Thomas Ligotti
Thomas Ligotti | |
---|---|
Born | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | July 9, 1953
Occupation | Writer |
Alma mater | Wayne State University |
Period | 1981–present |
Genre | Horror fiction, weird fiction, dark fantasy |
Thomas Ligotti (born July 9, 1953) is an American horror writer. His writings are rooted in several literary genres – most prominently weird fiction – and have been described by critics as works of philosophical horror, often formed into short stories and novellas in the tradition of gothic fiction.[1] The worldview espoused by Ligotti in his fiction and non-fiction has been described as pessimistic and nihilistic.[1][2] The Washington Post called him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction."[3]
Career
Ligotti started his professional writing career in the early 1980s with
Ligotti collaborated with the musical group
Personal life
He has cited
Ligotti has suffered from chronic anxiety and anhedonia for much of his life; these have been prominent themes in his work.[1] Ligotti avoids the explicit violence common in some recent horror fiction, preferring to establish a disquieting, pessimistic atmosphere through the use of subtlety and repetition. Ligotti has stated he prefers short stories to longer forms, both as a reader and as a writer,[1] though he has written a novella, My Work Is Not Yet Done (2002)[12]
Ligotti's ancestry is three-quarters Sicilian, one-quarter Polish, a genetic combination he likes to think "contributed to the bizarre quality of my imagination and to what has been called its 'universality'." He says that his Polish grandmother's stories, though not horrific, "put me in touch with an older and stranger world than I would otherwise have known and that emerged when I started writing stories so many years later".[13]
Ligotti attended
Influence
He has been influenced by the "first-person voice in which Nabokov wrote" and the "densely metaphorical style of Bruno Schulz".[17]
In 2003,
Author Jeff VanderMeer has penned numerous pieces praising Ligotti's writing, including the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe.[18][19][20]
In 2014, the
The writing of Ligotti and Eugene Thacker is cited as an influence on the 2021 album The Nightmare of Being by the Gothenburg melodic death metal band At the Gates.[26]
Bibliography
- Songs of a Dead Dreamer (1985, rev. & exp. 1989)
- Grimscribe: His Lives and Works (1991)
- Noctuary (1994)
- The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales (1994)
- The Nightmare Factory (1996). Essentially an omnibus of selections from Ligotti's first three collections, with a concluding section containing new stories. All of the stories in the concluding section were later printed in Teatro Grottesco.
- In a Foreign Town, in a Foreign Land (1997, accompanying CD by Current 93)
- I Have a Special Plan for This World (2000, accompanying CD by Current 93)
- This Degenerate Little Town (2001, accompanying CD by Current 93)
- The Unholy City (2002, accompanying CD by Current 93)
- My Work Is Not Yet Done: Three Tales of Corporate Horror (2002)
- Crampton: A Screenplay (2003, with Brandon Trenz) (Unproduced screenplay written in 1998 for an episode of The X-Files)
- Sideshow, and Other Stories (2003)
- Death Poems (2004)
- The Shadow at the Bottom of the World (2005)
- Teatro Grottesco (2006, reprinted in 2008)
- The Conspiracy Against the Human Race (2010)
- The Spectral Link (2014)
- Born to Fear: Interviews with Thomas Ligotti (2014), edited by Matt Cardin
- Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe (2015)
- The Small People (2021). A chapbook reprint of a single story previously collected in The Spectral Link.
- Paradoxes From Hell (2021). A chapbook reprint of a previously uncollected story and two poems.
- Pictures of Apocalypse (2023). A collection of 20 new poems.
Adaptations
Graphic novels
- The Nightmare Factory (2007)
- The Nightmare Factory – Volume 2(2008)
Awards
- 1982: Small Press Writers and Artists Organization, Best Author of Horror/Weird Fiction: The Chymist[27]
- 1986: Rhysling Award, from Science Fiction Poetry Association (nomination): One Thousand Painful Variations Performed Upon Divers Creatures Undergoing the Treatment of Dr. Moreau, Humanist[28]
- 1991: World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction (nomination): The Last Feast of Harlequin[29]
- 1992: World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (nomination): Grimscribe: His Lives and Works[29]
- 1997: World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (nomination): The Nightmare Factory[29]
- 1995: Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Fiction (nomination): The Bungalow House[30]
- 1996: Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection: The Nightmare Factory[30]
- 1996: Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction: The Red Tower[30]
- 1996: British Fantasy Award for Best Fiction Collection: The Nightmare Factory[31]
- 2002: Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction: My Work Is Not Yet Done[30]
- 2002: International Horror Guild Award, Long Form Category: My Work Is Not Yet Done[32]
- 2010: Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction (nomination) The Conspiracy Against the Human Race[30]
- 2019: Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement[33]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Interview with Thomas Ligotti – web interview from Published in The New York Review of Science Fiction Issue 218, Vol. 19, No. 2 (October 2006).
- ^ "Thomas Ligotti". Dark Moon Rising. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29.
- ^ Blurb from Ligotti's The Nightmare Factory.
- ^ Schweitzer, Darrell, ed. (2003). The Thomas Ligotti Reader. Holicong, PA: Wildside Press. p. 178.
- ISBN 978-0143107767.
- ^ Calia, Michael (September 21, 2015). "Penguin Classics to Publish Ligotti Stories". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ a b Rafferty, Terrence (October 29, 2015). "Stephen King's 'The Bazaar of Bad Dreams' and More". The New York Times Book Review.
- ^ Clune, Michael W (January 27, 2016). "Loving the Alien: Thomas Ligotti and the Psychology of Cosmic Horror". Los Angeles Review of Books.
- ^ Dirda, Michael (October 27, 2015). "Michael Dirda's picks for Halloween chillers: Get ready to be grossed out". The Washington Post.
- ^ Bebergal, Peter (October 29, 2015). "The Horror of the Unreal". The New Yorker.
- ^ Smith, Richard (11 December 2004). "Obituary: John Balance". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014.
- ASIN B003U2ENPI.
- ^ "An Interview with Thomas Ligotti Born to Fear". The Teeming Brain. February 23, 2015. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-7535-2517-3.
- ^ "Author Thomas Ligotti". The Damned Interviews. July 16, 2011. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011.
- ^ Hall, Tina (2015). The Damned Book of Interviews. Crossroad Press.
- ^ "Wonderbook Interview with Thomas Ligotti". Wonderbook. 2013-10-11. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
- ^ Jeff VanderMeer (13 August 2014). "Thomas Ligotti 101: A Guide to the Cult Writer Now Linked to True Detective". Vulture. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ISBN 978-0143107767.
- ^ Jeff VanderMeer (5 October 2015). "The Legacy of Thomas Ligotti". Jeff VanderMeer. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ Todd Leopold (8 August 2014). "'True Detective' writer accused of plagiarism - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
- ^ Davis, Mike (2014-08-04). "Did the writer of "True Detective" plagiarize Thomas Ligotti and others?". Lovecraft eZine. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
- ^ Calia, Michael (January 30, 2014). "The Most Shocking Thing About HBO's 'True Detective'". WSJ Speakeasy.
- ^ "The Arkham Digest: Interview: Nic Pizzolatto, creator/writer of HBO's True Detective". Arkhamdigest.com. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
- ^ a b c Calia, Michael (February 2, 2014). "Writer Nic Pizzolatto on Thomas Ligotti and the Weird Secrets of 'True Detective'". WSJ Speakeasy.
- ^ "At the Gates: The Nightmare Of Being". Pitchfork.com. 8 July 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
- ^ "Ligotti, Thomas (Robert) 1953- - Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series | HighBeam Research". September 24, 2015. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
- ^ "Rhysling Anthology and Awards: 1986". Sfpoetry.com. 2003-11-08. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
- ^ a b c "World Fantasy Awards - Complete Listing". Worldfantasy.org. Archived from the original on 2013-10-15. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
- ^ a b c d e "Horror Writers Association - Past Bram Stoker Award Nominees & Winners". Horror.org. 2000-06-15. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
- ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: British Fantasy Awards Winners By Year". Locusmag.com. Archived from the original on 2002-04-24. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
- ^ ":: ihg :: International Horror Guild :: ihg ::". Horroraward.org. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
- ^ "HWA announces 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award winners Owl Goingback and Thomas Ligotti". Retrieved 2020-04-17.
External links
- Thomas Ligotti Online – Fan site, wealth of information, media and discussion on Thomas Ligotti.
- Horror Garage interview with Thomas Ligotti conducted by Mark McLaughlin in 2008
- "It's all a matter of personal pathology" -a July 2006 interview With Ligotti conducted by Matt Cardin.
- Literature Is Entertainment or It Is Nothing – a long, in-depth interview conducted by Neddal Ayad.
- Listing of his works
- Thomas Ligotti at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database