André Provencio > Recent Status Updates

Dreams of a Manikin

A wonderfully potent bit of writing, utilizing the dream-logic of nightmares to destabilize reality. The puppet (manikin, doll) is one of Ligotti's prime symbols, and it can be truly harrowing to consider its form as simulacrum. I am beginning to understand what is meant by a "song of a dead dreamer". This was an enchanting song.

Alice's Last Adventure

A children's author must uncover strange visions and phenomenon when she returns to an elementary school to read from her popular book series on Halloween night. The story's inspiration haunts her as time threatens to undo everything she has achieved. An ambiguous mood piece, unsettling more than horrific.

Les Fleurs

Love is elusive for a man with secret ties to a "dark paradise". This proves to be fatal to the lover's object as secrets loom and threaten to be revealed. The flowers are encrusted on the throne of blood.

The Frolic

Thus this collection begins with a scene of darkness enveloping the stillness of the mundane, the fragile quietude of the domestic, then shatters it as if a shimmering glass orb with nightmarish beauty. Atmosphere is what Mr. Ligotti is most talented at second only to his considerable powers of instilling profound existential dread. You'll never look at a stuffed animal or a puppet the same way again.