Grimscribe

Title: Grimscribe: His Lives and Works 
Author: Thomas Ligotti
Pub Date: 1991
Genre: Lovecraftian Fiction, Short Stories
Nutshell: 13 unsettling short stories by an author revered as a true successor to H.P. Lovecraft

So I'm a big Lovecraft nerd. My favorites of his aren't even really the mythos stuff -- the Cthulu cults and Nyarlathotep and all that. I was always more of a fan of his one-offs. Stories like The Thing on the Doorstep or The Case of Charles Dexter Ward -- tales where just super weird stuff happens to people for no really definable reason. Dabbling in what you shouldn't is usually enough, and sometimes it's just a matter of being in the very wrong place at the worst time. There may be something bigger animating all this awfulness, but maybe it's just the awful circumstance of being.

Thomas Ligotti really captures that sense of general unease that you get with a lot of Lovecraft's stuff. There's no real overarching theme here, just bizarre things that happen to people that give you the idea of a sinister undertone to daily life that most people don't necessarily grasp. There is nothing schlocky here, nothing grotesque. No guts or gore or anything like that. Just a profound sense of something not being right. Like if you go to the wrong part of town at the wrong time of night you might find something you wish you hadn't, and that something is going to be much worse for you spiritually than a simple mugging. It all feels very much like a nightmare. Well, the kind that I have, anyway, which don't feature much in the way of skeletons or anything obviously scary. I have the kind of nightmares where everything just feels weirdly off and I feel trapped and like I might be in a dream but I can't seem to wake up. That's what drew me to Lovecraft in the first place, is we seemed to have similar nightmares. 

That being said, some of this goes a bit long without much in the way of finalization. The thing about Lovecraft, you always knew when it was over. Usually because your narrator had fainted in the face of some sanity-blasting terror. There's none of that here, either. These stories seem to be much more into evoking and sustaining the mood than telling much of a story with a narrative arc, and a little of that goes a long way. 

However, there were a few standouts that I enjoyed, mainly the first story and the last. "The Last Feast of Harlequin" is dedicated to Lovecraft and his influence is all over it. It has a definite story and certainly holds to a couple of the main Lovecraftian hallmarks (fans will know what I mean and I don't want to give any hints as to the plot).  "The Shadow at the Bottom of the World" also has a clearer narrative, and elicits a great deal of uneasiness without losing the thread of the story within. The rest of the stories are an excellent study in setting up a narrative tone that is surely Lovecraftian, but they definitely lack the, well, pulpiness that was usually present in H.P.'s works. They're all threatening atmosphere without much actual threat. I actually missed the fainting Lovecraftian hero. He provided a catharsis that Ligotti never gives you, and maybe that's the point. Maybe the idea is that the feeling doesn't ever leave, and once you're aware of it it's with you forever. But I think I prefer the fainting.