Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

On February 4th, 1998, Jon Padgett unleashed a horrific vision upon this world. THOMAS LIGOTTI ONLINE was created to champion the greatest living horror/weird fiction writer. Many thanks must be extended to Jon for his initiative and effort to bring the Ligottian world to those receptive - yet hidden within the mindless masses. He has undoubtedly introduced countless readers to Tom's work and hand laid the foundations for the community herein. A tip of the surgeon's cap to you, Jon!

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

I’d like to thank Brian Poe for transforming a cobbled-together, amateur author fan website into a thriving community—hands down the best author site I’ve encountered online. Your hard work, ingenuity and incredible creativity never cease to amaze me.

I'd be remiss, also, if I didn't thank my dear friend Matt Cardin. Without Matt's early (pre-TLO) encouragement and enthusiasm (and time), I doubt that the original alt.books.thomas-ligotti or TLO itself would've gotten off the ground (as I would have been literally typing to the void in those early days). Also, it didn't hurt that the original version of Matt's "Teeth" was published on TLO early on. Matt's exceptional mind and talent lent both brand new newsgroup and website an academic (and creative) authority that it wouldn't have otherwise had.

I’d also like to thank each of you. TLO’s original mission was to share a love and enthusiasm for Thomas Ligotti’s work with a community of fellow (and occasionally like-minded) readers. You have all made this simple wish into a cyber-reality. And some of you have truly made this cyber-reality into a home of sorts. You are the heart and backbone of the site, and I thank you

Finally, I’d like to humbly thank Thomas Ligotti for his friendship, his wit, his patience, his tutelage and his singular skill/talent/vision. As funny as it sounds, Tom's writing has brought me and continues to bring me unique moments of joy and consolation time and again. And I know I'm not alone.

How's that for irony?

Long live TLO!

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Congrats to Brian, and all TLO members! This dark oasis of the net has attracted some really wonderful people who have contributed amazingly creative and original works, literary news & updates, insightful story analyses, and plenty of welcome humor.

Thanks to Thomas Ligotti, and thanks to you all.

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Thank you for this wonderful site!!! Happy Birthday to TLO!! Thank you to Mr. Ligotti for the great stories he has written!

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Thank you for creating this site. The importance of this site (for me) cannot be understated. There are so many other authors (e.g. Mark Samuels, Richard Gavin, Matt Cardin, Reggie Oliver, and Richard Staines - my apologies to anyone I've forgotten:o) who I would never have heard of were it not for this site. Thank you to all of the members too! I love being part of this community.

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Indeed, here's wishing a deeply felt Happy Birthday to TLO.

Thank you, Jon. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Tom (our shaman and totem). Thank you, all new members and old, for creating one of the best destinations the Internet is ever likely to see.

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

How boring the daily routine would be without even the shortest visit to this wonderful site.

Without TLO
there is nothing to do
and there is no where to go
there is nothing to be
and there is no one to know.;)

Thank you Jon for creating alt.books.thomas-ligotti and launching TLO, thank you Brian for transforming it into the opulent Nightmare Network. And thanks to all members for the fantastic material they've contributed over the years.

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

For a good time, follow this link.

It's the remembered version of the original TLO, circa 2001, that's housed at The Internet Archive and accessible via their "Wayback Machine." Ah, the sweet nostalgia...

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

I too would to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Gnostic artificers of this place. Since I joined it has been my pleasure to encounter loads of very interesting and pleasant people here. May it continue for ever on anon.

Not only that but the site also proved my first real introduction to the works of Ligotti himself.

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Wow! What an honor it was at the time to publish MWINYD on TLO for the first time anywhere. It's really evident how far the site has come in scope and sophistication since then. Such great memories, though...

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Let us not forget the unfathomable depths of our most prolific and comedic contributor, G. S. Carnivals. Phil also serves as house editor and moderator. TLO would likely be nothing more than pretty colors and starry-eyed passersby without his precisely balanced presence of wit and wariness.

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Justly stated, Brian. My apologies for the oversight. Phil is indeed the veritable heart--and mascot--of TLO.

Phil, many many thanks to you!
:)

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Thank you, Brian and Jon. I am profoundly grateful for your kind words. Whether my contributions to TLO have been Thomas Ligotti quotations, sacrifices to the Puzzletron (crossword puzzles), Quirk Classics, or goofy Ligottian recipes, I may only hope that I have maintained the standard set by Mr. Ligotti himself: "Literature is entertainment or it is nothing."

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

I, too, would like to add my words of thanks to Dr. Bantham, Dr. Locrian, G.S. Carnivals, and the many other TLOers I interact with here for making this such a wonderful forum. There's no place like this home to share one's love of Ligotti's prose and associated weird media. And no finer crew of fellow travelers.

Here's to another twelve years! :cool:

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

I have never felt more at ease among so many delightful strangers. Thanks to all responsible for their vision and maintainance of this fine literary/aesthetic/philosophical oasis.

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

We are all here forever, come what may.
Thanks to Dr B, GSC and Dr L and TL himself.
And to all my friends here.

=======================================

Findings have just been announced today that moths and butterflies surf the wind;
http://news.discovery.com/animals/migrating-insects-butterflies.html
They instinctively or deliberately discover fast moving winds or thermals in the upper atmosphere that enable them to migrate vast distances in a short space of time.
One can imagine them surging along - enfolded together or separately? - in an unconscious nirvana or fully conscious? -

?? like fiction writers who send their synchronised shards or mites into visionary tides of random truth and fiction within the vast migratory creativity of art. Some tides self-created others created for them.

The swellest tide of all is TLO's tide.

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Phil? Phil who?

Oh, that Phil!

Ditto what Drs. B and L said, a thousand times. Thanks for everything you do, Phil. :)

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Yes, include my thanks also to the powers that be.

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

three cheers to the TLO crew! you guys rock although the campiness of the old website did have a sort of charm to it haha

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Happy tenth, TLO...

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Message from Thomas Ligotti (which he asked me to relay):

A belated happy birthday to ME-LO. Jonathan and Brian, I am indebted to you both. No author could ask for a more stunning Internet presence or a more splendidly discerning group of participants who are its real essence.

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

I assure you that all of we many dollings pay, in some way, our owed thanks to you, my good Doctor(s).

Re: Thomas Ligotti Online - Twelfth Anniversary
 

Congratulations, good turn on this site, I come here often.
I’ve read a bit of D.F. Lewis before, but it wasn’t until I started lounging around TLO that I became an immense fan.
Maybe we can get a new story from Ligotti soon-ish, on account of how hard his work is to find.