Nemonymous
Grimscribe
Echoed by me.
And perhaps echo is the operative word.
Sounds like someone after my own heart.
Welcome, too.
Who Are You?
- Thread starter unknown
- Start date
Echoed by me.
And perhaps echo is the operative word.
Sounds like someone after my own heart.
Welcome, too.
Odalisque
Grimscribe
A rather belated welcome to our "new" members Andrea Bonazzi and Odalisque.
I just realized no one has greeted Andrea and Peter till now so I just wanted to take the opportunity and do so.
Thank you!
The title of this thread now puts this (from Alice's Adventures) into my mind:
"Who are You?" said the Caterpillar.
This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I --- I hardly know, Sir, just at present --- at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."
"What do you mean by that?" said the Caterpillar, sternly. "Explain yourself!"
"I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir," said Alice, "because I'm not myself, you see."
al_Alamm
Mannikin
An intro?
Why not
this is the end
I am a hard core horror fan from croatia (an ex. yugoslavian republic).
I've been reading, watching, listening and imagining horrors as long as I dream.
Why and how, you shall find out by reading my posts, which should be seen as pieces of puzzle and taken into a larger picture.
It will, however, be false - an illusion if you wish, for words are weak and deceiving.
And I am a deceiver, just like all of you
this is the beginning
Why not
this is the end
I am a hard core horror fan from croatia (an ex. yugoslavian republic).
I've been reading, watching, listening and imagining horrors as long as I dream.
Why and how, you shall find out by reading my posts, which should be seen as pieces of puzzle and taken into a larger picture.
It will, however, be false - an illusion if you wish, for words are weak and deceiving.
And I am a deceiver, just like all of you
this is the beginning
Slurp Spider
Mannikin
Hello everyone!
I don’t want to go into obvious aspects of my life, so I will try to be concise.
We have always lived in a web. I like my sister Arachnicia, our four-eyed friend Mr Spinner and the moth we have recently managed to catch. Everyone else in my neighbourhood has already been consumed.
It was just a few days after my third moulting when I fell in love with weird fiction. The first story I read by HPL was The Outsider and I liked it because it reminded me of my spiderlinghood years, especially of the night when, for the first time, I crawled out of my nest. This discovery inspired me to become a writer – an ambition, which I later abandoned, as soon as I realized that spinning yarns was not my true vocation. After spending a major part of my life on repetitive tasks, I got employed as a messenger-boy by a big corporation. To its detriment and thanks to one of the missions I was asked to complete, I discovered the horror stories of Thomas Ligotti on this very site.
My favourite writers include: Thomas Ligotti, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Jeremias Gotthelf, M. R. James, H. G. Wells, Patrick McGrath, William Hope Hodgson, Shirley Jackson and Guy N. Smith.
Sincerely yours,
Slurp Spider
I don’t want to go into obvious aspects of my life, so I will try to be concise.
We have always lived in a web. I like my sister Arachnicia, our four-eyed friend Mr Spinner and the moth we have recently managed to catch. Everyone else in my neighbourhood has already been consumed.
It was just a few days after my third moulting when I fell in love with weird fiction. The first story I read by HPL was The Outsider and I liked it because it reminded me of my spiderlinghood years, especially of the night when, for the first time, I crawled out of my nest. This discovery inspired me to become a writer – an ambition, which I later abandoned, as soon as I realized that spinning yarns was not my true vocation. After spending a major part of my life on repetitive tasks, I got employed as a messenger-boy by a big corporation. To its detriment and thanks to one of the missions I was asked to complete, I discovered the horror stories of Thomas Ligotti on this very site.
My favourite writers include: Thomas Ligotti, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Jeremias Gotthelf, M. R. James, H. G. Wells, Patrick McGrath, William Hope Hodgson, Shirley Jackson and Guy N. Smith.
Sincerely yours,
Slurp Spider
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bendk
Grimscribe
Welcome to TLO, Slurp Spider.
I enjoy some of the same authors as you do. Ewers's Sorcerer's Apprentice and his short story "The Spider" and Gotthelf's Black Spider is and excellent novel. I like Wells's "The Country of the Blind" and "The Valley of the Spiders" ....and McGrath's novel Spid.... Hmmmm. The creatures in the Ash-tree....Are giant crabs considered spiders of the sea?
yellowish haze
Grimscribe
Welcome, Slurp Spider. Hope you enjoy your stay.
Slurp Spider
Mannikin
Thank you, TLO member, bendk.
I’m glad you also delight in reading some of these writers.
You are right. My soft spots are often arachnocentic and monothematic. Everyone likes to read literature which to some extend reflects their own selves. I like Thomas Ligotti because his stories are non-anthropocentric.
I still haven’t read M. R. James’ famous ash tree story, but I’ve read his Canon Alberic's Scrap-book and enjoyed it immensely.
My admiration for these giant crabs comes from my father. When I was little he used to show me the covers of Smith’s books and tell me that if I am obedient and eat a lot of small insects I will grow as huge and strong as those creatures. This was one of many such lies he used to tell me to keep me happy and protect me from the misery of this world.
Now the only way I can dull my pain is by slurping my own venom.
Best Regards,
Slurp Spider
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sleepybutawake
Mannikin
Who am I?
Right this minute, I'm a dude in front of his laptop. In a few minutes, I'll be a dude walking his dog. Just before now, I was a dude cleaning up his kitchen.
I'm fairly well versed in occult and esoteric subjects, and am sick to death of them. The original reasoning for my studies in these areas had been pragmatic: simply, I didn't want to play the game of Life until I'd read the rule book, checked out the stakes for the winners and losers, and found the cheat codes that would make my victory that much easier.
Unfortunately, my hunt for the Big Answers in life have put the Big Questions on my trail, and now they are constantly turning up, running me down and mocking me in the streets. Forbidden knowledge indeed, Mr. Ligotti...
Still, my doors of perception are opened and I'll be damned if I can get them shut, so I'm just doing my best to host a good party as more and more perceptions come shambling through said doors and onto the dance floor of my psyche.
I'm 27, and about to go back to school and complete my degree (law). Music and writing are my preferred methods of expression when something more than oratory is required. I read good books, and bad ones. Tool is my favorite band, followed closely by The Beatles and Wilco. I like to play video games.
I hooked up with this community because I really enjoy and respect Mr. Ligotti's work. They always challenge and inspire me, and sometimes they provide me with a true and terrible sense of resonance, as though he has captured the essence of The Void in his stories. And I'm not talking "the void" as a dreadful, ambiguous literary device: I'm talking The Void, the place and experience, in all its unmaking, chaotic, nightmarish power.
His stuff is like a flu shot for me, strengthening my system by exposing it to the very thing that seeks to destroy it. His stories can give me psychedelic hangovers for days, but I feel a real sense of comfort knowing he's out there, catching Choronzon by the tail and locking it into these stories.
Looking forward to meeting you folks, and I hope to one day have a chat with the man himself.
Right this minute, I'm a dude in front of his laptop. In a few minutes, I'll be a dude walking his dog. Just before now, I was a dude cleaning up his kitchen.
I'm fairly well versed in occult and esoteric subjects, and am sick to death of them. The original reasoning for my studies in these areas had been pragmatic: simply, I didn't want to play the game of Life until I'd read the rule book, checked out the stakes for the winners and losers, and found the cheat codes that would make my victory that much easier.
Unfortunately, my hunt for the Big Answers in life have put the Big Questions on my trail, and now they are constantly turning up, running me down and mocking me in the streets. Forbidden knowledge indeed, Mr. Ligotti...
Still, my doors of perception are opened and I'll be damned if I can get them shut, so I'm just doing my best to host a good party as more and more perceptions come shambling through said doors and onto the dance floor of my psyche.
I'm 27, and about to go back to school and complete my degree (law). Music and writing are my preferred methods of expression when something more than oratory is required. I read good books, and bad ones. Tool is my favorite band, followed closely by The Beatles and Wilco. I like to play video games.
I hooked up with this community because I really enjoy and respect Mr. Ligotti's work. They always challenge and inspire me, and sometimes they provide me with a true and terrible sense of resonance, as though he has captured the essence of The Void in his stories. And I'm not talking "the void" as a dreadful, ambiguous literary device: I'm talking The Void, the place and experience, in all its unmaking, chaotic, nightmarish power.
His stuff is like a flu shot for me, strengthening my system by exposing it to the very thing that seeks to destroy it. His stories can give me psychedelic hangovers for days, but I feel a real sense of comfort knowing he's out there, catching Choronzon by the tail and locking it into these stories.
Looking forward to meeting you folks, and I hope to one day have a chat with the man himself.
hopfrog
Grimscribe
I am the recluse who wants to spend this quiet last day of this wonderful and rewarding year here at TLO. I am an old man who has just read the Ligotti interviews, the results of which have left me extremely depressed. That such a magnificent writer, whose fiction has given intense joy to so many, should see the process of writing as such an awful thing -- this seriously saddens me. I am the weird Lovecraftian writer who loves the act of writing, who needs the act of writing because without it he becomes bored, sad and suicidal. There is no moment more magical than when I have completed the final draft of a new story and hold that polish manuscript in my hand. Nothing compares. I am the Lovecraftian weird author who is obsessed with writing as an art form rather than a source of entertainment. I am the author who has a love/hate relationship with almost everything he composes. I want so badly to be mature and original as an author of Lovecraftian weird fiction; and yet I rarely feel that I have written anything very original or mature. I am the horror author who scolds himself when writing, and yet cannot stop himself from writing the thing that feeds his shame. When I was writing "An Eidolon of Nothing," and I had a scene wherein an evil wizard meets the daemon of his creation, I told myself, "Girlfriend, you're not seriously gonna have a talking dog-daemon in the story -- stop now -- don't be a moron." But I couldn't stop myself, and the talking dog-daemon was -- is--victorious. I am the old freak for whom the art of literature means everything. I like that my fiction gives people pleasure and entertains them; but my prose style is a deep-rooted attempt to be arty and poetic and "literary up the ass". The paradox is that I feel I'm too ignorant to acheive my literary goals. I am the lover of literature who digs the fiction of Thomas Ligotti because I see him as the literary artist par excellence of weird fiction, however much he may protest such a title. Or maybe he doesn't protest at all. I am an author who has almost nothing in common with Tom Ligotti, and yet I feel some odd personal connection with him, to him, that baffles and beguiles me.
Nemonymous
Grimscribe
Thanks. I'm in tune with a lot of that - but Lovecraft plus -and indeed, I don't think one can negotiate 'The Intentional Fallacy' towards the truth of any writer, especially Ligotti (as I think you are implying).
df lewis
Nemonymous
Grimscribe
EemeliJ
Mystic
Hello,
I thought this would be the most appropriate starting point for me, been lurking here for some time now.
I'm Eemeli, a high-school student from Finland, mainly concentrated in studying chemistry. I discovered Ligotti some year ago, but it's about six months since I began reading his works, first Teatro Grottesco, then MWINYD, both are Virgin Books releases. I was especially fascinated by 'The Shadow, The Darkness'.
I started reading weird fiction/horror with Lovecraft, also my shelf contains 'the King in Yellow', which in my opionion contains few pretty good pieces. I'm discovering more and more all of the time, so there's pretty much to read at the time.
I'm fond of cats. I like tentacles.
I fear cold, -20 celsius degrees is horrible, the real horror is when it's -30 and -40.
Right now it's -13 and horrible blasting wind.
I thought this would be the most appropriate starting point for me, been lurking here for some time now.
I'm Eemeli, a high-school student from Finland, mainly concentrated in studying chemistry. I discovered Ligotti some year ago, but it's about six months since I began reading his works, first Teatro Grottesco, then MWINYD, both are Virgin Books releases. I was especially fascinated by 'The Shadow, The Darkness'.
I started reading weird fiction/horror with Lovecraft, also my shelf contains 'the King in Yellow', which in my opionion contains few pretty good pieces. I'm discovering more and more all of the time, so there's pretty much to read at the time.
I'm fond of cats. I like tentacles.
I fear cold, -20 celsius degrees is horrible, the real horror is when it's -30 and -40.
Right now it's -13 and horrible blasting wind.
G. S. Carnivals
Our Temporary Supervisor
I do, too. I have a wall-mounted shelf which serves as a shrine to octopi and squid memorabilia in my workplace office.
"Squiffy" following "squid" in my dictionary,
Phil :drunk:
Cyril Tourneur
Grimscribe
this is mine....
oh and of course this, too...
oh and of course this, too...
puppet nonsense
Acolyte
I guess this is where I introduce myself? My name is Rafael and I live in Oregon. I am currently attending Film school, and expect to graduate in about a year or so. My experience in Film so far as personal works goes has been mainly in the "Experimental" category.
There was a time when I thought I was going insane, and after reading some of Ligotti's works, I can say that I think I know what it's like to live a Ligottian nightmare. You see, I, about three years ago came to the realization that I had been living with what is known as Depersonalization/Derealization disorder.
The experience of this disorder is likened to the moment before a car crash or upon hearing some great tragedy. Time slows down. Things become hyper real. It is as if some sort of strange wind blows and pushes you out behind your body. My lips go numb. Some call it "Alice in Wonderland disease". You will talk and interact with people fine, but you don't feel as if you are the one doing it. You feel like you have suddenly awoken to find that you are actually an automaton.
It was always present to some degree, but it was always worst at work. I make people coffee for a living. At the time I was working at a Starbucks in a Safeway, and I was the manager. Anxiety is a trigger. It was a horrible self feeding hallucination, as just the fear of it happening would in turn cause it to happen.
I would go home to my studio apartment alone and feverishly plow through physics books and religious texts. I was consumed by the depth of the universe and couldn't understand why no one else made it a priority to seek the same answers. Existence was indeed horror.
I'm using past tense because about two years ago I started to train my mind through meditation practices and have almost gained complete control over the episodes. They can still happen mind you, but when they do I can usually reverse them unless it is in the most stressful of situations.
I recently picked up a copy of Teatro Grottesco and read The Clown Puppet. It definitely struck a chord. Obviously there was never any marrionettes in my episodes, but it kind of felt the same. I wonder if he has had similar experiences or perhaps some mental ailment?
I haven't looked back since. I love Ligotti's works, and can't wait to read more.
Sorry for the verbosness!
-Rafael
There was a time when I thought I was going insane, and after reading some of Ligotti's works, I can say that I think I know what it's like to live a Ligottian nightmare. You see, I, about three years ago came to the realization that I had been living with what is known as Depersonalization/Derealization disorder.
The experience of this disorder is likened to the moment before a car crash or upon hearing some great tragedy. Time slows down. Things become hyper real. It is as if some sort of strange wind blows and pushes you out behind your body. My lips go numb. Some call it "Alice in Wonderland disease". You will talk and interact with people fine, but you don't feel as if you are the one doing it. You feel like you have suddenly awoken to find that you are actually an automaton.
It was always present to some degree, but it was always worst at work. I make people coffee for a living. At the time I was working at a Starbucks in a Safeway, and I was the manager. Anxiety is a trigger. It was a horrible self feeding hallucination, as just the fear of it happening would in turn cause it to happen.
I would go home to my studio apartment alone and feverishly plow through physics books and religious texts. I was consumed by the depth of the universe and couldn't understand why no one else made it a priority to seek the same answers. Existence was indeed horror.
I'm using past tense because about two years ago I started to train my mind through meditation practices and have almost gained complete control over the episodes. They can still happen mind you, but when they do I can usually reverse them unless it is in the most stressful of situations.
I recently picked up a copy of Teatro Grottesco and read The Clown Puppet. It definitely struck a chord. Obviously there was never any marrionettes in my episodes, but it kind of felt the same. I wonder if he has had similar experiences or perhaps some mental ailment?
I haven't looked back since. I love Ligotti's works, and can't wait to read more.
Sorry for the verbosness!
-Rafael
G. S. Carnivals
Our Temporary Supervisor
Welcome, Rafael. Please contribute more to the abundant riches here at TLO.
Maronovitz
Mannikin
Hi,
My name is Mike Aronovitz. I have a new book out, a collection of short stories and novellas, available on Amazon. It is titled "Seven Deadly Pleasures, put out by Hippocampus Press. My editor was renowned critic and Lovecraft biographer S.T. Joshi, and he wrote my foreword. I am sending out this message to welcome you to pick up a copy, write a review on Amazon, and talk to me!
Mike
My name is Mike Aronovitz. I have a new book out, a collection of short stories and novellas, available on Amazon. It is titled "Seven Deadly Pleasures, put out by Hippocampus Press. My editor was renowned critic and Lovecraft biographer S.T. Joshi, and he wrote my foreword. I am sending out this message to welcome you to pick up a copy, write a review on Amazon, and talk to me!
Mike