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The Shadow at the Bottom of the World ★★★
Ligotti's take on Lovecraft's The Colour out of Space. A small town is confronted with strange happenings around a scarecrow out in the fields. They discover that the tendrils that reach out for it come from an impossible deep place, they try to cover it up and forget about it. But soon the town suffers from collective nightmares and they decide that only blood will fix this.
— Jan 13, 2025 02:25PM
Ligotti's take on Lovecraft's The Colour out of Space. A small town is confronted with strange happenings around a scarecrow out in the fields. They discover that the tendrils that reach out for it come from an impossible deep place, they try to cover it up and forget about it. But soon the town suffers from collective nightmares and they decide that only blood will fix this.
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Arno’s Previous Updates
Arno
is on page 436 of 448
Miss Plarr ★★
A young boy gets a temporary housekeeper and tutor. She wanders through the house as a vague presence. She has an influence on the boy and something (what exactly?) happens between them, before she disappears into the mist. Another sinister meeting between young and old.
I'm not a fan of Ligotti's stories written from the point of view of kids, it feels overwrought.
— Jan 13, 2025 08:15AM
A young boy gets a temporary housekeeper and tutor. She wanders through the house as a vague presence. She has an influence on the boy and something (what exactly?) happens between them, before she disappears into the mist. Another sinister meeting between young and old.
I'm not a fan of Ligotti's stories written from the point of view of kids, it feels overwrought.
Arno
is on page 426 of 448
The Library of Byzantium ★★
A small disturbed child gets a visit by an old priest who offers him an inspiring glimpse of a world of torment in a book. When the child steals a page from it, he forms a psychic connection to the priest and learn what the consequences can be of the path offered by a monastic life. I found it not very evocative or thrilling, with a rather curt, evasive ending.
— Jan 13, 2025 01:08AM
A small disturbed child gets a visit by an old priest who offers him an inspiring glimpse of a world of torment in a book. When the child steals a page from it, he forms a psychic connection to the priest and learn what the consequences can be of the path offered by a monastic life. I found it not very evocative or thrilling, with a rather curt, evasive ending.
Arno
is on page 412 of 448
The Glamour ★★★
A man wanders into a part of town he had never visited before and encounters a night theater. The building is condemned and seems to be made up from different kinds of reality mashed together. The basic material seems some sort of cobwebs with a visceral lighting, resembling fresh, bloody organs and entrails. And then the eyes start to see the feature...
— Jan 12, 2025 04:13AM
A man wanders into a part of town he had never visited before and encounters a night theater. The building is condemned and seems to be made up from different kinds of reality mashed together. The basic material seems some sort of cobwebs with a visceral lighting, resembling fresh, bloody organs and entrails. And then the eyes start to see the feature...
Arno
is on page 402 of 448
The Night School ★★★★
An anxiety nightmare about being back in school. A prophet/teacher by the name of Carniero has started giving lectures again in his night school. Getting closer to the class, the blackness becomes material, the rot palpable. As a kind of Nyarlathotep figure, he spreads his knowledge of decay, refuse and shit. Don't forget your assignment!
— Jan 12, 2025 02:10AM
An anxiety nightmare about being back in school. A prophet/teacher by the name of Carniero has started giving lectures again in his night school. Getting closer to the class, the blackness becomes material, the rot palpable. As a kind of Nyarlathotep figure, he spreads his knowledge of decay, refuse and shit. Don't forget your assignment!
Arno
is on page 390 of 448
The Cocoons ★★★
Somewhat unusual for a Ligotti story in that it's fairly dry and has a somewhat good (let's not call it happy) ending. A mental patient gets woken up and taken to a remote place by his doctor as part of his treatment and gets shown a rather crude, disturbing film. The world is unpredictable, you see, there's always worse than you'd imagined. Just... never trust your doctor.
— Jan 10, 2025 02:26PM
Somewhat unusual for a Ligotti story in that it's fairly dry and has a somewhat good (let's not call it happy) ending. A mental patient gets woken up and taken to a remote place by his doctor as part of his treatment and gets shown a rather crude, disturbing film. The world is unpredictable, you see, there's always worse than you'd imagined. Just... never trust your doctor.
Arno
is on page 379 of 448
In the Shadow of Another World ★★★
This one initially reminded me of Lovecraft's 'From Beyond' in that other worlds, parallel to ours are revealed. But it's no machine making this possible, but an inverted haunted mansion! Once inside this overly sterile home, it's the outside that needs to be kept at bay with sigils; the windows becoming looking glasses through which fantastic and horrible sights intrude.
— Jan 08, 2025 02:09PM
This one initially reminded me of Lovecraft's 'From Beyond' in that other worlds, parallel to ours are revealed. But it's no machine making this possible, but an inverted haunted mansion! Once inside this overly sterile home, it's the outside that needs to be kept at bay with sigils; the windows becoming looking glasses through which fantastic and horrible sights intrude.
Arno
is on page 365 of 448
The Mystics of Muelenburg ★★★
A rather cryptic, mystical figure tells a tale about a medieval town where a perpetual grey twilight set in and the true nature of the world was revealed, leading to despair. The 'twist' in the end is a bit redundant.
— Jan 06, 2025 02:30PM
A rather cryptic, mystical figure tells a tale about a medieval town where a perpetual grey twilight set in and the true nature of the world was revealed, leading to despair. The 'twist' in the end is a bit redundant.
Arno
is on page 356 of 448
The Dreaming in Nortown ★★★
What living with a cultist as roommate does to you and about nightly wandering in the underbelly of the city. Moody and evocative, ultimately not that haunting.
— Jan 05, 2025 02:50AM
What living with a cultist as roommate does to you and about nightly wandering in the underbelly of the city. Moody and evocative, ultimately not that haunting.
Arno
is on page 333 of 448
Nethescurial ★★★★
An unnamed narrator reads an obscure manuscript, about a desolate island, a found artefact and the cult worshipping its evil creator god. All very evocative and quirky, until the narrator goes to sleep and the knowledge starts to haunt them and drives them mad.
'Nethescurial is not the secret name of the creation.'
Superb writing contemplating the world as inherently malignant.
— Jan 02, 2025 03:53AM
An unnamed narrator reads an obscure manuscript, about a desolate island, a found artefact and the cult worshipping its evil creator god. All very evocative and quirky, until the narrator goes to sleep and the knowledge starts to haunt them and drives them mad.
'Nethescurial is not the secret name of the creation.'
Superb writing contemplating the world as inherently malignant.
Arno
is on page 318 of 448
Flowers of the Abyss ★★
A weaker story but nonetheless containing quite a bit of evocative moments. A man is sent to cjeck out (or spy) on a reclusive inhabitant of a decrepit house in the woods, where years ago a family seemed to have befallen a 'tragedy'. The recluse is a kind but detached host, lost after confronting 'the madness of things'.
— Dec 30, 2024 04:05AM
A weaker story but nonetheless containing quite a bit of evocative moments. A man is sent to cjeck out (or spy) on a reclusive inhabitant of a decrepit house in the woods, where years ago a family seemed to have befallen a 'tragedy'. The recluse is a kind but detached host, lost after confronting 'the madness of things'.
