Thomas Ligotti Books In Order

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Plays

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Thomas Ligotti is a renowned American writer of horror, fiction, and dark fantasy stories. He has written numerous successful standalone novels in his career. Most of his writings are noted as having their roots in several literary genres, the most prominent one among them being weird fiction. Overall, Ligotti’s novels have been described by numerous critics as being philosophical horror works. They have often been formed into novellas and short stories in the gothic fiction tradition. Ligotti’s worldview espoused in his nonfiction and fiction is nihilistic and pessimistic. Author Ligotti was born on July 09, 1953, in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He began his career as an author during the early 80s with numerous short stories released in various small press magazines. Between 1982 and 1985, he served as Gilmore’s contributing editor. In 2015, his first couple of collections, Grimscribe, and Songs of a Dead Dreamer were re-released in a single volume by the Penguin Classics. The publishing company has also published one volume of his short stories.

Author Ligotti’s work has received high praise after the publication from The NY Times Book Review, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and the Los Angeles Book Review. Ligotti was involved with a musical group called Current 93 and has also collaborated with them for a few albums. He played guitar for some time during his association with the group. Ligotti gave away his proceeds from his musical contributions to the treatment of alcoholism of musician John Balance. Ligotti’s list of favorite authors includes William Burroughs, Edgar Allan Poe, Bruno Schulz, Thomas Bernhard, Vladimir Nabokov, Samuel Beckett, Emil Cioran, Franz Kafka, and Giacomo Leopardi. Also, a few of his stories are inspired by the work of H.P. Lovecraft. Some other important influences of Ligotti include M.R. James, Arthur Machen, and Algernon Blackwood.

For a major part of his life, Ligotti has faced problems due to anhedonia and chronic anxiety. They also appear in his works prominently. Many works of horror fiction commonly consist of explicit violence. But, Ligotti doesn’t appreciate this and refrains from describing violence in his horror stories. He often tries to establish a pessimistic and disquieting atmosphere with the use of repetition and subtlety. Author Ligotti has said on numerous occasions that he prefers shorter forms of stories over the longer forms as a writer as well as a reader. Ligotti has Polish and Sicilian ancestries. He was greatly influenced by the stories of his Polish grandmother, though they were not horrific in nature. Between 1971 and 1973, author Ligotti attended a community college in Macomb County. He completed his graduation in 1978 from the Wayne State University. He has worked on the post of an Associate Editor at the Gale Group for 23 years. He left this job in 2001 and relocated to Florida to focus full time on his writing career. Politically, Ligotti identifies himself as a socialist. A few of Ligotti’s works have been adapted into comics and graphic novels.

A successful collection of short stories penned by author Thomas Ligotti is known as ‘Songs of Dead Dreamer’. It was published in 1986. This short story collection is acknowledged by the author’s peers as a seminal collection of modern weird fiction. Many of the stories mentioned in this collection depict the influence of the literary idols of Ligotti such as Edgar A. Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. The first edition of this collection was produced by the Silver Scarb Press in paperback. It was limited to just 300 copies. Later, it was released again in the revised and expanded edition by Carroll & Grad in 1989. Both the editions of the collection consist of an introduction penned by Ramsey Campbell.

The Subterranean Press re-released the collection in 2010 with several author revisions, thereby, making it the final definitive edition. This book was adapted into a serial killer movie called The Frolic in 2007. Its screenplay was co-authored by Ligotti and Brandon Trenz. The film had Jacob Cooney as its director and it was produced by WOnder Entertainment. The company also released the Collector’s Edition DVD & Book set that contains the story’s short film adaptation as well as commentary tracks and some behind-the-scenes by producer Jane K. Kosek, actor Maury Sterling, and Jacob Cooney. The set also contains interview footage of Trenz and Ligotti, a revised version of the story, a new introduction by author Ligotti, and a screenplay with a new introduction by Brandon Trenz. The collector’s edition was released in 1,000 copies only. This collection is also known to have inspired the 1996 album of DJ Spooky, which also has the same title.

Another exciting horror story collection penned by Ligotti is entitled ‘My Work Is Not Yet Done’. It was published in 2002. This collection is divided into three parts and features stories based on corporate horror. The common theme of all the three stories is the modern corporate world and its effects on the lower level employees. Some essential characters mentioned in the stories include Frank Dominio, Richard, Harry, Sherry, Barry, Kerrie, Mary, etc. The first story begins by introducing Frank Dominio as a junior manager working in a large company. Frank’s company doesn’t respect him and he feels constantly afraid. He is asked to attend numerous meetings by 7 other managers that include Richard, Harry, Perry, Kerrie, Barry, and Mary.

Richard is nicknamed ‘The Doctor’. He calls Dominio ‘Domino’ deliberately. Frank proposes a new idea that has the potential to benefit the company. The other managers conspire to get him demoted and then fired so that they can steal his idea to take credit for his hard work. Frank becomes so fed up with his ill-treatment that he goes to a gun shop to buy a gun and plans to kill each one of them. The second story shows that a corporate company moves to a new city notorious for the high murder rate. Just as the company starts its operation, its supervisors start becoming victims and none of them are left. The third story is described in the form of commercials, journal entries, classified ads, memos, etc. It shows the decline & fall of a big company that enters into a merger with Nightmare Network to save itself from going out of business. This collection went on to win the International Horror Guild Award and the Bram Stoker Award.