Thomas Ligotti became a sort of literary obsession of mine after I discovered his writing; I think I first read one of his stories in The Weird, ed. by the VanderMeers. Ligotti's dark pessimism can be frustrating at times but is more relevant to me than Lovecraft's "deep outside".
His work is utterly gripping, isn't it? When I first came together with it in my late twenties, in the latter half of the 1990s, I felt like I had stumbled across something impossible: a writer who essentially expressed my own deepest unspoken sentiments, fears, and insights. Like a true mind meld with another person through the medium of the written word. It was frankly uncanny, the most electrifying and purely overpowering literary experience that I had ever experienced. It remains so to this day. The only things I've encountered that rival it are the nonduality writings of John Wheeler and Peter Brown, which hail from a different arena or genre (though not totally).
Exactly. It was this very insight or perspective that fueled my own early horror writing with fascination and dread. My first published story, “Teeth,” was literally and directly about that very theme. Then I discovered Tom’s work a few years after writing it and found that he had been deeply and brilliantly defining the same territory for a long time.
Loved your book! I'm fascinated by the idea of religion in horror and conversely, horror in religion. Probably goes back to attending Catholic high school whilst simultaneously experiencing the rise of slasher movies.
Thank you sincerely, Chris. The mutual interpenetration and shared implications of the two, religion and horror, is endlessly interesting, isn’t it? I was raised in a conservative Protestant evangelical church myself, so that, plus an apparently native interest in religion, philosophy, and fantastic fiction, including horror fiction and film, led me in this direction. (Well that, plus sleep paralysis attacks in my twenties.)
Agreed, the shared implications makes for fascinating discourse. I’ve got a stack of books that do just that. While many of the books authors examine many of the same movies their individual readings of those movies is still quite varied. My high school actually had a class called, ‘Religion and Philosophy’, naturally I had to bring horror movies into the discussion. (LOL)
Thomas Ligotti became a sort of literary obsession of mine after I discovered his writing; I think I first read one of his stories in The Weird, ed. by the VanderMeers. Ligotti's dark pessimism can be frustrating at times but is more relevant to me than Lovecraft's "deep outside".
His work is utterly gripping, isn't it? When I first came together with it in my late twenties, in the latter half of the 1990s, I felt like I had stumbled across something impossible: a writer who essentially expressed my own deepest unspoken sentiments, fears, and insights. Like a true mind meld with another person through the medium of the written word. It was frankly uncanny, the most electrifying and purely overpowering literary experience that I had ever experienced. It remains so to this day. The only things I've encountered that rival it are the nonduality writings of John Wheeler and Peter Brown, which hail from a different arena or genre (though not totally).
Thomas Ligotti's ·I Have a Special Plan for This World·
Designed, filmed, animated and edited by Jesús Olmo.
https://vimeo.com/67015762
'I Have a Special Plan for this World' | Copyright © 2000 Current 93 and Thomas Ligotti.
Music used with permission of the authors.
Music by Current93 | Prose poem by Thomas Ligotti | Reading by David Tibet.
I have loved this video since you first produced and released it.
wow. written squarely within the discomfort. seeing clearly is not salvific but corrosive
Exactly. It was this very insight or perspective that fueled my own early horror writing with fascination and dread. My first published story, “Teeth,” was literally and directly about that very theme. Then I discovered Tom’s work a few years after writing it and found that he had been deeply and brilliantly defining the same territory for a long time.
Loved your book! I'm fascinated by the idea of religion in horror and conversely, horror in religion. Probably goes back to attending Catholic high school whilst simultaneously experiencing the rise of slasher movies.
Thank you sincerely, Chris. The mutual interpenetration and shared implications of the two, religion and horror, is endlessly interesting, isn’t it? I was raised in a conservative Protestant evangelical church myself, so that, plus an apparently native interest in religion, philosophy, and fantastic fiction, including horror fiction and film, led me in this direction. (Well that, plus sleep paralysis attacks in my twenties.)
Agreed, the shared implications makes for fascinating discourse. I’ve got a stack of books that do just that. While many of the books authors examine many of the same movies their individual readings of those movies is still quite varied. My high school actually had a class called, ‘Religion and Philosophy’, naturally I had to bring horror movies into the discussion. (LOL)