Ligotti Entering the Mainstream

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I think Jeff Vandermeer was saying something a while ago (possibly about Ligotti) that it's maybe not a good idea to be presumptuous about who will like a currently niche thing. Strange things become popular occasionally, then it stops seeming strange that it would be popular. A lot of deeply uncool things become popular eventually.

I try to make sure not to say things like "oh, you probably wouldn't like it", which can often be true but sometimes a bit patronizing.

The audiences for David Lynch, Cronenberg or Silent Hill games might be the biggest you can currently reach for a subversive, dark storytelling (of course that's film and games), but who knows what changes in economic prosperity and technology could do for widening audiences and reading.

And remember, each time you feel like whining about something not being popular as it should be, write some fvcking reviews and talk to people who you think might like it.

[Speaking Mute]

Chuck Klosterman has a great collection of essays on the whims of both popular and highbrow culture:

https://www.amazon.com/But-What-If-Were-Wrong/dp/0399184139/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496092890&sr=8-1&keywords=what+if+we%27re+wrong

 

https://www.amazon.com/But-What-If-Were-Wrong/dp/0399184139/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496092890&sr=8-1&keywords=what+if+we%27re+wrong

People in general are reading less fiction, but I don't think this is an intellectual decline. Many people, in the US at least, are spending more time at work and commuting; combine less free time with access to a greater selection of film, television, and video games and it makes sense.

Likewise, to answer Robert's question about young adult readers, procreation probably hamstrings more readers than anything - when it comes to reading a book by yourself versus doing something with the spouse and kids, the later is usually going to win out. In the past, the largest pool of adult readers probably consisted of housewives reading during the day and hands-off, minimal effort fathers reading at night - with cultural and economics shifts draining these demographics, it makes sense to me that more public forms of storytelling like film and television are gaining cultural currency while readership is declining.

[Raul Urraca]

I do hope Ligotti becomes popular enough to earn serious money from book sales.