Reading: The New Weird
I picked up a copy of The New Weird, because I recognized about 1/2 of the authors. I tried to piece together in my mind what this “New Weird” was, thinking back over what I’d read by K. J. Bishop, Clive Barker, Jay Lake, and Paul Di Filippo. I mixed in what I knew about China Miéville and Michael Moorcock, two writers I’ve been meaning to read. I read Jeff Vandermeer’s Introduction. This is what I love about a good anthology. He took me on a whirlwind tour of Weird, building up to a definition that I can actually use to tag novels and stories “new weird.”
The book is divided into 4 sections, and I’ll probably post reviews on each:
- Stimuli – these are examples of the New Wave and New Horror stories that influenced New Weird.
- Evidence – these are actual examples of New Weird. You can read Jay Lake’s piece from this section at Tachyon’s New Weird page
- Symposium – these are essays about New Weird.
- Laboratory is a round robin fictional experiment meant to showcase what New Weird means to the participating authors. A “coda” for this can be read at Tachyon’s New Weird page
I’m currently reading Ice Song, by Kirsten Imani Kasi. It’s classified as fantasy, but in almost every way that Vandermeer talked about New Weird, I think Ice Song fits. I’ll let you know how I feel about this once I’ve finished reading both Ice Song and The New Weird.
At the end of the book is Recommended Reading list, which I’ve reproduced below. I’ve only read a handful, so I’ve just added probably a year to my to-read list. That’s actually quite exciting.
- Clive Barker
- The books of Blood (vols. 1-3) (1984) *
- K. J. Bishop
- The Etched City (2003)*
- David Britton
- Lord Horror (1990)
- Motherfuckers: The Auschwitz of Oz (1996)
- Richard Calder
- Dead Girls (1992)
- Dead Boys (1994)
- Dead Things (1996)
- Dead Girls, Dead Boys, Dead Things (omnibus)
- Cythera (1998)
- The Twist (1999)
- Malignos (2000)
- Impakto (2001)
- Alan Campbell
- Scar Night (2006)
- Michael Cisco
- The Divinity Student (1999)
- The Tyrant (2003)
- The San Veneficio Canon (2004)
- The Traitor (2007)
- Storm Constantine
- Wraeththu (omnibus) (1993)
- Paul Di Filippo
- A Year in the Linear City (2002)
- Jefferey Ford
- The Physiognomy (1997)
- Memoranda (1999)
- The Beyond (2001)
- Mary Gentle
- Scholars and Soldiers (1989)
- Rats and Gargoyles (1990)
- The Architecture of Desire: A Secret History (1991)
- Ash (2000)
- Felix Gilman
- M. John Harrison
- The Pastel City (1971)
- A Storm of Wings (1980)
- In Viriconium (1982)
- The Course of the Heart (1992)
- Signs of Life (1996)
- Things That Never Happen (2002)
- Viriconium (omnibus) (2005)
- Simon Ings
- City of the Iron Fish (1994)
- Kathe Koja
- The Cipher (1991)
- Bad Brains (1992)
- Skin (1993)
- Strange Angels (1994)
- Kink (1996)
- Leena Krohn
- Tainaron (2004)
- Jay Lake
- Trial of Flowers (2006)
- Madness of Flowers (2008)
- China Miéville
- Perdido Street Station (2000)
- The Scar (2002)
- The Tain (2002)
- Iron Council (2004)
- Michael Moorcock
- The Stealer of Souls (1963)
- The Final Programme (1969)
- Gloriana (1978)
- Byzantium Endures (1981)
- The Laughter of Carthage (1984)
- Mother London (1988)
- Jerusalem Commands (1992)
- The Vengeance of Rome (2006)
- Mervyn Peake
- Titus Groan (1946)
- Gormenghast (1950)
- Titus Alone (1959)
- Nicholas Royle
- Counterparts (1993)
- The Matter of the Heart (1997)
- Steph Swainston
- The Year of Our War (2004)
- No Present Like Time (2005)
- The Modern World (US Title: Dangerous Offspring) (2007)
- Jeffrey Thomas
- Jeff Vandermeer
- Dradin, In Love (1996)
- City of Saints and Madmen (2001)
- Veniss Underground (2003)
- City of Saints and Madmen (2003; expanded edition)
- Secret Life (2004)
- Shriek: An Afterword (2006)
- The Situation (2008)
- Conrad Williams
- London Revenant (2004)
- The Unblemished (2006)
And there’s also the New Weird Thread – quoted in the Vandermeers’ book – which was various luminaries discussing the New Weird on M. John Harrison’s messageboard on the (then) Third Alternative messageboards.
It’s archived here – http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/view.pl?page=TheNewWeirdAnnotations – the TTA Press links don’t work any more, but the Kathryn Cramer ones go to the original discussion, and the urchin.earth page also has a summary and extensive notes.
[…] A reader reacts to The New Weird […]
[links] Link salad has a city on its mind | jlake.com said this on June 1, 2009 at 4:27 am |
thank you so much for this list, great stuff
[…] there are a handful of titles from the New Weird Recommeded Reading List I posted earlier this […]
Book Sale: 50% off all in-stock and forthcoming Night Shade titles « MentatJack said this on June 4, 2009 at 8:58 am |
It’s been pointed out that this list is incomplete. The editors of The New Weird stated as much in the introduction to this list. I’ll revisit this at some point in the future and I’d LOVE to get recommendations for what else to include.
I just added a link to a free download of VanderMeer’s “The Situation.” It’s part of an interview with “GeekDad” over at Wired.
[…] continued to read through The New Weird. I had to return my library copy, so I bought my […]
Fiction in many forms: a catch up post « MentatJack said this on June 27, 2009 at 5:13 pm |
[…] edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. I previously posted an overview of the anthology, including the recommended reading list. The stories in the Stimuli section are the New Wave and New Horror precursors to New […]
Review: The New Weird (Stimuli) « MentatJack said this on June 28, 2009 at 5:01 pm |
[…] searching for other examples. Most anthologies have a good recommended reading section (like the New Weird one I blogged about) but very few novels do. I falsely remembered some of my favorite books having […]
Further Reading: Spin State by Chris Moriarty « MentatJack said this on May 1, 2010 at 8:58 pm |
[…] add comment if you are logged out.Stefan Hayden I would start with this new weird anthology https://mentatjack.com/2009/05/31…Comment downvoted • 6:57amCannot add reply if you are logged out.6:57am Kenneth Rona […]
If I like China Mieville, which other authors should I try? - Quora said this on December 4, 2011 at 7:57 am |
[…] especially with its recommended-reading section at the end (a hyperlinked version can be found here). New Weird is not China Mieville and a bunch of hangers-on, mainstream appearances […]
The New Weird by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer (editors) « New Old Friends said this on May 10, 2012 at 9:00 pm |
Have a one edited by them called just, The Weird, very big, over a hundred stories. They say it’s a compendium of strange and dark stories. Not sure, I really get what Weird is as a literary form, but I’m loving the book. Will definitely check out The New Weird. Thanks for the info!