From its earliest origins, the human religious impulse has been fundamentally bound up with an experience of primordial horror. The German theologian Rudolf Otto located the origin of human religiosity in an ancient experience of 'daemonic dread.' American horror writer H.P. Lovecraft asserted that weird supernatural horror fiction arose from a fundamental human psychological pattern that is 'coeval with the religious feeling and closely related to many aspects of it.' The American psychologist William James wrote in his classic study The Varieties of Religious Experience that the 'real core of the religious problem' lies in an overwhelming experience of cosmic horror born out of abject despair at life's incontrovertible hideousness. In Dark Awakenings, author and scholar Matt Cardin explores this ancient intersection between religion and horror in seven stories and three academic papers that pose a series of disturbing questions: What if the spiritual awakening coveted by so many religious seekers is in fact the ultimate doom? What if the object of religious longing might prove to be the very heart of horror? Could salvation, liberation, enlightenment then be achieved only by identifying with that apotheosis of metaphysical loathing? 
In Dark Awakenings, author and scholar Matt Cardin explores the ancient intersection between religion and horror in seven stories and three academic papers that pose a series of disturbing questions: What if the spiritual awakening coveted by so many religious seekers is in fact the ultimate doom? What if the object of religious longing might prove to be the very heart of horror? Could salvation, liberation, enlightenment then be achieved only by identifying with that apotheosis of metaphysical loathing? This volume collects nearly all of Cardin's uncollected fiction, including his 2004 novella 'The God of Foulness.' It contains extensive revisions and expansions of his popular stories 'Teeth' and 'The Devil and One Lump' and features one previously unpublished story and two unpublished papers, the first exploring a possible spiritual use of George Romero's Living Dead films and the second offering a horrific reading of the biblical Book of Isaiah. At over 300 pages and nearly 120,000 words, it offers a substantial exploration of the religious implications of horror and the horrific implications of religion. REVIEWS: "In Dark Awakenings, Cardin proves himself to be an adept in the fullest sense of the word. To both the morbid and the cosmically minded, who may be one and the same, he delivers his visions and nightmares in a master's prose. In the tradition of Poe and Lovecraft, Cardin's accomplishments as a writer are paralleled by his expertise as a literary critic and theorist, as readers can witness in this volume. His analyses of supernatural horror and its practitioners are also dark awakenings in the dual manner of his stories, with one eye on the black abyss and the other on an enlightened transcendence without denomination. Again, this quality of Cardin's work can be seen in the writings of Poe and Lovecraft, two other felicitous freaks who merged the antagonistisms of their imagination into a chimera as awful as it is awe-striking." -- Thomas Ligotti, author of Teatro Grottesco and The Nightmare Factory "Matt Cardin channels visions of dark, maniacal intensity. His otherworldly divinations will have you lying awake in the dark, counting stars in that most pitiless gulf that yawns above us all. A master of terror and dread, he ranks among the foremost authors of contemporary American horror." -- Laird Barron, author of The Imago Sequence &amp; Other Stories

Dark Awakenings

Literature & Fiction

Matt Cardin

Genre Fiction

Mythos Books LLC

The process of interviewing varies. Most commonly it takes the form of conversations that result in off-the-cuff remarks between two or more persons. On other occasions the proceeding is more formal, with questions submitted in writing and answered in kind. The interviews in this volume belong to the latter type. Both the queries and responses were intended to result in more thoughtful and not infrequently more entertaining documents than otherwise might have resulted. This has been the case from the earliest to the most recent dialogues with Thomas Ligotti. Considered in sequence, the interviews herein both complement and extend statements that Ligotti has offered in other formats, including essays as well as his nonfiction work The Conspiracy against the Human Race (2010). While the running themes in this volume are not unlike those proffered by most authors--including compositional practices, sources of inspiration, and biographical revelations--Ligotti manages for the most part to reveal how idiosyncratic he is as an interview subject and as a writer of supernatural or weird horror tales. In both genres, the very title Born to Fear condenses the provenance of Ligotti's personal experiences and insights. Though often seen as a figure of contrived obscurity, Ligotti, in his replies to the interrogations posed, proves that this accusation is far from the facts. In short, reticence is not this writer's strong suit, especially when probed on matters that simply do not arise in more normative literary conversations. Ligotti is particularly opinionated and paradoxically droll when prompted to expound on philosophical views that to say the least are adrift from the mainstream. At the same time they are indicative of someone who has truly been born to fear, or at least deserves the benefit of the doubt on this question. Of course, readers always have the prerogative to judge for themselves.

Born to Fear: Interviews With Thomas Ligotti

Thomas Ligotti

History & Criticism

Subterranean

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