TLO Member Interview: klarkash

TLO Member Interview: klarkash
Conducted by Phillip Stecco


1) How did you first encounter the work of Thomas Ligotti?

I had heard his name for some time; I first read him in an old issue of something called Tekeli-li! that I dug out of a box at Time Machine on 14th Street in Manhattan.


2) What are some of your favorite works by Mr. Ligotti?

Sideshow and Other Stories. "The Nightmare Network." "New Faces in the City." In a Foreign Town, In a Foreign Land.


3) What other writers do you enjoy reading?

Jack Vance, Bruno Schulz, Lord Dunsany, Clark Ashton Smith, Roberto Bolaño, Jorge Luís Borges, Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard, Robert Aickman, Gene Wolfe, Don DeLillo, W. G. Sebald, Cormac McCarthy, M. P. Shiel...


4) Do you have any favorite singers or musicians?

Magma, Thin Lizzy, Coltrane quartet, Sonny Sharrock, Koenjihyakkei, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Black Sabbath, Cachao, Arsenio Rodriguez, Thelonious Monk. Composers: Sibelius, Mahler, Shostakovich, Ravel, Debussy. Just getting into de Falla; everything I've heard so far is great.


5) Do you have any favorite artists in the visual media?

Jack Kirby, Alex Toth.


6) What are some of your favorite movies?

Phase IV, Yessongs, Live at Pompeii, Gates of Hell, I Bury the Living, Planet of the Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey.


7) Do you watch television?

Yes, I enjoy the original "Star Trek," "Antiques Roadshow," "Have Gun, Will Travel," "Battlestar Galactica," "The Rockford Files."


8) What foods do you enjoy eating?

Mexican. Barbecue. Sushi.


9) Do you have any odd hobbies or collecting fetishes?

Many hobbies, none particularly odd. I collect weird and recondite literature, sci-fi paperbacks, and classical music on vinyl. (I collect other types of vinyl too but only classical is cheaply and readily available at thrift stores because yuppie DJ scum have picked over everything else [except show tunes.])


10) What recreational activities do you enjoy?

Reading, playing the electric bass guitar, time with my daughter and my wife.


11) What makes you laugh?

The jests, japes and jibes of old friends. Your mileage may vary.


12) Life?

I'm all for it! Being alive rules.


13) Death?

I can't believe it's anything other than the complete cessation of consciousness and self. It's something to "live on" in the memory of loved ones and those you've communicated with meaningfully, but it's not life, not consciousness.


14) Work?

It's not work if you do what you love! Otherwise... it's definitely work.


15) Do you have any interesting work anecdotes to relate?

I do not.


16) What is your earliest childhood memory?

It's either moving through a narrow hallway in my grandparents' house in a greenish or bluish light, or lying in a pink or orange light and looking up at the sky with my mother and her friends on a lawn at a park. (I have a quite early memory of listening to the Disney Halloween record "Thrilling Chilling Sounds of the Haunted House" but I can't say it's my earliest.)


17) What is your fondest childhood memory?

Getting absorbed in lost worlds of the past through a monster or sci-fi television show or movie made before I was born, in the safety of my grandparents' house, with the California sun shining outside.


18) Who has been the most influential person in your life?

My grandfather, a hardworking, gentle, quietly funny man. I think he had seen some tough times and unpleasant sights in his life, but when I knew him he was dignified, honest, and kind.


19) Do you have a special plan for this world?

I do not. I want only for my infinitesimal consequence to weigh on the side of learning, lore, and love.


20) What else should we know about you?

I would like you to know that I write fiction which might interest some readers who frequent this board. I will start a blog soon detailing my work, which has appeared in Ex Occidente and Side Real Press books, as well as anything forthcoming. Thanks!