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The Glamour ★★★ A man wanders into a part of town he had never visited before and encounters a night theater. The building is condemned and seems to be made up from different kinds of reality mashed together. The basic material seems some sort of cobwebs with a visceral lighting, resembling fresh, bloody organs and entrails. And then the eyes start to see the feature...

The Night School ★★★★ An anxiety nightmare about being back in school. A prophet/teacher by the name of Carniero has started giving lectures again in his night school. Getting closer to the class, the blackness becomes material, the rot palpable. As a kind of Nyarlathotep figure, he spreads his knowledge of decay, refuse and shit. Don't forget your assignment!

The Cocoons ★★★ Somewhat unusual for a Ligotti story in that it's fairly dry and has a somewhat good (let's not call it happy) ending. A mental patient gets woken up and taken to a remote place by his doctor as part of his treatment and gets shown a rather crude, disturbing film. The world is unpredictable, you see, there's always worse than you'd imagined. Just... never trust your doctor.

In the Shadow of Another World ★★★ This one initially reminded me of Lovecraft's 'From Beyond' in that other worlds, parallel to ours are revealed. But it's no machine making this possible, but an inverted haunted mansion! Once inside this overly sterile home, it's the outside that needs to be kept at bay with sigils; the windows becoming looking glasses through which fantastic and horrible sights intrude.

The Mystics of Muelenburg ★★★ A rather cryptic, mystical figure tells a tale about a medieval town where a perpetual grey twilight set in and the true nature of the world was revealed, leading to despair. The 'twist' in the end is a bit redundant.

The Dreaming in Nortown ★★★ What living with a cultist as roommate does to you and about nightly wandering in the underbelly of the city. Moody and evocative, ultimately not that haunting.

Nethescurial ★★★★ An unnamed narrator reads an obscure manuscript, about a desolate island, a found artefact and the cult worshipping its evil creator god. All very evocative and quirky, until the narrator goes to sleep and the knowledge starts to haunt them and drives them mad. 'Nethescurial is not the secret name of the creation.' Superb writing contemplating the world as inherently malignant.

Flowers of the Abyss ★★ A weaker story but nonetheless containing quite a bit of evocative moments. A man is sent to cjeck out (or spy) on a reclusive inhabitant of a decrepit house in the woods, where years ago a family seemed to have befallen a 'tragedy'. The recluse is a kind but detached host, lost after confronting 'the madness of things'.

The Spectacles in the Drawer ★★★★ What if you are trying to get rid of that try-hard, wannabe poseur that keeps showing up to ogle and admire your collection, only to inadvertently set him up a path to transcend you, and thus haunt you forever?

The Last Feast of the Harlequin ★★★★★ A superb story! A nameless anthropologist with an interest in clown traditions discovers a winter festival in the remote town of Mirocaw. As he follows in the footsteps of his former mentor professor Thoss, he learns about the deeper meaning of the celebrations, and the festival-within-the-festival.

Vastarien ★★★ Every self respecting horror writer needs their own fictitious book, and Vastarien is Ligotti's version. Victor, a seeker of other worlds more interesting than our own reality, wanders in a obscure bookshop where some crowlike figure helps him buy the book meant to be read by him.

The Journal of J.P. Drapeau ★★★ A bunch of vignettes in journal form. Written from the point of view of a late 19th century inhabitant of Bruges, it involves typical Ligottian themes such as labyrinthine, crooked cities and dolls. There's no overarching plots, which is a bit of a let down, but it's very accessible.