#Thomas Evenson

[frimleyblogger]

Howzat!

I was saddened the other week to hear of the death of Frank Duckworth, a statistician who found enduring fame by devising, along with Tony Lewis, a method for more equitably settling the result of a limited overs game of cricket interrupted by the weather. Recognising that there were only two factors, or in their terminology resources, that affected the ultimate score of a team, the number of…

[pejite]

One day, as Winifred prepared to pay a visit to her husband's resting place, Thomas fervently expressed his desire to accompany her. Seeing an opportunity for him to become acquainted with his grandfather, Winifred welcomed the idea, anticipating a heartfelt conversation during their journey.

Since the passing of her husband a few months prior to Wilhelmina and Edwin's wedding, Winifred had diligently made weekly pilgrimages to his gravesite. She took great care to ensure it was adorned with fresh flowers, each petal a testament to her enduring love and respect.

While at the cemetery, Winifred noticed a familiar figure approaching, someone she identified as the daughter of a late friend. Knowing that her friend's daughter had married, Winifred supposed that the little one cradled in her arms was her daughter. The woman approached a gravestone that seemed relatively new.

Winifred waited for an appropriate moment and then approached to greet her, thinking that she was visiting her mother.

As they began to converse, Winifred realized that the woman wasn't visiting her mother but her husband. Winifred offered her condolences and felt deeply saddened to see such a young woman become a widow. Having experienced the loss of her own beloved husband, she could empathize with the grief. The image of Wilhelmina and Edwin flashed in her mind, and she prayed that such a fate would not befall her daughter.

She explained that her husband fell ill suddenly and after depleting all their savings on a doctor, they discovered he had tuberculosis. He passed away within weeks of falling ill, leaving her alone with a baby.

Winifred asked her what she was going to do to sustain herself and her daughter and the woman replied that she might be able to find work in a factory, but she couldn't leave her daughter alone.

On the other hand, the little girl, seemingly unaware that she had lost her father, couldn't stop looking at Thomas the entire time Winifred was talking to her mother. Thomas, being a shy child, felt a bit self-conscious and didn't want to leave his grandmother's arms.

[nbdraws]

oc sketch dump post, because i forget to post things here sometimes

[cyancherub]

do you have any book recommendations for us :D

MAYBE SO.......!!!! u know i love talkin abt books!!!

well, ok since ive posted about most of the books ive been reading recently MAYBE i can also post about some that i ordered and am waiting to arrive??? because all of these sounded very interesting to me!!!

SO books i have coming in the mail:

surrealist novels:

the woman in the dunes by kobo abe

the hearing trumpet by leonora carrington

the melancholy of resistance by laszlo krasznahorkai:

the third policeman by flann o'brien

nadja by andre breton

(been really into surrealism lately if it isn't apparent. most excited for melancholy of resistance i think)

horror, gothic, etc:

bruges-la-morte by georges rodenbach

the damned (la-bas) by joris-karl huysmans

floating dragon by peter straub

classics, short stories, etc:

french decadent tales (oxford world's classics) by stephen romer

in watermelon sugar by richard brautigan

swann's way (in search of lost time, #1) by marcel proust

selected short stories by balzac

icefields by thomas wharton

some ive picked up recently & stoked to read:

ada, or ardor by nabokov (my most beloved author of all time)

carmilla by le fanu

nightmare alley by william lindsay gresham

a king alone by jean giono

twilight of the idols by nietzsche

transparent things by nabokov

dark water by koji suzuki

selected poems by jorge luis borges (also beloved)

trolled my goodreads for more recs

books ive read & enjoyed so far this year:

the iliac crest by cristina rivera garza

the tenant by roland topor (FAV!!! huge fav)

crimson labyrinth by yusuke kishi

pedro paramo by juan rulfo

carolina ghost woods by judy jordan

death in her hands by ottessa moshfegh

the unbearable lightness of being by milan kundera

in the lake of the woods by tim o'brien

disgrace by j m coetzee

goth by otsuichi

books i enjoyed from last year:

the lottery & other stories by shirley jackson

the vegetarian by han kang

rosemary's baby by ira levin

piercing by ryu murakami (an all time fav)

the bloody chamber by angela carter (fav)

starve acre by andrew michael hurley (also a fav)

the glassy, burning floor of hell by brian evenson

the devil's larder by jim crace

monstrilio by gerardo samano cordova

and as a bonus, literally anything by nabokov. i have a big book of his short fiction that ive been reading slowly for a long while. despair by him is my fav book of all time, hands down. he is a master of absurdism (and a master of every language he writes in).

ALSO!!!! if youre into poetry, anything and every single thing by: t.s. eliot, baudelaire, rimbaud, borges. i also love neruda's poetry but i have heard he was an awful man so keep that in mind

[twinkubus]

got tagged by @librarycards for a book rec list. ærs covered Q2'23; i'm just gonna do my faves from the first half of the year!

i've been reading a different crop of books since i made last year's list--i've taken a big dive back into sf, especially books by cj cherryh, as well as indie horror (that's... well, you'll find out when you look at the list).

again, they're ordered by when i read them. here we go!!!

Shmutz, Felicia Berliner (contemporary fiction, young hasidic woman comes of age, tries to find a husband, and gets obsessed with porn)

Father of Lies, Brian Evenson (psychological horror centering on a mormon religious leader. if you like books that make you feel gross and bad, this one's for you)

Any Other City, Hazel Jane Plante (fictional memoir of a trans musician. the book is split between her life right before she comes out, and then decades later when she's an established musician)

Camp Concentration, Thomas M. Disch (not even sure how to describe this one. fat, lapsed catholic, conscientous objector Louis Sachetti is imprisoned for refusing to become a US soldier and is sent to a prison where the (mostly black) inmates are being injected with experimental drugs. the author is gay and there's a lot of parallels to hiv/aids despite this being written in '68)

The World Cannot Give, Tara Isabella Burton (what if the secret history was catholic lesbians)

Amygdalatropolis, B.R. Yeager (another "if you like gross books" rec. i don't even know if i liked this one, but it was certainly interesting. chronicles the existence of a 4chan NEET)

Jealousy, Alain Robbe-Grillet (1957 french experientalism, i read this bc dennis cooper referenced it in an interview. believing his wife to be cheating on him, the narrator spies on her through a jalousie window, recording everything in his frame of vision that he can see. v interesting stylistically and could also rly benefit from a postcolonial reading)

The Pride of Chanur, CJ Cherryh (i read the entire trilogy pictured above, plus the first two books of her Foreigner series. it's basically a courtly fantasy/first contact mashup in space, really well developed alien cultures with lots of factions among them. tons of fun)

Frisk, Dennis Cooper (third "if you like gross extremist fiction" on here. this is my fave cooper after The Sluts and the most thematically resonant. if you haven't read the sluts i'd rec starting there. if i was a prof i would assign them together or even do this in a short course if there wasn't time for a longer book)

tagging @thebestestbat @tsubakiscarlet @danishprince @dovebeast @stackslip @eraserheadcrybaby @interstellarhitchhiker @kollapstradixionales @papika & would be happy to see book rec lists of anyone else!! fiction or non fiction or anything else idc whatever you're into ^_^

[devoutjunk]

Novel Syllabus 2024

This coming year I think I'm going to be on here more often than I am on twitter or elsewhere, and as part of that, I'm going to start documenting the process of writing my novel more actively. I want to return to/resurrect the momentum and energy I had while writing the first draft and be more intentional about setting aside time to work, even when it's difficult. Below are my writing goals for the coming year as well as my reading list of texts for inspiration, genre/background research, comps, etc. Would welcome any suggestions of texts (any genre/discipline) pertaining to Antigone, death & resurrection, Welsh and Cornish myth and folklore, ecology & environmental crisis, and the Gothic.

Writing Goals

Reach 50k words in draft 2 overall

Finish a draft of Anna's timeline

Finish a draft of Jo's timeline

Polish & submit an excerpt for the Center for Fiction Prize

Reading

* = reread

Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & The Apocalyptic

The Memory Theater (Karin Tidbeck)

Who Fears Death (Nnedi Okorafor)

Urth of The New Sun (Gene Wolfe)

Slow River (Nicola Griffith)

Dream Snake (Vonda McIntyre)

Black Leopard, Red Wolf (Marlon James)

Notes from the Burning Age (Claire North)

Invisible Cities (Italo Calvino)*

Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)*

The Last Man (Mary Shelley)

The Drowned World (J.G. Ballard)

Strange Beasts of China (Yan Ge, trans. by Jeremy Tiang)

City of Saints and Madmen (Jeff VanderMeer)

Freshwater (Akweke Emezi)

The Glass Hotel (Emily St. John Mandel)

Pattern Master (Octavia Butler)

Sleep Donation (Karen Russell)

How High We Go in the Dark (Sequoia Nagamatsu)

The Magician's Nephew (C.S. Lewis)*

The Golden Compass (Phillip Pullman)*

The Green Witch (Susan Cooper)

The Tombs of Atuan (Ursula K. Le Guin)

Black Sun (Rebecca Roanhorse)

Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)

Lives of the Monster Dogs (Kirsten Bakis)

Brian Evenson

Sofia Samatar

Connie Willis

Samuel Delaney

Jo Walton

Tanith Lee

Retellings

A Wild Swan (Michael Cunningham)

Til We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis)

Gingerbread (Helen Oyeyemi)

Circe (Madeline Miller)

The Owl Service (Alan Garner)

Literary Myth-Making, Mystery, and the Gothic

Nights at the Circus (Angela Carter)

Frenchman's Creek (Daphne Du Maurier)

Possession (A.S. Byatt)*

The Game (A.S. Byatt)*

The Essex Serpent (Sarah Perry)

Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)

The Secret History (Donna Tartt)*

The Wild Hunt (Emma Seckel)

King Nyx (Kirsten Bakis)

The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)

The Lottery and Other Stories (Shirley Jackson)

Beloved (Toni Morrison)

The Night Land (William Hope Hodgson)

Interview with a Vampire (Anne Rice)*

Sexing the Cherry (Jeanette Winterson)*

Night Side of the River (Jeanette Winterson)

Bad Heroines (Emily Danforth)

All the Murmuring Bones (A.G. Slatter)

The Path of Thorns (A.G. Slatter)

Gormenghast (Mervyn Peake)

Prose Work, Perspective, and Stream of Consciousness

The Chandelier (Clarice Lispector)

The Waves (Virginia Woolf)*

The Years (Virginia Woolf)

The Intimate Historical Epic / Court Intrigues

Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel)*

Menewood (Nicola Griffith)

Dark Earth (Rebecca Stott)

A Place of Greater Safety (Hilary Mantel)

Research

The Mabinogion (trans. Sioned Davies)

Le Morte D'Arthur (Thomas Malory)

The Collected Brothers Grimm (Phillip Pullman)

Angela Carter's Collected Fairytales

Mythology (Edith Hamilton)

Underland (Robert Macfarlane)

The Wild Places (Robert Macfarlane)

Wildwood (Roger Deakin)

Vanishing Cornwall (Daphne Du Maurier)

Lonely Planet: Guide to Devon & Cornwall

A Traveler's Guide to the End of the World (David Gessner)

The Lost Boys of Montauk (Amanda M. Fairbanks)

A Cyborg Manifesto (Donna J. Harraway)

A Treasury of British Folklore (Dee Dee Chainey)*

The First Last Man: Mary Shelley and the Postapocalyptic Imagination (Eileen M. Hunt)

Antigone's Claim (Judith Butler)

Theories of Desire: Antigone Again (Judith Butler)

Ecology of Fear (Mike Davis)

[thehorrortree]

Submission Window: January 1st – January 7th, 2024 Payment: 3 cents per word for original fiction. 5k words = $150, 20 dollars for artwork chosen as interior content. Negotiable, 100 dollars for cover art. Negotiable. Theme: cosmic horror, Lovecraftian, and weird fiction and non-fiction essays that explore the state of horror as well as philosophies often found in cosmic horror Cosmic Horror Monthly is a horror and weird fiction magazine edited by Charles Tyra. Submission periods are twice yearly from January 1st – January 7th and July 1st – July 7th. January stories accepted will appear in issues July – December July stories accepted will appear in issues January – June SUBMISSION PROCEDURES We are now accepting non-fiction submissions as well as fiction. We would love to see non-fiction essays that explore the state of horror as well as philosophies often found in cosmic horror, i.e. pessimism, nihilism, existentialism, etc. Instructions: All writing must be submitted via email to submissions@cosmichorrormonthly.com. When submitting, include a little background information about yourself in the body and attach the story in the form of a Microsoft Word file. Please include a word count and a brief synopsis of the work. For artwork, please put a link to the gallery/pieces in the body of the email along with any relevant background information. You may also attach example art. Acceptable file formats for attachments are DOC and DOCX for fiction, JPG, and PNG for art. The subject line of the email should read: “CHM Fiction Submission” for fiction, “CHM Non-Fiction Submission” for non-fiction, and “CHM Art Submission” for art. Guidelines Cosmic Horror Monthly is seeking cosmic horror, Lovecraftian, and weird fiction. If you aren’t sure if your work qualifies, submit it. No subject is off-limits and we do encourage writers to try and push the status quo. Please only submit a single story once and only submit one story per email. Multiple submissions are strongly discouraged. Every email will be checked! We are interested in stories written by human beings only. Simultaneous submissions are allowed. At this time, we are strongly favoring stories with a contemporary narrative style. Lovecraftian themes and mythos works are welcomed but try to avoid Lovecraft pastiche and styles mimicking that of his writer circle from the early 20th century. In terms of style, we are fans of Laird Barron, John Langan, Mike Allen, Hailey Piper, Brian Evenson, Thomas Ligotti, Jon Padgett, Gemma Files, Nicole Cushing, and more. Submit your manuscript in Shunn Standard Manuscript Format (Modern or Classic). Word Count: We are open to stories of 1000-5000 words. Stories in the range of 2500-4000 words are preferred. Art If you are an artist, please submit pieces that you feel might be fitting to appear on the cover or in the interior of the magazine. If it is helpful, the magazine runs at a size of 5.5 x 8.5 inches. We do not publish art that utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its creation. Payment 3 cents per word for original fiction. 5k words = $150 No reprints at this time. 20 dollars for artwork chosen as interior content. Negotiable. 100 dollars for cover art. Negotiable. To review rights, please request the artist/publisher or the writer/publisher contract. Questions/Problems Email submissions@cosmichorrormonthly.com for all inquiries. Diversity Statement: We believe that the horror genre’s diversity is its greatest strength, and we wish that viewpoint to be reflected in our story content and our submission queues; we welcome submissions from writers of every race, religion, nationality, gender, and sexual orientation. Sexual themes and stories with strong sexual content are acceptable, but Cosmic Horror Monthly is not a market for erotica. If in doubt, feel free to send your story in and let us decide. Please no fan fiction for existing creative universes not in the public domain. The Cthulhu mythos is fair game but be careful using common or worn-out genre tropes—trust us, we’ve seen it all at this point.

We prefer to be surprised. If you’re not sure if your story is suitable, don’t query; please just go ahead and submit and let us decide. You are welcome to resubmit previously rejected stories if they have been significantly revised. Via: Cosmic Horror Monthly.

[kylejsugarman]

Sorry if you've talked about this before but do you have any horror book reccs? Your post made me wonder what horror books you do like, and I trust you enough to have good taste. Thank you <3

i honestly haven't read a ton of straight-up horror novels: the two kinds of books i love most are compilations of horror short stories and horror film theory/analysis, so thats more of what i tend to read!! if u dont mind the horror books being anthologies or short story compilations, then i really recommend clive barker's "books of blood" and stuff by brian evenson (specifically his short stories, ive heard mixed things abt his full-length novels), thomas ligotti, robert c mccammon, stephen king (most of his books are messy or straight up bad, but his batting average is much higher with his short stories, i can think of several that are legit great), carmen maria machado. u cant go wrong with the classics by shirley jackson and ira levin. eric larocca and nick cutter's work never did much for me, but those are at least competent writers u can try out if ur looking for more disturbing and, in cutter's case, straight up gory stories. ive always had trouble finding horror books that seem interesting or effective To Me (which is the main reason "playground" initially caught my eye lol) so i unfortunately dont have a ton of book recs, but i think these are some decent (short-form) launchpads!! also never underestimate the power of a good horror film theory book, especially if ur pretty familiar with the foundational horror movies and have an interest in critical analysis

[reposted-yura15cbx]

Harold C. Goddard - The Meaning of Shakespeare, Volume 2 (Phoenix Books) (1951).pdf Honor Matthews - Character and Symbol in Shakespeare’s Plays_ A Study of Certain Christian and Pre-Christian Elements in Their Structure and .pdf Hugh Craig, Arthur F. Kinney - Shakespeare, Computers, and the Mystery of Authorship (2009).pdf Ivo Kamps, Karen L. Raber, Thomas Hallock - Early Modern Ecostudies_ From the Florentine Codex to Shakespeare (2008).pdf J. M. Evenson - Shakespeare for Screenwriters_ Timeless Writing Tips from the Master of Drama-Michael Wiese Productions (2013).epub James A. Knapp (auth.) - Image Ethics in Shakespeare and Spenser-Palgrave Macmillan US (2011).pdf James C. Bulman - Shakespeare, Theory and Performance-Routledge (1995).pdf

James Shapiro - A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare_ 1599-HarperCollins (2005).pdf Jan H. Blits - The Soul of Athens_ Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'-Lexington Books (2003).pdf Jeffrey Knapp - Shakespeare Only (2009).pdf Jennifer Hulbert, Robert York, Kevin J. Wetmore - Shakespeare and Youth Culture-Palgrave Macmillan (2006).pdf John D. Cox - Seeming Knowledge_ Shakespeare and Skeptical Faith (Studies in Christianity and Literature) (2007).pdf John Drakakis, Dale Townshend - Gothic Shakespeares (Accents on Shakespeare) (2008).pdf John Elsom - Is Shakespeare Still Our Contemporary_ (1990).pdf John Joughin - Philosophical Shakespeares -Routledge (2000).pdf John Michael Archer - Citizen Shakespeare_ Freemen and Aliens in the Language of the Plays -Palgrave Macmillan (2005).pdf

[nettirw]

PRISMS

Prisms (co-edited by Darren Speegle and yours truly) is now available by PS Publishing. Available in trade hardcover or limited signed / numbered hardback (only 100, signed by all). Instruments, mirrors, metaphors, gateways humankind must pass through in order to achieve, to overcome, to realize, to become. Contained herein are nineteen transformative tales from some of speculative fiction’s…

[legendsoftabletop]

Leah Looks At - Looming Low: Vol. II

Leah Looks At – Looming Low: Vol. II

Looming Low: Vol. IIEdited by: Justin Steele and Max CowanPublisher: Dim Shores Publication Year: October, 2022ISBN: 9798985828214 Format: Hardcover and First Paperback editions limited to 150 hand-numbered copies. At the time of this post, I have seen that number now in question for First Paperback. An e-book version is promised to arrive, but timing remains uncertain.The award-winning anthology…

[pejite]

As winter wrapped its chilly embrace around Henford-On-Bagley once more, the town's landscape bathed in the serene frost. With a break from the farm, Edwin found himself relishing the luxury of extra time with his family.

Throughout most of the winter, their days unfolded cozily around the fireplace. Thanks to their thoughtful preparation in collecting firewood, worries about the cold took a back seat.

On a different note, this time around Wilhelmina's pregnancy was progressing smoothly, her health resilient amidst the usual ups and downs. Entering the last trimester brought a sense of relief, especially with winter's arrival, a welcomed pause. The thought of tackling farm tasks with a growing belly was a concern, and the winter season provided a comforting backdrop to navigate this phase with ease.

Luckily, young Thomas turned out to be more of a delight than a handful, showing a surprising awareness of his mother's occasional weariness despite his tender age. Whether it was the winter air or just his nature, on days when he wasn't busy playing with Edwin or Winifred, he chose to spend most of his time peacefully dozing in his cot, bringing a calm and natural flow to the daily routine.

[thebibliothecar]

In His House, by Richard Thomas

In His House, by Richard Thomas

“It’s not hard.I just need you to listen.And keep listening.That part is essential.I need you to recite a few strange words the morning sun, or the afternoon doldrums, or the long, ever-expanding night. Wherever you are, whenever you are, whoever you are.In his house, he waits dreaming.”—Richard Thomas, “In His House” Is there a better way to round out the year of reviews than with the big “C”…

[notbecauseofvictories]

hi sarah! i got into tma way back when you posted something about it (2 years ago, i think??) and while i was a little, er,,, disappointed by the ending, i still really really liked a lot of the statements and characters. i have a little time on my hands these days w everything going online again and wanted to ask if you had any podcast or book recs? when i finished tma i looked back on your posts and your analysis was always spot on so i'd love to know what you've liked.

Ah, the way to a woman's heart: tell her that she's got the most valid takes!

Anyway, I can't recommend anything similar to The Magnus Archives specifically---however, I do love horror as a genre and am happy to talk some more about my latest finds.

PODCASTS So historically, I am bad at listening to podcasts. I just am; I listen to a few episodes while doing dishes or walking, think "this is so cool!" and then utterly forget about it. However! As long as you go into this with that caveat in mind, we should be fine.

I unequivocally recommend I Am In Eskew and The Silt Verses to everyone. They come from the same creative team, and while the podcasts can be different tonally, they are some of the best horror writing I have come across in the genre. They are smart and good and fucked up, and it should tell you something that Silt Verses season 2 is coming out soon and I am only slightly worried about that will go.

Archive 81 (the original podcast!) is a little hit-and-miss for me---I thought season 1 was fine but not much else, adored season 2, then liked some episodes from season 3 and Left of the Dial. However, it's a fun time and if you're looking for something similar to TMA this is probably your best bet.

I've only listened to season 1 of The White Vault, but it is 100% stand alone and so very good. I'm a sucker for "And Then There Were None"-But-Eldritch plots, and White Vault provides in abundance.

I've listened to even less of Unwell, Parkdale Haunt, Point Mystic, and Mabel, but from those few episodes, they were all enjoyable! Parkdale Haunt and Mabel lean heavily into haunted houses (plus demons and the Fair Folk, respectively), while Unwell and Point Mystic have differing takes on the weirdness of small towns.

BOOKS/STORIES

Most recently I finished The House of Small Shadows, by Adam Nevill, which---despite some frustration with the writing style---I found delicious. Amid creepy puppets and taxidermized grotesqueries, Nevill sets up a protagonist who is overly paranoid and frustratingly passive in turns, but drags you into her specific madness with her. Slow to start, but worth it in the end.

The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell, by Brian Evenson, is a short story collection---not quite traditional horror, but very much takes its cues from some of the more literary horror out there. "Curator", "The Shimmering Wall", and "Palisade" in particular are knockouts; a collection about...despair, sort of? About things going to rot, and inevitability.

I mentioned Revelator, by Daryl Gregory, in my "Best Books of 2021" list---it's a fun trip into Appalachian/Lovecraftian horror, very much in the vein of the "Old Gods of Appalachia" podcast. Also worth checking out is Margaret Killjoy's Danielle Cain series---very fun novellas, plus a fucked up deer! And who can resist a fucked up deer?

TV & MOVIES

I absolutely 100% did not just tack this category on to go tell people to watch Severance, a show that is firmly in the vein of what I'm going to call "corporate horror"---along with Thomas Ligotti, Episode 11 of I Am In Eskew and Chapter 7 of Silt Verses, and those scenes in Cabin in the Woods where the guys in ties complain about the Japanese office. As a corporate drone myself, this is my favorite sub-genre so everybody should go watch it and talk to me about it.

[daxxglax]

Tagged by @areax , here are 9 books I'm planning on reading this year, each of which are staring at me accusingly from my bookshelf at this very moment.

1. Some Trick, by Helen Dewitt

2. Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

3. Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi

4. The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann

5. The Paper Menagerie, by Ken Liu

6. The Intuitionist, by Colson Whitehead

7. The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones

8. The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell, by Brian Evenson

9. Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon

Tagging @hatingongodot @lyctorgideon @chasingparallax @the-trashman-cometh @wizardwaffles @churlishopossum @gobbogary @pardon-my-french-but @turquoisehexagonsun @ofgeography and generally whoever's reading this and wants to do it! No pressure at all- it's been a while since a tagging meme has come across the dash

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Title: The Library At Mount Char, or, A Dossier On The Strange and Occult Life of Thomas Ligotti (1996)

Author: Brian Evenson

Rating: 3/5 stars

I saw this novel in its entirety on the strength of the review it received from Neil Gaiman. And I loved it, but not entirely for the reasons given in the review; I'd give Gaiman credit for giving me a high-priority list to look forward to after finishing "Good Omens," which was my first Ligotti book. But it turns out I have a much lower tolerance for his trademark blend of dark humor, spookiness, and unsettling weirdness than I did for Gaiman's. (If you don't understand the difference, that's on you -- I'd try reading "Good Omens" again, even if I never do, and see if it's more to your taste.)

The Library At Mount Char has a lot more of this to it, and is not nearly as much fun to read as Gaiman's book. Ligotti's writing -- his usual, more "traditional" kind -- isn't as interesting as in his other stories, and it's difficult to see how this book can stand on its own with the ending he ended "Gaudy Pictures." I have no doubt that the story I missed in Gaudy Pictures was the one I would miss here as well; and the ending I did see was also unsatisfactory, as a result of "Ligotti's Dilemma": the reader should want more, but the more they see the less they know. ("All knowledge is a form of power," etc.) That's really all I can say about the ending without giving spoilers, so I'll leave it at that.

(I should note that the plot of Ligotti's Dilemma, which revolves around the "Library At Mount Char," contains a series of "Ligotti's Clues," some of which are explained after you've read a substantial amount of Ligotti fiction; I mention these to make clear that there is not going to be any real escape from this book until it is all over. Also, I have no doubt that "The Library At Mount Char" exists only in Ligotti's mind as an example of what his work is like and can be. That much I can say without spoiling anything.)

On the other hand, this is a much more traditional story, so I'm not really sure why Ligotti -- in the book's early pages -- goes out of his way to describe characters and places so as to let his readers picture them as clearly and realistically as possible. This is a practice that I, and the people of the 21st century, can do perfectly without, without his help, and for which he makes no excuse. And Ligotti, unlike Gaiman, shows little if any interest in trying to convince me that this is important. As a result, much of this book is like reading a description of a fictional city in some kind of post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting, where every element of it -- architecture, clothes, hairstyle -- is a part of a vast, subtle, continuous, symbolic system. This book is a story about Ligotti the writer -- the narrator is only about 4% of the story, which is otherwise about his author, and his author is about 1/20th of the story -- but he spends about a third of the book telling about the world he creates, and that's where the plot comes in. As Gaiman pointed out in the Gaudy Pictures review, it's kind of awkward how little of what happens in the world of "The Library At Mt. Char" has anything to do with the Library At Mt. Char. It's just an ordinary, mundane, if quite interesting story set in an ordinary, mundane, if quite interesting universe.

As much as I enjoyed that Gaiman review, I did not enjoy reading this book at all. It's a sort of "tragedy for the author," insofar as "The Library At Mt. Char" -- the character who "plays Ligotti's role in the story, and so knows as much as we do about the real Ligotti," is a fairly unpleasant fellow. (And I guess that Ligotti might have had something to do with this, insofar as Gaudy Pictures is his first novel set in the Library At Mt. Char world, so the audience has no prior expectation that he'll be anything like the unpleasant fellow he is here.) Also, it's one of those books I keep thinking about just a few weeks later, when I'm supposed to be working on writing the next big thing. Maybe that's the book for me?

Whatever else you can say about Ligotti's other work, I think "The Library At Mt. Char" at least looks like the sort of Ligotti I'd like to read -- it's got its own distinctive visual style (a lot of close attention has been paid to "detail" here, to an unusual extent), it's full of Ligotti's characteristic sense of humor, and -- for what it's worth -- seems to have a fairly conventional climax, and not a Ligotti-esque one either.