Tsalal cover image

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

RB: What is the Tsalal? The Tsalal is a figure in "The Shadow, The Darkness" -- the novella included in the 999 anthology -- and of course the long story "The Tsalal." Is the Tsalal related to Lovecraft's God, Azathoth (who is also a presence in "The Sect of the Idiot")? Also, is the nausea in "The Shadow, The Darkness" a reference to Sartre?

Ligotti : I ripped off the word Tsalal from Poe's "Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym," in which it refers to a land where everything is black. Tsalal is a Hebrew word related to the idea of darkness and darkening...