History Creator / ThomasLigotti

* BlackComedy: The tone of many of his first person stories is [[DeadpanSnarker extremely snarky]], which ultimately [[MoodWhiplash only adds to the horror of his endings]]. This is particularly evident in later stories like "The Town Manager" and "Metaphysica Morum".

* AuthorTract: ''The Conspiracy Against The Human Race'', a book-length non-fiction treatise on philosophical pessimism.

* AnotherMansHorror: Used to grim and varied effect in the story-within-a-story in "Notes On The Writing Of Horror: A Story".

->'''Thomas Ligotti''', [[http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=420 in an interview with Neddal Ayad]]

* EldritchAbomination

* GodIsEvil: For some explanation, please read "Nethescurial".

* NothingIsScarier

!!Tropes evident in Thomas Ligotti's works include:

* BittersweetEnding: In Ligotti's entire oeuvre, only ''two'' stories can be said to have anything close to a positive conclusion, those being [[spoiler:"The Order of Illusion" and "My Work Is Not Yet Done".]] Just to give you an idea of ''how'' bitter even Ligotti's "happy" endings are, [[spoiler:the protagonist of the former becomes a cult leader, while the [[DesignatedHero "hero"]] of the latter ''kills himself'' to escape from [[AFateWorseThanDeath a potentially worse outcome]]...]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Plomb from "The Spectacles in the Drawer".]] Frank Dominio from "My Work Is Not Yet Done" could also be seen as one of these [[FromNobodyToNightmare before his transformation]].

Thomas Ligotti is a supernatural horror writer. He has been nominated for and won awards for his short stories and poetry on numerous occasions. Due to having been [[CreatorBreakdown afflicted with agoraphobia, panic-anxiety disorder, and severe bipolar disorder]], Ligotti is unable to [[ReclusiveArtist meet directly with fans or conduct face-to-face interviews]]. He also has a steadfast dedication to the small press, with some of his collections only being produced in editions of under a thousand. (For a particularly extreme example, [[http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=1280 look here]]. And yes, the webmaster has a copy.) Most of his works were later released in trade paperback, which have recently been re-printed by Mythos Books. Copies of Ligotti's most recent fiction (''Literature/MyWorkIsNotYetDone'' 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.

** "The Frolic": [spoiler:He turned on the light. The child was gone.]]

* CosmicHorrorStory: A master of the genre.

* CthulhuMythos: "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 Creator/HPLovecraft) are all at least considered part of the {{Fanon}}.
** More broadly, quite a lot of Ligotti's work is arguably an exploration of what life would be like if reality really is a malignant, idiotic god.

->''"... 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."''

* PurpleProse: Many of his more abstract vignettes fall into this category, albeit rarely to the degree of [[EdgarAllanPoe his chief]] [[Creator/HPLovecraft inspirations]].

Thomas Ligotti is a supernatural horror writer. He has been nominated for and won awards for his short stories and poetry on numerous occasions. Due to having been [[CreatorBreakdown afflicted with agoraphobia, panic-anxiety disorder, and severe bipolar disorder]], Ligotti is unable to [[ReclusiveArtist meet directly with fans or conduct face-to-face interviews]]. He also has a steadfast dedication to the small press, with some of his collections only being produced in editions of under a thousand. (For a particularly extreme example, [[http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=1280 look here. And yes, the webmaster has a copy.) Most of his works were later released in trade paperback, which have recently been re-printed by Mythos Books. Copies of Ligotti's most recent fiction (''Literature/MyWorkIsNotYetDone'' 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.

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 Creator/PoppyZBrite and accumulating a wildly devoted cult following. His prose has been favorably compared to EdgarAllanPoe and the Decadent poets of ''fin-de-siècle'' France, and before he even had released his first story collection, the late CthulhuMythos archivist Lin Carter declared him the SpiritualSuccessor to Creator/HPLovecraft.

Whence comes the logical question: "So why haven't I heard of this guy?"

In short, because Thomas Ligotti is the Creator/ThomasPynchon of the CosmicHorrorStory.

To elaborate: Ligotti has, since his early twenties, been [[CreatorBreakdown afflicted with agoraphobia, panic-anxiety disorder, and severe bipolar disorder]], rendering him unable to, for example, [[ReclusiveArtist 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 [[EpilepticTrees 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.[[note]]For a particularly extreme example, [[http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=1280 look here. And yes, the webmaster has a copy.]][[/note]] 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 (''Literature/MyWorkIsNotYetDone'' 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. Which has also pleased the fans.

Also, he created on his own an EP titled ''The Unholy City'', which is Ligotti reciting a cycle of poems over borderline minimalistic musical accompaniment.

In short, because Thomas Ligotti is the ThomasPynchon of the CosmicHorrorStory.

* CosmicHorrorStory
* CrapsackWorld

* CruelTwistEnding:

* DarkFantasy: "Masquerade of a Dead Sword" is dark medieval fantasy with Ligotti's signature philosophical pessimism.

* DownerEnding

Ligotti has also had a long-standing friendship with David Tibet of the English experimental music outfit {{Current 93}}, and has collaborated with them on the following albums:

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The seminal ''Songs of a Dead Dreamer'' has been reprinted a few times, but none of its edition is currently available through retail. Second-hand copies are available online at [[ShockinglyExpensiveBill exorbitant prices]].

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.[[note]]For a particularly extreme example, [[http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=1280 look here. And yes, the webmaster has a copy.]][[/note]] 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 (''MyWorkIsNotYetDone'' 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. Which has also pleased the fans.

* BlackComedy: The tone of many of his first person stories is [[DeadpanSnarker extremely snarky]], which ultimately [[MoodWhiplash only adds to the horror of his endings]].

* EnigmaticMinion: "The Clown Puppet" is perhaps the epitome of this trope, as well as [[ZigZaggedTrope its most confusing example]].

* GodIsEvil: And ''how''. For some explanation, please read "Nethescurial".

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: ''The Conspiracy Against The Human Race'' is basically this as applied to ''everyone that has ever lived''.