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Nowhereville: Weird Is Other People
New speculative fiction anthology, Nowhereville: Weird Is Other People, explores the weird fictions, from the horrific to the ecstatic, that are inherent in city life and in the ways we love and hate and express, in the ways we interact and cope and deal with one another.
These are stories of the city, of people interacting with the complexities that are other people. These 19 short stories explore a landscape that is not quite fantasy and not quite science fiction, tales blurring the lines between genres. These are the strange stories of the strange decisions we make and the strange ways the city affects us.
... gather together enough people and strange things happen. that’s just fact. it’s inevitable really. just try keeping them apart. impossible. they just keep clamoring and fiddling and getting into everything and strangeing up the place. can’t say why. you just learn to accept it. even to thrill at it. the ups, the downs, the everchanging nature of it all. it’s unpredictable. it’s exhausting. and it’s fascinating.
These are stories of the city, of people interacting with the complexities that are other people. These 19 short stories explore a landscape that is not quite fantasy and not quite science fiction, tales blurring the lines between genres. These are the strange stories of the strange decisions we make and the strange ways the city affects us.
... gather together enough people and strange things happen. that’s just fact. it’s inevitable really. just try keeping them apart. impossible. they just keep clamoring and fiddling and getting into everything and strangeing up the place. can’t say why. you just learn to accept it. even to thrill at it. the ups, the downs, the everchanging nature of it all. it’s unpredictable. it’s exhausting. and it’s fascinating.
302 pages, Paperback
First published December 17, 2019
19 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
About the author
Scott Gable
33 books35 followersEditing and publishing speculative fiction gives me all the fuel I need. Keep an eye out for new and weird releases from Broken Eye Books!
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 31, 2021
Really well done--it's a 4 star story, but Not exactly my thing as it contains a little too much cutting. It's a solid horror-ific short, so if that sort of thing triggers, you might want to avoid it. Part of it became Ring Shout in a different way, so I don't think you will be spoiled on way or another if you read one before the other.
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
November 21, 2021
Review only for Night Doctors by P. Djèlí Clark, which is apparently included in this anthology. I don't know. I read it for free on nightmare-magazine.com (link at the end of the review).
Original review:
After I had finished Clark‘s excellent novella Ring Shout I checked his author’s page on Goodreads to see which stories of his I haven’t read yet. When I saw the title of this story I got a little excited, because it strongly hints at a connection to the aforementioned novella. I decided to read it immediately.
Well, what can I say? The timing wasn’t great. Sure, we get the origin story of one of the characters from Ring Shout. But this 2018 short story was probably not meant to be read as a prequel to the novella. It’s more likely that back then he was experimenting with some ideas for Ring Shout, because a large part of this is very similar to one particular scene in in the book.
Nevertheless, this is a nice and nasty little story with some haunting imagery. It is like a good nightmare. And it does add a little bit of additional information on the Night Doctors and Dr. Bisset in particular. It is well worth reading. Just don’t do it immediately after you have finished Ring Shout.
You can read it for free here: http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
Original review:
After I had finished Clark‘s excellent novella Ring Shout I checked his author’s page on Goodreads to see which stories of his I haven’t read yet. When I saw the title of this story I got a little excited, because it strongly hints at a connection to the aforementioned novella. I decided to read it immediately.
Well, what can I say? The timing wasn’t great. Sure, we get the origin story of one of the characters from Ring Shout. But this 2018 short story was probably not meant to be read as a prequel to the novella. It’s more likely that back then he was experimenting with some ideas for Ring Shout, because a large part of this is very similar to one particular scene in in the book.
Nevertheless, this is a nice and nasty little story with some haunting imagery. It is like a good nightmare. And it does add a little bit of additional information on the Night Doctors and Dr. Bisset in particular. It is well worth reading. Just don’t do it immediately after you have finished Ring Shout.
You can read it for free here: http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
January 22, 2022
“Night Doctors” by P.Djèlí Clark.
📚 Free short story from Nightmare Magazine 📚
Actual rating: 3.6112335569789 stars.
A delightful pinch of horror + a little hate here + a bit of suffering there + Doctors that go Bump in the Night + P. Djèlí Clark's ever-refreshing take on history meets fantasy =
Approx. reading time: 27 minutes.
· Follow up novella: Ring Shout ★★★★★
📚 Free short story from Nightmare Magazine 📚
Actual rating: 3.6112335569789 stars.
A delightful pinch of horror + a little hate here + a bit of suffering there + Doctors that go Bump in the Night + P. Djèlí Clark's ever-refreshing take on history meets fantasy =
Approx. reading time: 27 minutes.
· Follow up novella: Ring Shout ★★★★★
June 23, 2021
Seeking out mysterious figures who mutilate and torture people seems like real bad-idea-gene territory, MC.
June 21, 2021
Not bad not bad. A little horror story that reminded me of the ones told around a campfire at night. You laugh at it with everyone else, but can't help the chill that goes down your spine when a twig snaps in the woods.
November 17, 2020
Prequel to RING SHOUT
March 16, 2026
A beautiful collection of speculative short fiction! I hesitate to call it Weird, however. Almost all of the stories feature the city as a character. There were a couple eco-horror, a few revenge, and it was very international. All in all, a pretty solid read. There were only a couple of stories that I didn't enjoy, but even then they weren't poorly written, just not my cup of tea.
Read
December 4, 2024(only read Night Doctors by P. Djèlí Clark)
October 25, 2021
Freebie amablemente proporcionado por la admin de MacHalo en preparación del buddy reading de Ring Shout que no se si me animaré a leer.
Funciona muy bien como relato corto de horror, pero esa visión de lo blanco como el mal absoluto me saca de la narración. No ayuda estar leyendo a Eliza Potter A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life mujer negra que da una visión de primera mano sobre USA durante la primera mitad del XIX (con viajes al Sur incluidos, por su curiosidad incontrolable y una valentía que admiro) donde habla bien de la mayoría de los blancos con los que se relaciona, mal de los que maltratan y también de negros que poseen esclavos (dato que desconocía) y los tratan tan mal (incluso peor) que los blancos.
Estamos en la época de la revancha, pero los relatos sin matices no me llegan, ya hablen de género, generación, raza o étnia.
Funciona muy bien como relato corto de horror, pero esa visión de lo blanco como el mal absoluto me saca de la narración. No ayuda estar leyendo a Eliza Potter A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life mujer negra que da una visión de primera mano sobre USA durante la primera mitad del XIX (con viajes al Sur incluidos, por su curiosidad incontrolable y una valentía que admiro) donde habla bien de la mayoría de los blancos con los que se relaciona, mal de los que maltratan y también de negros que poseen esclavos (dato que desconocía) y los tratan tan mal (incluso peor) que los blancos.
Estamos en la época de la revancha, pero los relatos sin matices no me llegan, ya hablen de género, generación, raza o étnia.
May 13, 2020
Scott Gable has put together an impressive line-up of weird speculative fiction that fits within the genres of horror, science fiction, fantasy and dark fiction settling between these.
Nowheresville is an odd collection that works whilst dealing with people in general congregated in huge groups whilst dealing with the individual within each story as they try to manoeuvre through their lives. The stories have an odd quality and I am not too familiar with speculative fiction. I quite enjoyed it though as this is something that I am new to, it took me a few stories to get into the pace and style. This is a well-constructed anthology with ebbs and flows. For me it was quite uneven but I am sure this is more down my inexperience than substance of the stories.
There is a lot to be enjoyed and tried and this has become a subgenre that I now have interested pique into. I think overall that this is well put together and even though I have finished reading each and every story, I will be revisiting to give it more attention. Personally, I think this garners a strong four star rating.
Nowheresville is an odd collection that works whilst dealing with people in general congregated in huge groups whilst dealing with the individual within each story as they try to manoeuvre through their lives. The stories have an odd quality and I am not too familiar with speculative fiction. I quite enjoyed it though as this is something that I am new to, it took me a few stories to get into the pace and style. This is a well-constructed anthology with ebbs and flows. For me it was quite uneven but I am sure this is more down my inexperience than substance of the stories.
There is a lot to be enjoyed and tried and this has become a subgenre that I now have interested pique into. I think overall that this is well put together and even though I have finished reading each and every story, I will be revisiting to give it more attention. Personally, I think this garners a strong four star rating.
May 24, 2021
I randomly came across this on the Nightmare Magazine site and I was thrilled! I have been wanting to read a P. Djèlí Clark story since I first came across his books this year.
I loved this short story, which is apparently a prequel to Ring Shout. I had no idea about Night Doctors before starting this, so I found the whole concept horribly thrilling. This got me very excited to jump into a full-length Clark novel!
I loved this short story, which is apparently a prequel to Ring Shout. I had no idea about Night Doctors before starting this, so I found the whole concept horribly thrilling. This got me very excited to jump into a full-length Clark novel!
November 12, 2020
You can read my full review and others here: https://mediadrome.wordpress.com
These stories were all pretty good. There wasn’t one among them that I just didn’t like, which is pretty rare in a collections like this. There’s always one that I just don’t get into at all – but not here!
3.5 stars rounded up to 4
I received this as an advance review copy from Net Galley.
These stories were all pretty good. There wasn’t one among them that I just didn’t like, which is pretty rare in a collections like this. There’s always one that I just don’t get into at all – but not here!
3.5 stars rounded up to 4
I received this as an advance review copy from Net Galley.
November 22, 2020
A short read that will completely unnerve you. If this is the prequel to RING SHOUT, I cannot wait to see where the main story will go. Clark spares no feelings and is not sparse on the imagery. This is 6126 words of meaningful diction.
May 30, 2020
Disclosure: I am an editor and read much of the slush for this anthology, which is full of surprising, delightful, and odd stories.
May 2, 2021
From what I can tell, this is the first tale set in what is to be the world of Ring Shout. Excellent work, as is the norm for Clark.
maybe-read
August 28, 2021I read one story about this but now is just the wrong time to read stories about cataclysyms and stories of the world collapsing 🤷♀️
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews