Thomas Ligotti has been described as the contemporary master of the weird tale, revisiting and often casting light of a different and deadlier hue upon the shadowy paths and shrouded corners once studied by such celebrated scribes as H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Machen. The stories contained in this collection are proof positive of Ligotti's capabilities as one of this generation's finest purveyors of the strange.

Herein you'll find a sinister scarecrow rooted in unholy earth; a pair of spectacles that forces the wearer to focus a bit too closely on things better left unstudied; an odd assembly of clowns in an underground cave; a factory that continues production long after it has died; an asylum that threatens the people outside its walls more than the ghosts of its own inmates, and a theater company of a most unusual kind. These are just a few of the nightmares that await your eyes in The Shadow at the Bottom of the World.

Be brave, Dear Reader, for in Ligotti's worlds, there are no guarantees, no assurances, and reality is never what it appears to be...