Teatro Grottesco (Italian for Theatre of the Grotesque) is a collection of short stories by American horror author Thomas Ligotti.

A boy moves to a new neighborhood with his disturbed family and learns of his father's strange "principles".

Various members of the local art community discuss the arrival of the deranged "teatro".

But it all works for him as he weaves interesting, strange, and fantastic tales that are as sincere as they are bizarre and stories that captivate the reader and drag them off to a place they have never been.

If you prefer the streamline style of Dean Koontz, you may find Ligotti a bit overbearing.