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{{quote| ''"...I’ve conceived of stories that were just too disturbing for me to write. If you can write something, then it’s only so disturbing. Anything truly disturbing can’t even be written. Even if it could, no one could stand to read it. And writing is essentially a means of entertainment for both the writer and the reader. I don’t care who the writer is—literature is entertainment or it is nothing."''<br|'''Thomas Ligotti''', [http:/>/www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t{{=}}420 in an interview with Neddal Ayad] }}
'''Thomas Ligotti''', [http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=420 in an interview with Neddal Ayad] }}
 
One of the most respected writers in the field of supernatural horror alive today, '''Thomas Ligotti''', in critical terms, has it all. He has been nominated for and won awards for his short stories and poetry on numerous occasions, gaining the accolades of everyone from [[Ramsey Campbell]] to [[Poppy Z. Brite]] and accumulating a wildly devoted cult following. His prose has been favorably compared to [[Edgar Allan Poe]] and the Decadent poets of ''fin-de-siècle'' France, and before he even had released his first story collection, the late [[Cthulhu Mythos]] archivist [[Lin Carter]] declared him the [[Spiritual Successor]] to [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]].
 
Whence comes the logical question: "So why haven't I heard of this guy?"
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To elaborate: Ligotti has, since his early twenties, been [[Creator Breakdown|afflicted with agoraphobia, panic-anxiety disorder, and severe bipolar disorder]], rendering him unable to, for example, [[Reclusive Artist|meet directly with fans or conduct face-to-face interviews]]. Early on, there were even questions as to whether the man actually existed, with some claiming that Thomas Ligotti was [[Epileptic Trees|actually a pseudonym for a more famous writer]]; these rumors [[Jossed|began to lose credence]] following a series of phone interviews, and all but ceased following the proliferation of email.
 
Perhaps even more damaging to Ligotti's notoriety - although ever appreciated by his devoted fanbase - was his steadfast dedication to the small press, with some of his collections only being produced in editions of under a thousand.[[hottip:*:<ref>For a [[Up to Eleven|particularly extreme]]</ref> example, [http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=1280 look here]. And yes, the webmaster has a copy. Granted, most of his works were later released in trade paperback, but even these have gone out of print. Only recently has the publisher Mythos Books begun to rectify this, to the extent that copies of Ligotti's most recent fiction (''[[My Work Is Not Yet Done]]'' and ''Teatro Grottesco'') and a retrospective (''The Shadow At The Bottom Of The World'') are now available in major chain stores, while older collections are gradually being reissued in revised form. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|Which has also pleased the fans.]]
 
His longform poem I Have a Special Plan for This World was recorded as a song by [[Current 93]].
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Definitely [[Needs More Love]].
 
{{creatortropes}}
=== Tropes evident in Thomas Ligotti's works include: ===
* [[And I Must Scream]]
* [[Anti-Hero]]: Finding a [[The Hero|straight hero]] in a Ligotti story is like finding a [[Happy Ending]]: If you think that you have, one can be certain that you are terribly, ''terribly'' wrong.
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* [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]: [[Nothing Is Scarier|But rarely "onstage."]]
* [[Cruel Twist Ending]]
* [[Cthulhu Mythos]]: "The Sect of the Idiot" is definitely a Mythos story, though "The Prodigy of Dreams", "Nethescurial", "Vastarien" and "The Last Feast of Harlequin" (which was dedicated to [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]]) are all at least considered part of the [[Fanon]].
* [[Darkness Equals Death]]: Played with in various ways.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]] / [[The Snark Knight]]: Most of Ligotti's more detailed protagonists are this, resulting in some [[Black Comedy|surprisingly]] [[Kafka Komedy|funny]] [[Gallows Humor|moments]]. The man himself is also a fine specimen of the latter.
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* [[God Is Evil]]: And ''how''. For some explanation, please read "Nethescurial".
* [[Humans Are Special]]: Brutally deconstructed in ''The Conspiracy Against The Human Race''.
* ~[[The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday~]]: Ligotti ''loves'' ambiguous locations, though "The Astronomic Blur" from ''"Sideshow," and Other Stories'' is one of the most unusual.
* [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]]: The seminal ''Songs of a Dead Dreamer'' has been reprinted once, but neither edition is currently available through retail. A few copies are available online at [[Shockingly Expensive Bill|exorbitant prices]].
* [[Lost Episode]]: Several stories published through small-press magazines have never been collected or reprinted.
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* [[Personal Horror]]
* [[Perspective Flip]]: Most of the vignettes in ''The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales''.
* [[Purple Prose]]: Many of his more abstract vignettes fall into this category, albeit rarely to the degree of [[Edgar Allan Poe|his chief]] [[HPH.P. Lovecraft|inspirations]].
* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: ''The Conspiracy Against The Human Race'' is basically this as applied to ''everyone that has ever lived''.
* [[Scary Scarecrows]]: "The Shadow at the Bottom of the World".
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* [[The Ubermensch|The Übermensch]]: [[Deconstructed]], with ruthless vigour, in "The Shadow, The Darkness".
* [[Ultimate Evil]]
* [[Wham! Line]]: So very, very many.
 
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Thomas Ligotti]]
[[Category:Trope]]
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