He is influential, but has few imitators - his voice is entirely his own, his imaginative universe unique. He trades with the conventional horror elements of dolls, puppets, clowns etc. But he gives these tropes an occult, mechanical twist - an almost post-industrial vision of horror. A world of rusting factory towns, and inexplicable machinery; faded guest houses and forgotten quarters. The population is bewildered and in conflict with an absent authority. Masques and festivals occur spontaneously...in a decadent form of inertia.
Kafka is an obvious influence...but also the usual suspects for paranoid loners: Dostoeyvsky, Camus and Sartre. Existentialism, isolation and horror are a natural fit.
So his writing is infused by a bleak, but coherent philosophy - nihilism. The utter un-importance of human action in a meaningless universe. Lovecraft and Wells had alien intelligences observing us... Ligotti believes we are all alone and - for him - that is so much worse!
I won't do a bio, because he is a hero of mine and hopefully I will meet him one day...and I don't want to jinx things. But I am sure he is really charming, has a great sense of humour and is a perfect host.
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| Teatro Grottesco Anthology. Buy it. |
Gas Station Carnivals
Again the proviso... how hard it was to select etc. But in Ligotti's case choosing is unpleasantly difficult. He has written 9 or 10 of the best horror short stories in the English Language. Some are distinct, and some rely on the supporting environment of a shared universe ("In a Foreign Land", or the terrifying troupe of "Teatro Grottesco). It makes sense to choose a distinct stand-a-lone story, but one which references some of the other "dead zones" in this fiction. Gas Station Carnivals fits the bill.
It is structurally brilliant. Pacing and tone of voice are immaculate.
It is confusing, unsettling, it turns you round and leaves you scared - not in a cheap way - but out of confusion, and with the sense that in some way you have been played. The joke was on you...
Synopsis
A man involved in an artistic circle enters a cafe and meets a friend. The man reminisces about his childhood travels with his parents and their frequent stops for gas. You don't want to know anymore...!
Review and analysis to follow soon...
Gas Station Carnivals is one of the strangest stories I have ever read. We drove through many deserted, decaying towns in Kansas and Oklahoma last year. Often there was only one house left inhabited. Who lived there and why did they remain? Ligotti would know...
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