Teatro Grottesco (Italian for Theatre of the Grotesque) is a collection of short stories by American horror author Thomas Ligotti. This is his fifth collection, containing tales written throughout his career. The book was first published in 2006.

• Purity - A boy moves to a new neighborhood with his disturbed family and learns of his father’s strange “principles”.

• The Town Manager - A small town descends into absurd insanity when a new “town manager” arrives.

• Sideshow, and Other Stories - A struggling author meets an older, wiser author and reads his strange works.

• The Clown Puppet - A man experiences consistent “visits” from a supernatural marionette.

• The Red Tower - The narrator tells of the history of a horrific factory.

• My Case for Retributive Action - A new employee uncovers a strange conspiracy at his office.

• Our Temporary Supervisor - In a small factory, a new, uncanny supervisor is sent by corporate.

• In a Foreign Town, In a Foreign Land - Various tales are told of the strange town from across the border.

• Teatro Grottesco - Various members of the local art community discuss the arrival of the deranged “teatro”.

• Gas Station Carnivals - An ill man discusses strange memories with an odd acquaintance.

• The Bungalow House - A librarian discovers an audiotape art-piece and becomes obsessed with meeting its creator.

• Severini - A man with many creative friends is pushed to meet the eccentric Severini.

• The Shadow, the Darkness - Many people are brought to the strange town of Crampton for reasons unknown.

Thomas Ligotti is a contemporary American horror author and reclusive literary cult figure. His writings, while unique in style, have been noted as major continuations of several literary genres—most prominently Lovecraftian horror—and have overall been described as works of “philosophical horror”, often written as philosophical novels with a “darker” undertone which is similar to gothic fiction. The Washington Post called him “the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction”; another critic declared “It’s a skilled writer indeed who can suggest a horror so shocking that one is grateful it was kept offstage.”

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