Publisher's Weekly
A reissue of Ligotti's first horror collection, which appeared in a limited edition in 1986, this volume includes several revised stories and others new to the book. Few of them are truly horrific; the emphasis is on language--sometimes poetic, achieving the quality of a woven tapestry, sometimes merely drab. Not one is strong on plot. ``Notes on the Writing of Horror'' and ``Professor Nobody's Little Lectures on Supernatural Horror'' straddle the line between nonfiction and fiction; they contain self-descriptive essays that are evocative of mood and setting. ``The Chemyst'' has a new drug he shares with London's lowlife. ``The Lost Art of Twilight'' concerns a man trying to live down his mother's association with vampires. The cleverly titled ``Drink to Me Only with Labyrinthine Eyes'' has an equally clever denouement. ``Masquerade of a Dead Sword'' is heroic fantasy with a twist. ``The Music of the Moon'' reminds one of Charles Williams's supernatural thriller. The other 13 stories suffer from combinations of murky prose, meaningless events and lack of focus.