100 Years After Ligotti

[The New Nonsense]

Here's a fun bit of tongue-in-cheek speculation partly inspired by those shows on the Discovery/History Channel, such as "Life After People" or "World Without Humans" -- I call this one:

100 Years After Ligotti

The year is 2153 (assuming Tom lives to the ripe old age of 100). Thomas Ligotti has risen to rank among Twain, Poe, and Faulkner as one of America's greatest writers. Inner Detroit has become an urban time capsule known as "The International Industrial Museum" (a World Heritage Site), showcasing and preserving the effects of early 20th century industrialization, and in particular, its follies.

While in Detroit, visitors to the museum are often interested and encouraged to see the monument erected to one of the city's most famous sons, Thomas Ligotti. The monument can be described as thus; a large and rough concrete block upon which rests a black thing (no two people can agree on its shape -- perhaps sculpted; perhaps grown) that rises up into the Michigan haze like a gnarled, black, root. The concrete block in inset with a bronze plaque that reads, "There is nothing to do and there is nowhere to go. There is nothing to be and there is no-one to know." -- Thomas Ligotti

However, others claim this is a "sham monument", believing that the 'real' Ligotti monument is located near the Northern border of the city. This "unofficial" marker is has been described as, "an old ventriloquist dummy discarded at the end of a long and narrow alley". On the brick wall above the dummy, someone has scrawled, "You", with an arrow pointing down towards the dummy.

Various walking tours are available for visitors. Sites include Ligotti's former residence and place of employment. Often these tours are led by tour guides dressed as strange and shabby hobo-clowns. Those with questions for Ligotti are urged to ask him directly by accessing his avatar (a virtual reconstruction of his neural pathways) that has been constructed using behavoiral algorithms and patented data mining techniques to create an entity that is More Ligotti than Ligotti™.

[starrysothoth]

Shortly after his death, Thomas Ligotti's novella My Work Is Not Yet Done influenced one of the quintessential photos of mid 21st century America. Mass civil disturbances followed the implementation of the Real Data Protocol: the completely accurate automation of all imaging, data entry, and complex calculation by an AI upgrade, deemed "The Nightmare Network" by dissident Detroit workers made redundant by this technology.

In this most gripping image, an anonymous male worker in a second hand overcoat is bringing a sledge hammer down onto a Gen-4 Holo-Mainframe. Behind him, the ruby words WORK NOT DONE are inscribed on the singed wall. Next to this phrase is the hanging body of his supervisor, a temporary boss brought in to oversee implementation of the Protocol. Some have said it looks like he is being jerked upward at rapid velocity by a pantalooned figure with strings, but most agree this is a merely a photographic anomaly, as is the reddish-gold tint of the office in this picture.

A jumbo sized version of the snapshot hangs in a special corner of the Ligotti exhibit, near several consoles inviting attendees to try out the antique video game Domino's Retributive Action: Thy Work Be Done.