Though I’ve never been much of a horror reader, I recently stumbled across a great novella by Thomas Ligotti first published in 2002 called “My Work is Not Yet Done”. Not being familiar with Ligotti, I found through cursory research on wikipedia and a few other sites that he’s influenced by the work of HP Lovecraft and that much of his work is informed by a pessimistic, almost misanthropic worldview. He’s also one of the literary influences of Nic Pizzolatto, writer of the TV series “True Detective” (which I haven’t seen but have read good things about it).

My Work is Not Yet Done starts off documenting the day-to-day evils of a seemingly average corporate workplace. Gradually we realize the true hellishness of the work environment complete with evil overlord and minions who mercilessly scheme against outcast employee Frank Dominio. Just as the story seems to be going in the direction of revenge fantasy, plot twists occur making one rethink the nature of events that previously occurred and to contemplate the futility of violent revenge.

The novella is followed by a couple of short stories, “I Have a Special Plan for This World” and “The Nightmare Network”, both of which continue the theme of corporate horror but with a more surreal approach.

Though I haven’t yet read any of Ligotti’s other works, if they’re anywhere near as great as My Work is Not Yet Done, they should be worth seeking out. He blends classic horror tropes with a biting corporate critique so effortlessly and effectively it’s surprising that the corporate horror genre isn’t a literary movement (but maybe there’s similar stories out there I haven’t heard of?).

The full text of The Nightmare Network can be read here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/84760640/The-Nightmare-Network-by-Thomas-Ligotti