I've never read Ligotti before, is this a good starting point? Are his stories really similar to Lovecraft's?

I've never read Ligotti before, is this a good starting point? Are his stories really similar to Lovecraft's?

They have less to do with ancient gods, I would say the horror is more grounded, and in modern times. He does use flowery purple prose.

It's a good starting point. I don't think he's really similar to Lovecraft.

Start with Teatro Grottesco. It is arguably his best.

I know I own that book, but I have absolutely no fucking clue where it is right now.

He's not similar to Lovecraft at all really. Lovecraft posited that the universe is meaningless. Ligotti posits that it has a negative value or at least that living things have a negative value in it; especially if sentient.

I think his best books to start with are OP's pic related. Songs of a Dead Dreamer eases you into the horror and The Frolic is perfectly designed to lead you from a standard kind of modern horror to the weird kind Ligotti prefers. From there, you'll get a slow introduction into how he does his work with increasingly esoteric stories before going balls deep into Grimscribe where he's using hair in a movie theatre to show how everything in reality is puppeted by their own desires.

From there, I'd read Teatro if you like the weirder stuff you read in Grimscribe or go with Noctuary if you want more of Songs of a Dead Dreamer with two of the best stories ligotti's ever done in it. It has some nice vingettes too which are interesting and quick to read.

I'd agree with this user. It's less about ancient conspiracies and elder gods of yore, more about meeting crazy philosophers, enthusiasists and weirdoes that shout random things at you.

This is likely because Ligotti grew up in Detroit during its worst years so he spent less time reading about the gods of egypt and more time dodging crackees who ate shit in the gutter.

I don't get Ligotti. He's not really that scary, just weird, and by the end the the story I'm just like, "what?"

He's definitely a better writer than Stephen King, but I'd still prefer to read the latter because I can at least make sense of him.

I'd recommend Teatro too, or Noctuary.

I worry that recommending the early stuff to the uninitiated won't adequately showcase Ligotti's talents/uniqueness and they won't want to read on too his mature work.

I think Ligotti intentionally arranged his books how they are for better assimiliation. Miss Rinaldi's Angel gets a different context if you've read Nethescurial before and know what he associates dark/fungal green + black with.

What stories are you thinking of specifically? His work can be extremely esoterric for some but I've found most of them, like The Frolic, Les Fleurs, Drink To Me Only With Labryinthine Eyes and Nethescurial to be extremely scary.

>What stories are you thinking of specifically?
I don't remember the titles. I just found a few stories of his on the internet. There was his one where he describes magic objects appearing out of nowhere or something, and it didn't really have a story, and I just didn't get it at all.