What rough beast slouches toward the all-night Kinkos…
Harrigan has been writing and publishing one DIY thing or another since the early 90s, starting with short stories and poetry in small press magazines such as the Lilliput Review, Sidewalks, As If and Rag Mag. On any given weekend evening this bleary-eyed creature could be spotted in the local 24-hour print shop, glue stick and xacto knife in hand, slapping together 7-inch record covers or zines about Writing, Noise, and Experimental Ambient. Interviewing musicians led to indie record label Manifold Records, which operated from the mid-90s until the late 2000s.
These days, Harrigan enjoys writing his stories and thinking about annihilation. But mostly he likes being a family man, forever waiting for Summer to come ‘round so he can drag out the little inflatable pool that he would live in if he could.
About The Thaxton Research Institute
Awareness of the Thaxton Research Institute began with the discovery of a booklet found in an antique mall, or “junk store”. The booklet itself was a crude affair; stapled on the spine, mimeographed, it appeared to be something like a discarded annual report of either a corporation or a governmental committee. But the title on the cover was unusual: Telephony and the Afterlife: the Sunsetting of the Copper-based Telecommunications Network in the United States.
Seven Thaxton Research Institute reports have been found so far, each under different circumstances, each addressing a different phenomena or incident. It is not known why these reports were prepared or who they were prepared for.
There is no record of the Thaxton Research Institute having existed. No personnel or a bases of operation are known. They are not claimed by any government.
Theories regarding the organization range from it being a disavowed intelligence community think-tank, to its agents being researchers sent from the future to study our time period. Another theory suggests that the organization never actually existed at all, and is instead a fictional device created by V.M. Harrigan in order to draw attention to his own writings. This is unlikely, as it is generally believed that Harrigan is not clever enough to come up with such an idea.
Perhaps the most important clue to the organization’s mission is its motto, found stamped on several of the recovered documents: Scientia Gratia Scientia, which is Latin for Knowledge for Knowledge’s Sake.
Manifold House intends to publish every report and make them available on this site.