Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe

De: Thomas Ligotti, Jeff VanderMeer - introduction

Narrado por: Jon Padgett, Linda Jones

Two terrifying classics by “the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction” (The Washington Post)

Thomas Ligotti’s debut collection, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, and his second, Grimscribe, permanently inscribed a new name in the pantheon of horror fiction. Influenced by the strange terrors of Lovecraft and Poe and by the brutal absurdity of Kafka, Ligotti eschews cheap, gory thrills for his own brand of horror, which shocks at the deepest, existential, levels.

Ligotti’s stories take on decaying cities and lurid dreamscapes in a style ranging from rich, ornamental prose to cold, clinical detachment. His raw and experimental work lays bare the unimportance of our world and the sickening madness of the human condition. Like the greatest writers of cosmic horror, Ligotti bends reality until it cracks, opening fissures through which he invites us to gaze on the unsettling darkness of the abyss below.

For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Unsettling and intellectually stimulating.

"Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe" narrated by Jon Padgett is a fantastic way to experience these stories. Padgett's narration is pitch-perfect, capturing the dark, brooding tone of Ligotti's writing with precision and skill. He brings the characters to life in a way that feels both natural and haunting, and his pacing and intonation perfectly match the mood of each story.

Brilliant Narration

A brilliant narration of a crucial author of weird fiction. One can feel Jon Padgett and Linda Jones' enthusiasm for the stories here. Highly recommended.

Brilliant stories well told

Ligotti is a master, and he’s well served here by the narrator, Padgett, who is one of the author’s foremost scholars and a fantastic writer of his own work. If you’ve never read Ligotti, this is a perfect introduction to his work.

highly recommend and didn't disappoint

A friend of mine repeatedly recommended Ligotti and when something finally became available on Audible I jumped at the chance. Very good stuff here if you like Lovecraft or King.

It sticks with you

I read most of the book, then listened to the last couple of stories on audible. Oddly enough, much like some of the characters in here amongst Poe's and Lovecraft's works, I felt a weird obsession. Thankfully, this obsession was to devour more of Ligotti's works, which stuck with me long after reading and imposed a dream-like quality of surreality.

Ligotti's works are akin to essays in the way that they are written (they see things from a detached yet personal narration), and it gives credence to the strange dread that they impose.

As far as the narrator goes, I don't know for sure if I liked him or not. This could only be because I read most of the physical copy I own. Because, let’s face it, this narrator does a superb job with fluctuating his voice and giving a dreary tone to a dark collection of short stories.

This, as far as I can remember, is the first review I've written on Audible after owning a hundred something audiobooks. It is that good of a collection, and so long as you're the right reader (or in this case, listener), I highly recommend these two collections.