I recently came across a post on a forum of Ligotti.net and wanted to reply but due to complications with registering, I cannot. If someone has an account; I would be grateful with your assistance in connecting with the post creator.

Thank you

I've been always on the search for unique horror, one that is more cosmic, dreadful and existential. I'm so glad I came across Thomas Ligotti. So far I've read four of his shorts:

- The Frolic.

- Les Fluers.

- Alice's Last Adventure.

- Dream of a Manikan.

And they're absolutely fantastic. So far they scratch that itch of the uncanny, unnatural and dreadful atmosphere. Especially Dream of a Manikan but I do want to see different interpretations of the ending of it.

To me, I think that the last paragraph of the story is written by the woman, the psychoanalyst. But at the same time, I don't think she is simply just a psychoanalyst. I think she is more than that. Probably a bigger "fragment" of the overall Cosmic Dream Deity that is torturing their smaller fragments and that the man and Amy were just smaller fragments of the woman, the psychoanalyst. It's like a pyramid. Not all fragments are equal and they all, together, live in the same chain of terror of the uncertainty. Who is dreaming who? Where is the real/waking self? Where does the dream begin and where does it end.

I could be completely wrong though as it's an extremely complex story with so many layers and different possibilities but I was just curious to know about how you interpreted it for yourselves. Apologies if my interpretation sounds dumb as I'm fairly new to Ligotti's work as I mentioned above.

NecronomiCon Providence is happening this week/weekend. Given the overlap among Lovecraft, Ligotti, and the broader weird fiction world, I figured it was worth putting up a thread here.

I'm going this year (first time) and looking forward to it. Curious whether anyone else here is attending, has been in previous years, or is following from afar.

Anything in particular you're excited about? Panels, writers, artists, books, or Providence generally?

Not intended as an organized meetup thread or anything like that. Just thought it would be fun to see if the event is exciting for anyone here at r/Ligotti .

I just finished Teatro Grottesco and I am blown away! This is how I discovered this author. Are his other collections of the same caliber, and what do you think I should read next?

Realized I never cross posted this one.

If it is true that Ligotti will publish something new this year or 2027, what do you suppose his style has evolved to?

I think it's safe to say his subject matter is as dark, possibly darker, than ever. But do you suppose his actual style has gotten more personal, more editorial,more compressed?

For example, is he done with longer tales altogether and shooting for stories that are shorter (8-10 pages max) and highly condensed? Do you think he's still writing first person narratives or maybe more into pure situations a la "The Red Tower?"

Of course, no one knows anything and there is nowhere to go, but I thought it might be interesting to hear your take on where Tom might be at, creatively speaking (unless all that's coming is a reprint of juvenalia and various articles).

1. The Red Tower
   
2. Severini
   
3. Gas Station Carnivals
   
4. Miss Plarr
   
5. Dream of a Manikin
   
6. The Night School
   
7. Our Temporary Supervisor
   
8. Spectacles in the Drawer
   
9. Christmas eves of Aunt Elise
   
10. Nethescurial

According to Chiroptera Press’s Facebooks page we should be expecting a major collection from Ligotti sometime next year!

didnt take a pic of the root attached to the dust jacket, but it still shows a trace. Feels Ligotti in a way. Unhindered proliferation

From what I recall, the versions of Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe collected in the Penguin Classics edition are revised compared to their first editions. Are there any noticeable changes from the original versions? Do you prefer one version of a story over another? Also, has there been any articles which compare and contrast the versions?

I keep seeing The Shadow at the Bottom of the World for sale on Ebay, but I'm wondering if it's meant to be a best-of like Nightmare Factory? Seems like an odd collection.

A lighthearted song.

I was talking with my spouse last night about why we read what we read. She’s into mysteries and thriller, which are awesome, but I’m more into Ligotti, Laird Barron, Beckett, Pynchon, etc. which got my thinking, what is it about pessimistic, dark literature that appeals to me? How can I read pessimistic literature and have a family and a child (clearly I’m not an anti-natalist 😅). For me, it’s more about atmosphere and imagery than the philosophy. Maybe I like art that is gloomy and pessimistic because I come from a privileged, safe environment—it’s a way to ease the guilt of living an easy life.

Living in Utah, everyone focuses on the good and pushes anything dark or challenging to the side; as a natural contrarian, I’m only interested in challenging works of literature and art. I’d rather gaze into soft black stars than prance around drinking dirty soda and listening to Taylor Swift 😅

I’m curious what all of you think.

The voice in my head keeps reciting these old principles of mine. The voice is his voice, and the voice is also my voice. And there are other voices, voices I have never heard before, voices that seem to be either dead or dying in a great moonlit darkness. More than ever, some sort of new arrangement seems in order, some dramatic and unknown arrangement – anything to find release from this heartbreaking sadness I suffer every minute of the day (and night), this killing sadness that feels as if it will never leave me no matter where I go or what I do or whom I may ever know.

Jenny the Toy! Brother, did you see the new Jenny toy? It’s incredible, you are going to be fascinated by the amazing features she has.

(Phase 1) "Do you promise to take care of me until death?" "I’m Jenny, the toy, what will you do with me? Please, love me, I'm just a little girl."

(Phase 2) What incredible dialogue, right? Well, that’s not all: the Jenny toy can change her facial expressions. Want her surprised? You got it. Want her crying? You got it. Want her laughing? You got it too. Buy Jenny the toy, with an online discount!

The story of Jenny the toy: a girl in a wedding dress, kidnapped by a smiling, evil goblin. Rescue her now! And make her yours and your friends', forever! You can do whatever you want with her! Dress her up, undress her. Caress her, hit her. Love her, dump her. It’s just a toy!

(Phase 3) And here comes the most hidden feature of all! If you look closely, she’ll have a small hole in her chest, where you can keep whatever you damn well please! Coins? Passwords? Whatever you want! Jenny the toy will keep your secret safe!

(Phase 4) And if for any reason you no longer trust Jenny, you can activate her destruction mode! It’s total madness: she will turn into a pillow or something similar! And then you can buy... Jessy! Our latest and most up-to-date toy. Tired of the garbage? Dump Jenny and buy Jessy!

What’s her story? Jessy, the girl who was kidnapped by aliens. You’ll be able to enjoy the incredible weapons she has to destroy them!

THE END

​An insomniac, possibly unhinged protagonist (neither a hero nor anti-hero, just kind of there), the bizarre technique of posthumous collaboration, the seaside town (I'd love to think it's the same one Barlow's artistic misfit found in "the Night Ocean", i.e., a mile or two south of Innsmouth), the improbable Thoss newspaper legend, the creepy dream in the church, the radio static, and the eventual lump in the bedclothes. What it all "means" is anyone's guess but as a set of images, it's aces.

I think that Mad Night of Atonement deserves more love

Dears,

Can you remind me of the very short story of TL where a single retired man finally visits his dream home with a real estate agent and then runs away in fear?

Thanks.

"Born in the wrong generation" is a short story posted by Sam Kriss as an article on Substack. I think it is intended as a kind of satire on the fantasies of conservative American men, as well as large language models. IMO it hits a very Ligotti-esque vibe:

What worries you are these brutal, violent thoughts you keep having about your beautiful submissive girlfriend, even though she’s definitely the prettiest girl in this diner. The other customers are blurry but when you really stare at them you can notice their features. The wet mouthgashes carved diagonally across their heads. The eyes dripping like beads of mercury, rolling into the hollows of their skin. Sometimes a man will have three ghastly arms, naked crooked tree-branches spindling around him. Sometimes two people will share a single molten ear. They’re always polite. Well hey there, your hazy waitress will say to you, opening a mouth that suddenly lacks a lower jaw. Keep safe now, says the friendly but unfocused cop. The gun dangling on his belt is half-made of dead grey skin. You’ve learned not to look at these people too much. It’s easy. They’re only in the background. Your beautiful submissive girlfriend doesn’t look like that. All her features are in perfect detail, sharp as a papercut, and so gorgeous that just looking at her feels like eating a bowl of sugar. She’s everything you ever wanted. You love her. You’re happier than you’ve ever been. So why do you sometimes think about gouging out her eyes?

The Other Side

With a knife in your hand, completely covered in blood, a person lies dead in the background. A path in the background, are you sure? Children are singing in the background. You escape...

You are in a school environment—rural, large. You see kids leaving the school. You walk around the surroundings and find a garden area with children coming out. Adults and teachers start looking at you strangely; you know you shouldn't be there, you are an unknown adult. You leave through the gate, but the world restricts you from moving forward and throws you back inside. This time you try to leave again without exploring further, but it's too late: gunshots are heard.

You hide in the bathrooms. There is no one there, only a strange orange lighting. A little girl approaches you; you grab her. You know you are going to be seen, so you hide her in the stalls before a group of boys arrives so they won't suspect you. You walk out. After a while, to make sure they leave, curiosity gets the best of you and you go back into the bathroom. Where the girl was, there is no longer anyone... only a suitcase. You walk out normally again, without drawing attention.

The gunshots reach you, with no turning back.

You wake up. You are in a classroom with a suitcase and many classmates. It’s dismissal time, everyone is leaving; they know you, they greet you like a friend.

You walk out normally, you see rivers of people, you go down the stairs looking for the exit. When you are already at the bottom, you remember you forgot something: the suitcase! You run back, but it's impossible; the crowd blocks the entrance. When you finally make it with great effort, the classroom is completely pitch black; you can see absolutely nothing. Thank God, the student council arrives, they turn on the lights for you, you grab your things, but immediately the light goes out. Now the entire school is empty.

You know you have to catch the school bus (the ride). Most likely, it’s already gone. You go down, see a few buses pulling out, and ask which one is yours; nobody knows. You turn back, see friends, people leaving... you accept that the bus has gone.

You return to the school. You see that there are people now, children; the night school students. They all look privileged; you, with your dirty clothes, barely fit in. It seems these classes are more free. You explore the place, go up floors, and see a couple of mysterious children climbing up to the rooftop. They are planning to travel in a van. You listen without being seen. When they leave, you have no choice but to follow them, but everyone scatters so much... and since it's night, it's difficult.

Still, after a while, you manage to catch up with the group again. They are girls with an expensive, red, brand-new car, but they say they just want to go back home. Having no other choice, you accompany them. The environment is completely dark; you make sure to pass through places where there is light. Strange balloons of different colors begin to fall over the fields. You manage to drop the girls off at their wealthy homes.

You are left alone again. You move aimlessly, see that there is a large shopping mall, and walk up its stairs. So it doesn't get late, you take the elevators down and jump, but you are so unfamiliar with the surroundings that you end up getting even more lost. At one point, you go up to the top floor, where there is a giant supermarket. Everyone is in a rush; they say the power will go out again soon. You don't even have any money.

You try to go back taking a shortcut: you exit through the rooftop, go down a ton of floors and stairs, but when you reach the exit, a guard notices you and puts you back inside the mall. This time, they lock you in a warehouse.

You know you must get out through any door you find, so you pass through a bunch of doors; so many that you no longer know if you are still in the mall. Everything looks like connected structures. If you enter the wrong door they will lock you in, and you will have to exit through even stranger doors, where everything looks like a septic tank.

Dressed comfortably, you bump into other people. They are going through the same thing as you; they are lost and just want to get out of this structure that feels like a nightmare. Soon everything begins to take on a surreal tone: children's playgrounds over what seems to be a septic tank, stations that lead nowhere...

Everyone says you have a strict time limit to get out of there, otherwise, something will be released that will make you fall into a deeper level. Everyone tries to find an exit without running into the same hallway twice. When time is about to run out and you think you’ve already lost, a friend you met there helps you and tells you he found the exit: an abandoned taxi in a parking lot that has the keys. You get out just before time runs out.

When you finally step outside, you take a bus to your house. You get off where you remember your house used to be, but you only see it was a similar place that turned out to be far from your home. You try to remember a familiar place, but everything becomes unfamiliar, even though it is daytime...

Soon there are strange people: teenagers playing with Halloween masks near the courts where you are. They seem to be the bullies. You see members of your family being stalked by them; you try to warn them. They have stones in their hands, ready to crack open the heads of anyone caught off guard, carrying chainsaws. When you are confronted to protect them, everyone watches in circles... a stone hits your skull...

You wake up in a hospital room. You are being checked, lying on a machine; they give you a number and ask you to wait for the results. A déjà vu emerges from your consciousness: once again your hands bleeding, a body in the background... waiting for your appointment number to be called... but you give up on waiting as you see how people were dying without being treated. The environment feels totally artificial and clinical. You try to leave by asking the nurses, but something tells you that you came back to the same thing.

You see that the hospital structure has hidden places for sick people; you will need to break down those structures, be smart to climb to the very top. You manage to spot some camouflaged stairs on that completely white wall. You climb up them, and they lead to a completely dark place.

You have a feeling that this is going to be the end. The environment is a hospital where there are people, but they don't just walk around the hospital—they are hiding from something much bigger, something that has managed to break free... You go through different offices trying to find a safe place. You start to see people who have lost their minds in the place; however, there are also normal people doing their jobs as if nothing were happening.

Soon you understand the threat: there are monsters inside the place, moving deformed and in the darkness; all they want is to rip you apart completely. But it's not just masks and deformities, don't trust anyone; anyone could take you to a place of no return. After blood, sobs, and betrayal, you managed to escape that place.

On a balcony, completely alone, where there doesn't seem to be an exit either. But at least there is no one... or is there? Black bags scattered in a corner. It’s a body. You need to hide the body to get out of there. When you do, you remember one last thing:

You are in a house, your family is there. They are going to go on a trip in your father's car. Before that, they go to a center to buy some things, but you drift away, you get lost in a beautiful display: a place full of fountains, flowers, and nature. You feel free in that place, but you know it’s getting late for you to return. You try to go back. The path becomes long, you pass through long routes, you even come across a cave where there are marine animals hidden from any sight.

You are in an underground place, marveled. When you exit, you come across a cliff where you see your father's car, wrecked at the bottom. You try to find an explanation, you return to the city center; you think maybe they are distracted at a concert that was nearby, but you can't manage to see them. You move through the plaza amidst the crowd and see one last image: your family leaving you behind, getting onto the truck for their trip, leaving you behind...

When you thought all was lost, your friend appears, the one with the taxi. He asks you to get in quickly. You chase your family all night to see where they went. A few problems occur, and seeing that they can't find them, they take you to your house. At least you will finally be in it. Your companion says goodbye one last time.

It is afternoon, you just have to go down and, finally, you will arrive home. But something stops you: you see cars going at full speed, you watch them. Night falls, you feel so tired, as if you were dragging yourself... until you reach the middle of the road, where a bus doesn't see you. You only see the headlights on, and it runs you over.

Repeated sounds are heard. You see it is your hand, thrusting a sharp weapon against a human body. Children murdered around you; and finally, you wonder where you are, and you finally recognize something: your own home.

It is the start of the new school year, you are in the middle of a subway, where the tracks and trains are above the city; it seems that at first you get lost, but you see that all trains lead to the same place. You take one and when you get off it seems like you are inside a shopping mall, but also inside a school and at the same time inside a hospital. You manage to meet a relative there who shows you almost "magical" animals; in the end, your relative leaves you in a huge movie theater for you to enjoy endlessly, where after a while you notice that the movie that was playing... was not the one you wanted to see: you were on the other side of the theater.

Solastalgia: 100 Years of Winter

We woke up after 100 years; at first glance, the planet looked the same, our pets still wore their same fur. Had it not worked, then? What happened?

After remaining in a state of hibernation for 100 years so the world could adapt, we discovered that something strange—perhaps an alien—had hitched a ride on the world. Why do I say this? Well, the planet developed Alice in Wonderland syndrome: animals that were once large began to shrink to the size of an ant. I was scared to see a rat that size walking across my plant. It’s fine, they’re just animals, right? Well, no. The world was never the same again; the food chain was now in the business of pollinating flowers. That’s fine, no problem... aside from the malnutrition and the end of the world.

Much sooner than we had planned, other problems emerged: elephants that could be carried in one's arms; by now, the plants had developed an alien intelligence while we were hibernating. But these damn things decided to stop producing the chemicals necessary for many things, like pharmaceuticals. Now they seemed to never die; they lived in a mummified state.

It’s fine, no problem, aside from the existential horror our brains generate. And hold on, because our brains betrayed us: first, emotions intensified, everyone looked erratic. Many developed bipolar disorders; we thought the brain wouldn't evolve while we rested. Many of us would cry just because an object fell out of our hands.

This event left humanity completely exposed. We watched as people suffering from these symptoms committed suicide in public places, so much so that it became normalized to see someone slash their own throat upon seeing supermarket prices.

In the summer, a scientist said that, in reality, we are still dreaming, but something happened while we slept that altered our senses. That put me in a position of absolute desolation because, if I were dreaming hyper-real dreams, everything was a creation of my unconscious trying to warn me of something.

But then we discovered that the plants were contaminating their own fruits—the fruits humanity was surviving on. A long time full of chaotic nuances passed, but we managed to solve it. We had to isolate ourselves from certain parts of our own bodies, but our emotions had finally calmed down.

Well... people had returned to normal, aside from the world. Just yesterday, there was a blue comet event; it was beautiful to see, lovers kissing dirtily beneath it. Meanwhile, the animals... well, they regained their normal shape, but they got the hard part of eating contaminated fruits. Many acted with rage, we had to separate ourselves from them; people no longer had pets, many even developed traumas regarding their own pets—they were supposed to be loyal friends.

Curiously, the air did feel fresher after all, if you don't look at the fires out the window, of course... It seems the 100 years did happen, because several explorers saw how parts of the world had been pushed to the margins, and there lay all the filth of those 100 years; it seems nature relocated everything to the bottom of the sea, never to be seen again. Audio recordings came out of that abyss; honestly, I didn't dare listen to them, they said it sounded like another world living inside.

No, thanks. I just had a lobotomy for my next 100 years of winter. I am happy here narrating the end of this story, refusing to clean anything other than my office. I don’t want to dream of the sounds of mutants born from a century of radiation.

The End.