Thomas Ligotti's Gothic Tales Return!

Thomas Ligotti devotees will receive another black multi-vitamin next year, much like 2010, when the revised Songs of a Dead Dreamer and The Conspiracy Against the Human Race were published. Centipede Press has announced their intention to publish a revised version of Ligotti's The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales by the middle of 2011. This collection of highly sought, long out-of-print vignettes joins Subterranean Press' definitive Grimscribe. Together with the four revised books by Subterranean Press, Centipede's contribution means virtually all of Ligotti's work will be newly available.

Details about the new Gothic Tales, furnished by Centipede owner Jerad Walters, suggest the book will be a signed 6.5 X 11 oversize, with a fresh introduction by Ligotti and unseen color illustrations. None other than Harry O. Morris will be providing the imagery, the famed horror illustrator and original publisher of Songs of a Dead Dreamer, who was also the first artist to translate Ligotti's nightmares to visual art. Five hundred copies will comprise this moderate sized print run.

In a strange way, the resurgent Gothic Tales brings Ligotti's career full circle, revisiting and refining the products of an earlier writing phase marked by an experimental flavor and the artist-publisher who boosted his fiction off the runway. Like most Centipede titles, high end quality is expected, though Walters notes the price shouldn't be "outrageous." The original edition published by the defunct Silver Salamander Press became a rare Ligottian relic this past decade, often commanding hundreds for a paperback or hardcover version. The ten red and black presentation copies of the book remain near the pinnacle of modern weird fiction collectibles in price and scarcity. Fortunately, Centipede's new release makes this previously inaccessible tome viable again, while upholding the almost mystical standards of version 1.0 in quality.

-Grim Blogger