City of Weird: 30 Otherworldly Portland Tales

by Gigi Little (Editor)

City of Weird conjures what we death, darkness, ghosts. Hungry sea monsters and alien slime molds. Blood drinkers and game show hosts. Set in Portland, Oregon, these thirty stories blend imagination, literary writing, and pop culture into a cohesive weirdness that honors the city’s personality, its bookstores and bridges and solo volcano, as well as the tradition of sci-fi pulp magazines. Including such authors as Rene Denfeld, Justin Hocking, Leni Zumas, and Kevin Sampsell, editor Gigi Little has curated a collection that is quirky, chilling, often profound—and always perfectly weird.

Genres: Short Stories, Horror, Fantasy, Anthologies, Fiction, Science Fiction, Magical Realism

322 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 11, 2016

Reviews

[ᴥ Irena ᴥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

City of Weird: 30 Otherworldly Portland Tales is a collection that consists of eight parts, each having three or four stories featuring creatures from the sea and skies, dogs (one of the best stories is here), weird books and libraries/book stores, the dead and the undead. I won't get into each story, though.

This is a weird collection to rate for two reasons. One, the protagonists and their situations are really weird. Two, as far as my enjoyment goes some of the stories are true gems and some of them are boring as hell. Again, this is a personal opinion that may as well be influenced by my current mood. Who knows, I might even go back to it to check if the rating holds.

The titles of the eight parts are:

I From the Deep

II From the Skies

III To the Dogs

IV In the Books

V Of the Dead

VI Of the Undead

VII Into the Weird

VIII No Return

ARC received from Forest Avenue Press via Edelweiss

Note: there are differences between this ARC and the final book.

[Billie · Rating 4 out of 5]

How did I not review this already? Maybe it wasn't up here when I read it, back in the early part of the year? Who the hell knows. I blurbed it, though, and have talked about it incessantly, so, if you know me, you probably already know how much I liked it. (Sorry, Laura and Gigi, but five stars is for those books I love so much I want to marry them and, although I can see dating CoW for a very long time, I just can't see it being forever and ever.)

If you're a fan of Night Gallery or H.P. Lovecraft or the short fiction of Stephen King or Neil Gaiman, this book is for you. If you like discovering new authors, this book is for you. If you have always been slightly leery of the Big Pink, this book is for you. If you miss the Portland that was actually weird and not hipster/Portlandia weird, this book is for you. If you like literary fiction but think genre fiction is "lesser", this book is out to prove you mistaken. Honestly, unless you only read non-fiction or Christian fiction, there is probably something here for you to enjoy. (There's even a graphic story for those who prefer their fiction illustrated and laid out in panels and at least one story that could probably easily be expanded into a YA novel.) Just read it. If the story you start with isn't working for you, try another. Out of the 30 entries in this collection, I can almost guarantee that at least one of them will make you emit "happy book noise".

[Dianah (onourpath) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so *not* a short story fan, but I adored this collection. It's weird, it's quirky, it's sooooooo very Portland-y. Written by a veritable "Who's Who" of PNW authors -- including Rene Denfeld, Dan DeWeese, Kevin Sampsell, Susan DeFreitas, Justin Hocking, Mark Russell, Karen Munro, Jason Squamata, Suzy Vitello, Leni Zumas, Bradley K. Rosen, Doug Chase, Kirsten Larson, Stevan Allred, and more -- City of Weird is brilliant!

The stories span the gamut from scary to hilarious to creepy to heartbreaking to WTF, and above all else, it's just flat out fun! Embrace the weirdness that is Portland.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come!

[Quinn Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personally I loved this book. The multiple stories made it a really quick and easy read and I enjoy the fact that all of the settings were at least vaguely familiar places since it's all set in Portland.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This is a dangerous place."
—King Crimson, "Thela Hun Ginjeet," from Discipline

Portland (the one in Oregon, where I happen to live) is infested with monsters (and worse—hipsters). There's no doubt about that. From eldritch beasts swarming out of Mount Tabor's ancient volcanic vents, to ghostly books, bound in human skin, rising from the deep storage below Powell's City of Books; from planet-devouring mold to a mind-devouring video game... many a shaggy terror lurks under Stumptown's endlessly dripping evergreens. So stay the hell away. Turn back. If you must come anyway, enjoy your visit by all means, but then get out, before a beer can-lobbing Santa Claus or some centuries-old magician decides to kick your ass. This is a dangerous place. Or, at least, it could be.

Civic pride is a many-tentacled thing here in Bridgetown, and a lot of different tentacles are poking out of Gigi Little's sf anthology—thirty fantasy, horror, and good ol' skiffy stories, all set in the City of Roses (and Many Nicknames) but otherwise ranging all over the five quadrants of our City of Weird. Most of these tales are short—bite-sized, even, like the kind of candy you buy to give to other people. Which is a good thing, I think... get in, make your impact, and get out again, before the reader quite knows what happened.

I'm not going to list every story I liked—hell, I'm a sucker for local color anyway, and I liked 'em all, one way or the other—but these are a few that really stuck with me:

"Alder Underground" (Jonah Barrett)—neotenous newt-people in a rooftop garden I think I remember seeing... creepy!
"Always," by Adam Strong, deserves at least an honorable mention, since he turns out to be a colleague of mine. I've never been in Kelly's Olympian, though I've looked in from the street.
"In Transit," by Kevin Sampsell. Kevin definitely gets it—it's MAX, not Max.
"Letters to The Oregonian in the Year 30,000 BC," by Mark Russell—Portlanders being Portlanders, reacting to the invention of fire exactly as one would expect.
"Octopocalypse: A Love Story" (Brigitte Winter) and "Queen of Tabor" (by B. Frayn Masters)—hey, I can see my house from here.
"The Heft of Ashes," by Kirsten Larson—probably the least weird story here, but among the most touching.
"Twin Carbs on Bad News," by Jeff Johnson—on the other end of the spectrum, one of the more surreal tales. I really liked how this one ended.

And I can't resist mentioning that my own short story "Harry the Hard-boiled Hypnotist in: Sweet Cessation" (just change the wording, man) is set here too, just east of Mount Tabor.

Hallowe'en was a very good time for me to read City of Weird, and Portland was the very best place. Just don't stick around too long...

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only two of the stories here really hit me as a "stop for a moment and say woah" kind of story. The first was written by Nicole Rosevear and is titled This Many Lost Things and the second was written by Jeff Johnson and is titled Twin Carbs on Bad News.

Lost Things is a story about a woman who loses things...many things...and has to go to a taller/higher place to find them. It starts out melancholic enough and sort of too Portland but then goes on to a much deeper place that surprised me in the way it echoed where I am right now.

Twin Carbs is kind of like The Mist by Stephen King but set in Portland. Well, alt-Portland. Very good mood setting, and it didn't hurt at all that I was reading it while a thunderstorm was rolling in and as the story got darker, so did the sky. Very cool all-around, and I'm pretty sure I'd like the story even without that because of how it fit what I like from a 'scary' story.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is almost a requirement that the reader have an experience of Portland, Oregon to appreciate this collection. It certainly helps. My affinity for Stumptown and the fact that I received this book for no cost through NetGalley made me predisposed to a positive reaction. Having said that, though, this anthology is mostly good, some stories excellent and only one or two that probably should have been declined.

But as a curated anthology of the love of the weird world of Portland, this is successful and a great deal of fun.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of 30 short stories and I do mean short are centered around the Pacific Northwest and are all unusual. There are several writers I've never read and some of them will have me looking for more of their work. One of my favorites is Brigitte Winter's Octopocalypse: a love story. Lots of alien beings and sea creatures. Vampires are present in several stories. An odd collection that lives up to it's title.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a vivid collection of 30 short stories, all of which are written by local Portlanders and take place in Portland as well!

Although I thought that each story was vivid, creative, and unique enough, I didn’t feel that every premise was interesting and/or was expanded on in a way that I feel would’ve done it justice. I’m not sure if I would read this entire anthology again, but there are some absolute standout stories in here that deserve a mention and further exploration. For me, these stories were:

“How I Got This Job” by Brian Reid

“A Code for Everything” by Andrew Stark

“Aromageddon” by Jason Squamata

“The Mind-Body Problem” by Susan DeFreitas

“This Many Lost Things” by Nicole Rosevear

“The Heft of Ashes” by Kirsten Larson

“The Fixer” by Sean Davis

“Notes from the Underground City” by Stevan Allred

and

“Always” by Adam Strong

All of the above stories kept me captivated from start to finish. Some of them are realistic fiction, but a few were so insanely out-of-this-world with premises that were quite bizarre. I really liked those strange stories because they were so unexpected and I feel that their authors did a great job of laying their creativity on thick. Regardless of the genre, all of the above were a pleasure to read and I would gladly revisit them!!!

[Alun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought for me as a present by a relative who was visiting Portland, so I had no preconceptions about the place at all. Now I know it's basically a gate to another dimension! Some really nice work in here. My standouts were[return]How I Got This Job - Brian Reid - for the comedy. Lines like 'Police brutality or not, Santa is in need of a good ass-kicking' are worth the price of admission.[return]Yay by Bradley K. Rosen for the Ray Bradbury-esque power of disturbed childhood memories.[return]The Heft of Ashes by Kirsten Larson - short stories at their best, spare, beautiful depiction of grief[return]Letters to the Oregonian in the Year 30,000 BC by Mark Russell - hilarious[return]So glad I was given this, and I wanna go to Portland!

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creepy! Some of the stories will stay with me a long, long, time. Others? Well, I hate to admit it, but I just didn't get the point...Probably am not hip enough.
Still, there are several stories in the collection that ran shivers down my spine in broad daylight, memorable not for in-your-face shock factor, more for that undescribable frisson of terror that lets you know that the author has tapped in your very own store of shut-away fears.

[to'c · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim, just because I live in Portland. I wasn't actually planning on reading it. Just skimming, maybe a story or two. But I could not put it down.

Some of these Portlands I wished I live in. Others simply scared the bejeezus out of me! But all were top notch. Maybe a bit more enjoyable if you know Powell's Books and Reed College and how crazy people are out here for coffee. But most likely enjoyable nonetheless.

[Nick Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

You definitely need an intimate knowledge of Portland to fully appreciate this collection of stories, but overall, they were mostly creative and enjoyable. The strangest thing was that 95% of them didn’t seem to really have an ending. I don’t read a lot of short stories, so maybe that’s a common thing that I’m unfamiliar with. Regardless, I would love to see another volume put together. I feel like there is endless material to work with.

[Erick Mertz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not down on this anthology because of writing quality. Many of the stories were pretty good, well-written, weird tales. My frustration comes from the sense I got that these stories were written ONLY for this anthology, like, hey, do something Portland and POOF there is the story. Portland was the only common factor, which felt like a strain to me.

Now, if I had read any of these stories in a different anthology, I’d be like yeah, great story.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pick up this book every time I am homesick for Portland. This collection embraces the local culture of the PNW while maintaining a surrealist, otherworldly atmosphere. I can't think of a better selection of short stories to encapsulate everything I love about this great city. From life on a houseboat to a walk through Mt. Tabor, I'd recommend this book for locals, tourists, or just readers with a love for the weird.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of my favorite stories in this anthology:

- "The Sturgeon Queen" by Rene Denfeld
- "Octopocalypse: a Love Story" by Brigitte Winter
- "Trainwreck" by Leslie What
- "How I Got This Job" by Brian Reid
- "A Sky So Blue" by Stefanie Freele
- "Alder Underground" by Jonah Barrett
- "The Mind-Body Problem" by Susan DeFreitas
- "This Many Lost Things" by Nicole Rosevear
- "Squatty and Weasel Boy" by Doug Chase
- "The Deflowering" by Suzy Vitello

[Seth Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great look into the city of Portland from some very talented writers. If you are familiar with Portland, you'll recognize a lot of the types of people and the places these stories reference, and if you aren't familiar with it but want to get a taste for it this book will definitely do that for you.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun serious of short stories. I like odd tales with strange creatures and circumstances and this one fit the bill! from the first to the last, it's hard to remember a bad one, they were enjoyable. Perfect reads for when you don't have time for a long book, these suit nicely. Well written, interesting authors.

[Mary Ellen Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Modern love” meets “Metropolitan diaries” Portland-style (of course there are vampires and sea monsters). I love this city. Especially loved the short story with “godfather”-ish underground Sasquatch squad of organic weed dealers. If I do not return from my next Willamette swim know I have joined the merpeople.

[franzinera · Rating 5 out of 5]

A group of weird and fantastic short tales. The type of stories someone will tell you as personal experiences and anecdotes, some of them weird and unreal, some of them fantastic and surreal.
There's something for anyone here

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me awhile to get through this one, but I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Made me miss my time in Portland with lots of fun references to the city and the people. Some very talented authors included!

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

didn't finish it, wasn't what I expected

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most short story collections, these are hit and miss. I did, however, enjoy the Portland settings.

[rosemary decroce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book of short stories

[June · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover of this book is AMAZING! Unfortunately, you can't judge a book by its cover.

[B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of Portland weird stories. I wouldn't go out of my way to find it but I'm not sad that I read it.

[Clara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories are well written, just wasn’t for me.

[Jo-Elle Perkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm reminded why I don't like short stories.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each story unique! Loved it.