol understand.
With a strong use of language, Ligotti carries us through his Nightmare Factory, where the line between light and darkness gets fuzzy, meanings of words are sinisterly re-defined, and it is impossible to tell whether angles are acute or obtuse.
If you read horror, please do yourself a favor and take my advice. Ligotti is easily the best writer in the genre, and it seems he'll stay that way until someone else comes along.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars a fabulous collection from a master of gothic literature, March 12, 1998
Thomas Ligotti is perhaps the only living gothic visionary. His tales shimmer with dread and a sense of creeping doom. Who could read "The Frolic" and not be disturbed by it's menacing portnets of imminent doom? "The Red Tower" reads like a nightmare from a David Lynch movie, most notably "Eraserhead". Truly, Ligotti is a prince of Darkness and this collection cannot be recommended enough. It is a massive collection containing most of his collected fiction from "Songs of a Dead Dreamer", "Grimscribe" and "Noctuary". It also has four new stories including the unforgettably macabre "Red Tower". Really, this one cannot be left from the list of essential collections. It ranks alongside the brilliance of masters like Ramsey Campbell, Robert Aickman, Russell Kirk and Dennis Etchison. Good enough company for anyone I would have thought.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Heard it before, needs less descriptions and more plots.
There has to be a beginning, middle and an end to a short story. I found plenty of imagination, but lacking the horror that I expected. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Greg W. Shaw

5.0 out of 5 stars A great collection of creepy weird tales!
Very much in the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce and E.A. Poe. Ligotti paints wonderfully horrific images with words. Read more
Published on March 23, 2005 by anonymous

5.0 out of 5 stars Gnostic Nihilism
A celebration of utter bleakness that becomes beautiful in the courage of its purity...imagine John Doe of the film, Seven, but with the hatred replaced by wonder. Read more
Published on April 21, 2004 by Elizabeth A. Stack

4.0 out of 5 stars Waking up in a nightmare
Ligotti pens the dark blues, purples, greys and ash of twilit towns, where the occupants grow to pale mushrooms. Read more
Published on February 21, 2004 by Gary D. Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars authentic horror, not for the timid King fan
truly disturbing. its images will bore into your mind and haunt you long after the book is read. Best literary horror in ages.
Published on January 26, 2004 by Eric Orion

4.0 out of 5 stars Writing, concepts = 10 stars!
Thomas Ligotti is the most interesting thing happening in all the books currently on my shelf (besides the ever-fascinating Osho). I'm absorbed. Read more
Published on September 29, 2003 by Noel Pratt

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinarily Impressive
Eerie. That's the first word that pops to mind when thinking of Ligotti's style of writing. Like a word association test; Ligotti . . . Eerie. Read more
Published on July 7, 2003 by netchild

5.0 out of 5 stars By far the best book I've read in a LONG time
Shortly before I purchased this book, I was in the mood for a good, twisted, even disturbing, novel. Read more
Published on June 14, 2003 by Link

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Collection from the Best Weird Fiction Writer Alive!
This is a collection of three books from Thomas Ligotti: "Songs of a Dead Dreamer", "Grimscribe", & "Nocuary. It also contains some unpublished material to form Part 4. Read more
Published on October 23, 2002 by Justin Kennedy

5.0 out of 5 stars Too few superlatives to describe the caliber of his writing
Some here have written more detailed reviews, so I will simply say that I have not been this excited about a horror/macabre writer since I discovered Lovecraft when I was a... Read more
Published on August 27, 2002 by the dredger

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