The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein

Do you remember when I told you guys that Centipede Press is dangerous? Well, that danger struck home with me as soon as I clicked the “buy” button for this limited edition copy of The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales. Written by Thomas Ligotti (website, Wikipedia) and illustrated by Harry O. Morris (see this overview of his work at Grim Reviews), this book is everything that attracted me to Centipede Press in the first place: great art and design, limited runs, and dark fiction wrapped up in a single package.

The book is up for pre-order at the Centipede Press website and is set for release later this year in two different editions. The basic edition is limited to 500 copies and sounds amazing:

• New introduction by Thomas Ligotti.
  
• Substantially revised texts.
  
• New artwork, all printed in full color.
  
• Ribbon marker, head and tail bands, three-piece cloth construction.
  Two-color cloth slipcase.

But if that basic $95 edition isn’t good enough for you then there is also a deluxe edition for $1,750. That one is limited to 15 copies and has a different layout, better paper, personalized . . . well, just look at the site for everything that makes this edition so special.

Once I saw this book my brain screamed and I just had to grab one for myself. But only the basic edition, though, and not that insanely impressive and expensive deluxe edition. I can’t wait for this to arrive, because I’m going to stare at it for hours and slowly try to determine where in the house to start constructing a specially-locking library for my cooler books.

Few collaborations in the small press field have been as fruitful as that between renowned writer Thomas Ligotti and artist Harry O. Morris. Morris has illustrated more of Thomas Ligotti’s stories than anyone, including the legendary first edition of Songs of a Dead Dreamer, published in 1986. Centipede Press is republishing Ligotti’s long unavailable collection of short vignettes, The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales, to be available in mid September 2011. This new edition features 11 striking new illustrations, all printed in color, from Harry O. Morris. Thomas Ligotti has personally revised all of the works, some of them substantially.