The Nightmare Factory, Vol. 2
Grade 10 Up–Harris and Moore, along with a variety of artists, offer graphic adaptations of four of Ligotti&'s short stories. Harris&'s &The; Gas Station Carnivals& is an evocative tale about a man looking for validation of childhood visits to bizarre carnivals, where he first encountered a nightmarish man whose hidden face could be his undoing. But does this man really exist or is he a result of &hideous; magic&? In &The; Clown,& also by Harris, the storyteller is haunted by &nonsense;& that fills his head. Most terrifying is a lifeless marionette that appears before him with &dead; eyes& and a &perverse; expression,& and is &deemed; to be capable of anything.& In Moore&'s &The; Chymist,& a mad scientist performs sinister experiments on live human subjects, while a man in &The; Sect of the Idiot& has visions of hooded beings not of this world, followed by a horrifying realization that they are not just dreams. Ligotti has been described as a master of contemporary horror, and the tales in this volume live up to expectation–sophisticated, horrific, and unpredictable. The artists&' full-color illustrations bring a different style and flavor to the book, and none disappoint. A new introduction by Ligotti prefaces each tale.–Lara McAllister, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova ScotiaCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.