Looks like To The Best of Our Knowledge replayed this piece recently... yeah, zippo Lovecraft influence. www.ttbook.org/interview/go... - ThreadSky

jeffvandermeer.bsky.social • 7 days ago

Looks like To The Best of Our Knowledge replayed this piece recently... yeah, zippo Lovecraft influence.

https://www.ttbook.org/interview/going-beyond-lovecraft-thomas-ligotti

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thirsting4theabyss.bsky.social•6 days ago

i love the shit out of Lovecraft and I still agree, there's just too much Lovecraft pastiche

dogblud.bsky.social•7 days ago

I genuinely don't know why people make the comparison. It's like saying Childhood's End is Lovecraft.

Your work has never scanned as Lovecraftian to me aside from 'something cosmic is happening' which is a-- genre?-- that the 'Lovecraftian' has imo kneecapped a bit in terms of its overall growth.

dogblud.bsky.social•7 days ago

disclaimer: I generally enjoy 'Lovecraftian' stuff, so this is all said with love.

nutshellgulag.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yeah, I grew up reading Lovecraft, and I'm not sure why he's become the figurehead for weird fiction of that time period, let alone for cosmic horror as a whole.

thosvarley.bsky.social•7 days ago

Probably because his stories are the most meme-able? Cthulhu is such a charismatic icon (despite only appearing in one story, in a flashback), whereas a lot of other Weird Stuff is (almost by definition) harder to grab onto because it's vague, undefined, or only understood obliquely.

thosvarley.bsky.social•7 days ago

Ironically, the fact that Cthulhu is so well-described (in contrast to, say, the Color Out of Space) probably makes it one of the LESS "Lovecraftian" elements of the Lovecraft Expanded Universe - but it's also what made him so iconic.

thosvarley.bsky.social•7 days ago

I'm a huge Area X fan, but it's undeniable that when I try to sell it to friends I've got to reach for pretty abstract notions ("It's like a haunted house story but instead of a house it's an ecosystem and instead of a ghost its...something else). Whereas with HPL it's easy: "aliens w/ tentacles."

vieko.bsky.social•7 days ago

Nice, this is where I discovered Thomas Ligotti a couple of years ago!

francinehibiscus.bsky.social•7 days ago

Ligotti is a longtime favorite. I really should get his action figure.

unalignedwitness.bsky.social•7 days ago

Your proper conservation of the word is much less Lovecraft than Ezra Pound.

infinitywaltz.bsky.social•6 days ago

I can see some very shallow surface similarities between "A Colour Out of Space," the only Lovecraft piece to well and truly mess me up, and the Southern Reach books, which have also well and truly messed me up, but that's it, really.

duckrabbitpro.bsky.social•7 days ago

Thank you for relentlessly broadening the spotlight to encompass new/other voices.

Which ironically used to be Lovecraft’s most redeeming aspect, when he incorporated ideas from other writers, and shared his own ideas with others.

1/

duckrabbitpro.bsky.social•7 days ago

While HPL was a *HORRIBLE* racist & sexist, and his writing often borders on self parody, he also was extremely generous towards his fellow writers. Many of whom helped influence future writers.

I’m glad this generosity survives in people like you!

2/2

dichroma.bsky.social•7 days ago

Ligotti is amazing. 'Noted on the Writing of Horror' is both an educational guide as well as a a powerful weird tale.

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