Re: Who Are You?
 

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd revive this topic for my first post. I've been lurking on TLO quite regularly over the past couple months, but only decided to take the plunge and register now because, well, social anxiety extends into cyberspace sometimes, too. :wink:

Anyway, for the intro, my name is Dan, I'm 23 and from the suburban sprawl of New Jersey. I'm currently unemployed and living at home after graduating college with an essentially useless film studies degree last year, and then spending some time living and working in England. Hopefully I'll get out of NJ soon, though I'm in no hurry to go find a soul-sucking job in an unfamiliar place, either.

As for my history as a Ligotti fan, as with many of you it could be said to have started with reading HPL in my early teens. In high school, I read a handful of Ligotti stories when you could actually find some online (I think "Dr. Voke and Mr. Veech" was my first.) I also heard his collaborative works with C93. College came and my appetite for a lot of things left me, which meant that I hardly read or did anything productive at all, instead choosing to spend my time ingesting all manner of substances, as you do. I can't say that I regret this, because many of my current interests and ideas owe much to my experiences with altered states.

Being out of school, though, has forced me to find more tenable ways of occupying my time and providing pleasure. And so I'm reading actively and writing again for the first time in several years, when those are the things everyone's been telling me I should do all along (I can't say that I find writing "pleasurable," however, as I'm highly self-critical and sitting down to write is like pulling teeth with me.) Somewhere along the way, I finally bought a copy of "The Nightmare Factory," and the words were, to put it one way, "recognizable in some way as my own." And now I'm here.

I look forward to interacting with all of you, and maybe I'll be able to contribute an interesting tidbit here and there....

All the best,
Dan

Welcome to the party, Dan. Or nightmare, as the case may be. Best of luck with post-college life. In my own experience, the sociocultural system here in the West, or at least in America, or at least in Missouri -- or at least in my own idiosyncratic little life -- isn't all that helpful in fostering attitudes or providing opportunities or opening doors that make life for creative types very bearable after graduation. Fortunately, I see that you, however, are doing exactly what I should have done in the immediate aftermath of college: just hanging out and letting the dust settle for awhile. Good luck to you.

I notice that I never acknowledged the introductions posted to this thread some months ago by Chris, Sean, Dr. Zirk, Albie, and Jeremy. Sorry about that. Hello, gentlemen.

Re: Who Are You?
 

Hi, my name is Phil. I'm an alcoholic. (Oops! Wrong group!)
Seriously...
I'm Phil. I reside in Fenton, Michigan. I'm 47. My avatar couldn't be more appropriate; I straddle the fine line between jokester and smart aleck. (Ah, the roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd.) The tarot's Fool would suit me as well. I was fortunate enough to grow up (sic) in a house that always had science fiction lying around. (Thanks, Dad.) You can guess what happened when I outgrew comics. I'm here, I imagine, because I share a common interest with you: the fiction of Thomas Ligotti. My first Ligotti was "The Last Feast of Harlequin" in its original magazine appearance. A fleeting brush. Just before I turned 40, I got interested in HPL, who I had avoided like the Plague (because "The Dunwich Horror" scared the piss out of me when I was 12 or 13). I was a fan of Henry Kuttner's fiction and bought a copy of Chaosium's The Book of Iod. I was unaware of Kuttner's Cthulhu Mythos work. Well, an avalanche occurred.... I bought all of Lovecraft's fiction, and read it obsessively in chronological order of publication. I discovered Edward P. Berglund's wonderful site The Reader's Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos (found at: http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/contents.htm )
The snowball rolls faster & gets bigger!!! It's out of control: I make every effort to acquire every bona fide Mythos work (according to Berglund's Chronology) and read them in order! Foolhardy? Yes! Expensive? Yes! I was fine until I hit the 1950's and August Derleth (my wheels started to wobble). By the early 1970's, my wheels fell off. (Not your fault, Mr. Lumley, you just happened to be there....) Utter boredom at disappointing derivative mediocre fiction. One of the perks along the way, though, was the small press stuff, the kind of publications that TL seemed drawn to. (Yes, I cheated. I skipped ahead and read reviews in Crypt of Cthulhu, Midnight Shambler, Eldritch Tales, and many others.) The rest is history. Weirdly enough, though, I ended up in Mr. Berglund's Chronology of the Cthulhu Mythos on his RGttCM site. I'm the purple push pin. Really.

ADDENDUM (about a month later):
What I failed to express earlier is my enduring appreciaton of Cthulhu Mythos fiction. The real gems of this subgenre are staggering, to say the least. Lovecraft, Long, Smith, Howard, Kuttner, Bloch, etc., etc. My problem was burnout. I took in a steady diet of the stories for nearly two years, with no variety. Try eating the same thing every day. It gets old. I've learned to graze rather than gorge. Moo.
Phil

Re: Who Are You?
 

My name is David. I'm 41 and live in Madison, Wisconsin. I stumbled upon SONGS OF A DEAD DREAMER in 1991 or 1992 and thought it the greatest collection of horror stories I'd ever read. In fact, I still consider them just that.

I'd discovered Lovecraft in high school about ten years earlier, so Ligotti quickly became a favorite. Other favorites were and still are Borges, Kafka, Philip K. Dick, Tolkien, Gore Vidal.

I have one question, though: Do any WOMEN read Ligotti?

Re: Who Are You?
 

Just wanted to say hi to Alex and Phil, and a belated thanks to Matt for the welcome.

I once knew a gal who read Ligotti, but she was found dead on the street, having choked, apparently, on the small plastic arm of a toy doll....

It's tough to maintain a fanbase when your fiction has such effects.

Re: Who Are You?
 

Greetings

I'm new here and I figured that this would be a good place to introduce myself.

I am 22 years old and currently working as a starving artist (the pay really sucks). Ideally, if/when I start making a bit of money with my work, I will be doing it by either writing, sculpting, drawing or working in/with film. Film is my primary love in life, particularly animation (which is what I went to school for), however, I am just as fond of live-action. A few of the films that I consider to by my long-standing favorites, and that have influenced me are Begotten, The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari, and Tuvalu (favorite directors are the Quay Brothers, Jan Svankmajer, David Lynch, ect)
Music-wise, I can enjoy most generas (except country rock :P), but I primarily listen to Punk, Post-Punk/Deathrock, Experimental, and early industrial.

Unfortunately, very few authors have made much of an impact on me. When I was 12-13 I first got into H.P. Lovecraft. He was the first author who I knew (I had read many books, but never enjoyed them to the point of wanting to actively seek out other books written by the same authors) and his writing made a very strong impression on me. Unfortunately, I enjoyed his books to the point where I hated about 99% of all other authors I read. So, as weird as it sounds, for about 5 years, the majority of the books I read where short story collections by Lovecraft (I did find other authors I loved in that time.. Poe, Shakespeare, Dante, and Nietzsche are the only that come to mind).
Salvation from such monotony came 5 years ago when I discovered Ligotti. :D

I cant remember very well, but I'm pretty certain I learned of him through Current 93's "I Have a Special Plan for this World", but it may have been elsewhere.

Anyway, this has already gotten a lot more longwinded than I planned (I was originally only going to write a quicky paragraph.. but it sorta grew :oops: )... so... yeah...
Hi!

P.S. heh.. I understand why this is, but its kinda ironic that the spellcheck considers Ligotti to be an incorrect spelling on a Ligotti forum. :P

*edit* Oh yes.. and I adore Charles Baudelaire

Re: Who Are You?
 

Good! A help-group thread!

My name's Antonio, 23, crap architect and somewhat decent writer, professional fool, pessimist/nihilist and horny boyfriend; sex, horror and videogames are my drugs... I take descent photography, though (I might upload some of my stuff here)

I listen to dark ambient and industrial music, along with dark folk in the vein of Current 93, Death in June, etc. My favorite music acts are Lustmord, Sephirot, Raison D'être, Current 93, and a large etc.

Re: Who Are You?
 

Good morning

I am Richard Molyneux, 34 years old and married. I was born in Liverpool and have been living in North London for the past 14 years. I work for a not for profit organisation running a publications department.

In 2 years I leave the dead shores of England for the rain of Vancouver (my dear wife is Canadian).

I first read Ligotti after a binge at the Fantasy Centre bookshop a couple of years ago. He effected me.

Music Wise: John Fahey, Shirley Collins and decaying Wax Cylinders. I can just about forgive Current 93 (Just).

Films: Dr Phibes, Night of the Hunter.

People: Tove Jansson, Florence Upton and Charles Waterton

Any advice on Vancouver would help!!!.

Thank you

Richard

Re: Who Are You?
 

Hello everyone,
My name is Colleen. I am 29 and married with two children. One of each. My son is 5 and my daughter is 8. I live near Lansing, Michigan. I work with Phil. After listening to him talk about this great author for two year I finally decided to check Ligotti out. With two kids I don't have a lot of time to read but I have some how managed to read quite a few of Ligotti's works in the last few months. I have found once I start one of his stories I can't put it down till I am through. It is great to work with someone who also enjoys Ligotti you wouldn't believe some of the conversations we have. Thank you to all who have so warmly welcomed me aboard!

Re: Who Are You?
 

Yes!