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Thomas Ligotti




Something of a calls him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction." Another critic declared "It's a skilled writer indeed who can suggest a horror so shocking that one is grateful it was kept offstage." {Link without Title}


OVERVIEW


Ligotti attended Macomb County Community College between 1971 and 1973 and graduated from Wayne State University in 1977.

Often favorably compared to Edgar Allan Poe , Jorge Luis Borges , Franz Kafka and H.P. Lovecraft , Ligotti began his publishing career in the early 1980s with a number of Short Stories published in various American Small Press magazines.

His unique and affecting tales gathered a small following. Ligotti's relative anonymity and reclusiveness led to speculation about his identity: Was Ligotti a Pseudonym used by a prominent literary writer? Were his stories in fact collaborations of multiple authors? In an introduction to her collection ''The Nightmare Factory'', Poppy Z. Brite mentioned these notions, with a rhetorical question: "Are you out there, Thomas Ligotti?"

In recent years, Ligotti has conducted interviews and disclosed some details of his background. For twenty-three years Ligotti worked as an Associate Editor at Gale Research (now the Gale Group ), a publishing company that produces compilations of literary (and other) research. In the summer of 2001, Ligotti quit his job at the Gale Group and moved to south Florida. His favorite music is generally Instrumental Rock . Nevertheless there are still some who question Ligotti's actual existence and--in a fittingly Ligottian notion--claim these biographical details are part of an extended literary conspiracy.

Ligotti's for much of his life; these have been prominent themes in his work.

Ligotti generally avoids the , and another, "The Last Feast of the Harlequin", was dedicated to Lovecraft.

Ligotti has explored , but gradually become uniquely Ligottian exercises in quietly disturbing Fiction .

Ligotti has stated he prefers Short Stories to longer forms, both as a reader and writer, though he has recently written a Novella , ''My Work Is Not Yet Done''.

Ligotti has collaborated with the musical group Current 93 on several albums: ''In A Foreign Town, In A Foreign Land''; ''This Degenerate Little Town''; and ''I Have A Special Plan For This World''.

A critical analysis of Ligotti's work can be found in S. T. Joshi 's book ''The Modern Weird Tale'' (2001).


REVIEWS

Critical opinion of Ligotti has generally been favorable.

  • horror,' Thomas Ligotti's ''Grimscribe'' would easily fit within it...provocative images and a style that is both entertaining and Lyric al;"



AWARDS

Ligotti has received many awards and nominations for his work:

  • 1982 : Small Press Writers and Artists Organization, Best Author of Horror/Weird Fiction: "The Chymist"

  • , from Science Fiction Poetry Association (nomination): "One Thousand Painful Variations Performed Upon Divers Creatures Undergoing the Treatment of Dr. Moreau, Humanist"

  • 1991 : World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction (nomination): "The Last Feast of Harlequin"

  • 1992 : World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (nomination): ''Grimscribe: His Lives and Works''

  • 1997 : World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (nomination): ''The Nightmare Factory''

  • (nomination): "The Bungalow House"

  • :''The Nightmare Factory''

  • "The Red Tower"

  • : "My Work Is Not Yet Done"

  • 2002 : International Horror Guild Award, Long Form Category: "My Work Is Not Yet Done"



BOOKS

  • '' Songs Of A Dead Dreamer '' ( 1986 , 1989 )

  • ''Grimscribe: His Lives and Works'' ( 1991 )

  • ''Noctuary'' ( 1994 )

  • ''The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales'' ( 1994 )

  • ''The Nightmare Factory'' ( 1996 )

  • ''In a Foreign Town, in a Foreign Land'' ( 1996 , with Current 93 )

  • ''I Have a Special Plan for This World'' ( 1997 )

  • ''This Degenerate Little Town'' ( 2001 , with Current 93 )

  • ''My Work Is Not Yet Done: Three Tales of Corporate Horror'' ( 2002 )

  • ''Crampton: A Screenplay'' ( 2003 , with Brandon Trenz )

  • ''Sideshow, and Other Stories'' ( 2003 )

  • ''Death Poems'' ( 2004 )

  • ''The Shadow at the Bottom of the World'' ( 2005 )

  • ''Teatro Grottesco'' ( 2005 )



  • ''The Thomas Ligotti Reader: Essays and Explorations'' ( 2003 ), edited by Darrell Schweitzer. A collection of essays about Ligotti's work, which includes one by Ligotti on the horror genre, a Ligotti interview, and a bibliography of his published works.



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