I Have A Special Plan for This World

[R. von Pnaklendorf]

I just finished reading the short story I Have a Special Plan for This World, included in my copy of My Work Is Not Yet Done. I didn't fully understand it, but it conveyed something that made me empathize with Thomas Ligotti—not only with the reason he wrote it, but also with the way he chose to write it.

I've carried things in my own mind that have weighed on me, and, almost as if by magic, I turn them into stories. I give those stories a place to exist, as though that somehow absolves me—or, perhaps instead, as though they become either scars or badges of honor.

I couldn't help but feel that Thomas Ligotti was trying to unburden himself here, whatever the nature of it may have been. It could even have been something purely dissociative, tied to rumination or intrusive thoughts that perhaps even he didn't fully understand at the time.

As for the story itself, it struck me as a piece of poetic prose, though I could very well be mistaken.

 

[R. von Pnaklendorf]

It's a weird story...

 

[Grave Acolyte]

I just finished reading the short story I Have a Special Plan for This World, included in my copy of My Work Is Not Yet Done. I didn't fully understand it, but it conveyed something that made me empathize with Thomas Ligotti—not only with the reason he wrote it, but also with the way he chose to write it.

I've carried things in my own mind that have weighed on me, and, almost as if by magic, I turn them into stories. I give those stories a place to exist, as though that somehow absolves me—or, perhaps instead, as though they become either scars or badges of honor.

I couldn't help but feel that Thomas Ligotti was trying to unburden himself here, whatever the nature of it may have been. It could even have been something purely dissociative, tied to rumination or intrusive thoughts that perhaps even he didn't fully understand at the time.

As for the story itself, it struck me as a piece of poetic prose, though I could very well be mistaken.

It’s an interesting story by Ligotti as a curiosity, but a very minor one. Very secondary or even tertiary in my view. Keep in mind that I didn't read it with much attention either, and that was some time ago, so the details I might comment on or not remain as if covered by a yellow fog in my memory. Anyway, toward the end I think it had some striking poetic sentences. But the bulk of my Work is worth it for its first novel alone. The rest is an epilogue.

 

[R. von Pnaklendorf]

It’s an interesting story by Ligotti as a curiosity, but a very minor one. Very secondary or even tertiary in my view. Keep in mind that I didn't read it with much attention either, and that was some time ago, so the details I might comment on or not remain as if covered by a yellow fog in my memory. Anyway, toward the end I think it had some striking poetic sentences. But the bulk of my Work is worth it for its first novel alone. The rest is an epilogue.

That’s a fact. I still consider My Work Is Not Yet Done to be strong enough to stand on its own as a novella; it already carries enough weight without the accompanying stories. But if Thomas chose to include them, I’m sure he had his reasons.

 

[Grave Acolyte]

That’s a fact. I still consider My Work Is Not Yet Done to be strong enough to stand on its own as a novella; it already carries enough weight without the accompanying stories. But if Thomas chose to include them, I’m sure he had his reasons.

Did you read the one about the nightmare network?

 

[R. von Pnaklendorf]

Did you read the one about the nightmare network?

I read it, yes. It's an interesting format; I've done similar things myself. Thomas Ligotti is a visionary. Even collaborative projects like the SCP Foundation, as well as others aimed more at younger audiences, have done this too.