The Town Manager - Thomas Ligotti

[@Garbageman28]

Thomas "good vibes only" Ligotti

[@Skullkan6]

I feel like it's why it's hard to read his work for long periods of time. With Lovecraft or poe you could occasionally get happy or strange or weird or sometimes even wonderous and bittersweet endings. With ligotti the best you get is "funny" and his happiest story is probably "Purity"

[@Garbageman28]

@@Skullkan6 ah yes, the one which ends with ligotti grimly asserting that everything is fake - especially family and love.

[@shoresofpatmos]

@@Skullkan6no I think the library of Byzantium has a legit happy ending. Happy for the protagonist at least💀

[@Schizohandlers]

Lmao​@@Garbageman28

[@shoresofpatmos]

I always return to this recording. I love the sound of your voice and especially the warmth to this recording. of course the story it self is amazing either way already.

[@SanguineUltima]

DUSTROY TROLY

[@tombingus3984]

Teatro is my fav ligotti collection, and one of my favorite horror collections of all time. Thanks for uploading!

[@ZombieDragQueen]

One of Ligotti's best short stories. No supernatural or horror elements in itself, but still it conveys a really depressing cyclic and nihilistic existentialism that is far more horrific than any imagined or real monster. Change in one's life is merely a illusory distraction from death, whether you're a cog in the machine or the one making sure the cogs work and plan what the machine will produce -- which, of course, lacks any meaning or purpose other than establishing that the mechanism works as it should and that someone is in charge of it. This short story is terribly shaking. It feels like one reading is all it needs, but one cannot but re-read it several times, because why not? The cogs and the supervisors still work, whether one re-read it or not. And if they don't, then it's not due to one's existential nihilism. It's just because sometimes cogs and supervisors get replaced.

[@TheHouseoftheVoid]

No supernatural elements?

[@ZombieDragQueen]

@@TheHouseoftheVoid Ok, I'll admit it's pretty supernatural just being offered the position of town manager just like that without networking or even sending in a resumé.

[@earldick3997]

Great work. Love your flat terse, matter-of-fact delivery. It does justice to Ligotti's writing. Keep up the good work.

[@ukblackmetalradio1940]

Brilliant reading. I have listened to other readings of Ligotti but something about the understated presentation of the story makes yours the best I have heard. Please make more videos of this kind, along with other authors of nightmarish tales.

[@TheeLandstander]

Thank you very much. Ligotti lends himself to the understated like no other. I will continue. I couldn't stop even if I wanted to.

[@shwndrws7785]

Thee Landstander chillingly appropriate response considering

[@beepot2764]

Wonderful reading, thank you and happy Halloween.

[@natalya6091]

Hello!It's so nice to have three plates of hot Russian borzsh in the early morning and to enjoy the wonderful novel!!! Thank you very much.

[@BikiniDeathSquad]

You read Logotti the best way: cold

[@SanguineUltima]

Love Ligotti; you did a nice job of reading this I might add. I enjoyed listening to it very much.

[@90RavenBlack]

For those attempting to interpret this story, or interested in hearing the interpretations of others, the author Jon Padgett published a wonderful essay about this story today. weirdfictionreview.com/2017/12/101-weird-writers-47-thomas-ligotti/#comments

[@posthumanoid]

You are a fantastic reader of Ligotti stories and I share your intense passion for his elegant and cruel revelations.

[@dustmemory9891]

Light hearted and really quite funny. Ligotti exposes and satirizes brilliantly the pitfalls of command economies and oppressive government.

[@NicholsonNeisler-fz3gi]

When I listen to Ligotti, I think that means I am depressed

[@smurphy8881]

I'm not sure how to interpret this story. It seems be an attempt to metaphorically explain the cyclical nature of authoritarianism and incompetent leaders. Thoughts?

[@TheeLandstander]

I think it's more broad than that. Like the town residents we are forced to accommodate ourselves to all sorts of indignities, never really knowing what it's all about. We shrug our shoulders through decay and collapse. "Change [is] the very essence of our lives" and we vaguely hope that the next change will be for the better. Maybe you try to walk away from it all in search of something else, but in the end you realize that the obscure, authoritarian, incompetents are ourselves. You can't walk away from the fundamental nature of existence. Thanks for listening.

[@smurphy8881]

Landstander89 You make a very solid set of points. Truly one of the better shorts I have come across to get at the heart of philosophical pessimism and nihilism. Thank you for sharing your insight.

[@DoYouWorry]

Honestly my interpretation was that of our worker and consumer culture. Ever remember your childhood town as beautiful, almost serene? I don't know about you but I've visited mine. Strip malls, corruption and degradation. The inexorable decay of our lives down an apathetic, material path. It's what drives most of his stories.

[@shwndrws7785]

Glenn Winkelmann maybe life is decay. And the only thing immune to life's decay is nostalgia? Recollection degrades into nostalgic memory which often was never a reality.

[@lostuser1094]

Glenn Winkelmann Ligotti is more political than I think a lot of critics give him credit for. But his ire is aimed less towards the (essentially meaningless) particulars of modern politics and more so at the systems we as humans seemingly keep trapping ourselves in. His work portrays a numbed detachment from society but also an almost manic cry for something better...food for thought indeed...

[@DomagojSkiljan]

Very good job, I hope you continue reading :D Greetings from Croatia :3

[@KulchurKat]

Excellent understated reading of a Ligotti classic

[@SkullsForSale]

Yous a gud reader, thank ._.

[@natalya6091]

3 13 Town Hall...Main Street...Opera House...where is it...who knows? Thank you. Awaiting your soonest reply!

[@frankmcgovern5445]

This thing described here - I've done it.

[@bruggeman672]

I have only recently discovered Ligotti but i am very impressed and devouring as much as i can as voraciously as possible. Any suggestions are welcome

[@earldick3997]

Try Conspiracy Against The Human Rsce.

[@hermione10663]

Don’t read Conspiracy just because it’s the most mainstream work he’s done. Read stories like Nethescurial or Gas Station Carnivals.

[@treehouseapefeet5185]

Modern post-industrial revolution/capitalist-consumer America. To a tee.

[@hellinterface6721]

Nay. Human, to a tee. Human, regardless of your social/political nonsense.

[@scumoftheearth4745]

@@hellinterface6721 Ligotti is an avowed socialist, it's stupid to think he wouldn't draw on the unique miseries of capitalism in creating pessimistic art, even if his broader message (nihilism) goes beyond specific political or social mores. He's subtitled several of his works as "corporate" horror, after all.

[@TheSuperDerp]

Great story, but why is the audio such poor quality?

[@natalya6091]

0 19...oh...something interesting is happening...i think there is some jiggery pokery going on... Hello from Moscow Russia! Where are you from originally? 🇷🇺

[@pauldiamond1583]

Wow. This one reminds me a LOT of the Black Mirror episode, "15 Million Credits." Late-stage capitalism

[@listerjne]

is this working-in-a-skeleton-town horror a particular au or series? id love to hear a collection of ligotti's small town stories but idk where 2 look :(

[@csj9619]

Please. Upload some new good stuff bro. Really like your readings, really like Ligotti. Thanks for the entertainment you've provided thus far