Noctuary

Ligotti's ( Grimscribe ) clever title suggests the marriage of ``nocturne'' and ``mortuary,'' an appropriate preparation for this dark grouping of tales. In the foreword, the author explains that they fall in the category of ``weird fiction,'' that is, extreme gothic horror, featuring macabre endings and unremitting doom. The studied extravagance in the narration of the some of the stories verges on stylistic overkill. Nevertheless, as gothic tales, a number of them are interesting. Three good tales are ``The Medusa,'' which tells of a scholar obsessed with the Gorgon whom Perseus apparently did not kill; ``Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel,'' a tale that lends new meaning to the term ``bad dreams''; and the novella-length ``The Tsalal,'' a gothic work of demonic prophecy that boasts a gruesome ending. These 27 stories describe shadowy worlds of blurred dimensions and ill-lit interiors; as with all such tales, the ``when'' and ``where'' are much less important than the atmosphere of gothic horror produced by Ligotti's baroque prose. (Feb.)