Weird Fiction discussion

Oh my goodness! We have been around three days now and I haven't put up an Introduce Yourself topic message. I am happy to see we have 17 members already. We're having lots of fun here and monthly reads will begin April 1. So please tell your Weird fiction loving friends all about this group so they can join.

In the meantime, please feel free to use this topic to say something about yourself, share any experience you might have with Weird fiction, and maybe let us know what you're hoping to get out of the group.

Hi, I'm Kate. I saw your post about your group over in the Moderator's group and decided it might be for me. Mostly I read Sci/Fi and Fantasy with a few horror books, but "weird" might be for me. I am not a fan of blood and guts, though. Also, who knows how much I will participate. Too many books, so little time.

Welcome Kate. Looking over what you like to read, I think there's a good chance you will like some of the Weird works. Unless you jump right into China Miéville, and that's not recommended, most Weird literature tends to the short. In fact, in no other genre is the short story so integral, in my opinion. That gives you a chance to get your feet wet without having to change into a swimsuit.

Hi i'm Morgan, I to read Sci/Fi. I love things that others would call
"weird" , and would The Giver be considered 'weird fiction'?

Does anyone know the book called "fall of the house of Usher"?
By Edgar Allen Poe?

Morgan wrote: "Does anyone know the book called "fall of the house of Usher"?
By Edgar Allen Poe?"

Welcome. I read the short story years ago, but never knew it as a book. it's been too long for me to recall much about it. I mostly remember the gloomy description of the place.

Hi Morgan. I have never read Lois Lowry, only of her. Her YA started to be published after I was no longer a youth. I would be surprised if The Giver could be classified as such though.

"Fall of the House of Usher" is considered early Weird. Quintessential Weird writer H.P. Lovecraft held that particular Poe story in highest regard:

"Usher, whose superiority in detail and proportion is very marked, hints shudderingly of obscure life in inorganic things, and displays an abnormally linked trinity of a long and isolated family history--a brother, his twin sister, and their incredibly ancient house all sharing a single soul and meeting one common dissolution at the same moment.

These bizarre conceptions, so awkward in unskillful hands, become under Poe’s spell living and convincing terrors to haunt our nights; and all because the author understood so perfectly the very mechanics and physiology of fear and strangeness–the essential details to emphasise, the precise incongruities and conceits to select as preliminaries or concomitants to horror, the exact incidents and allusions to throw out innocently in advance as symbols or prefigurings of each major step toward the hideous dénouement to come, the nice adjustments of cumulative force and the unerring accuracy in linkage of parts which make for faultless unity throughout and thunderous effectiveness at the climactic moment, the delicate nuances of scenic and landscape value to select in establishing and sustaining the desired mood and vitalising the desired illusion–principles of this kind, and dozens of obscurer ones too elusive to be described or even fully comprehended by any ordinary commentator. Melodrama and unsophistication there may be–we are told of one fastidious Frenchman who could not bear to read Poe except in Baudelaire’s urbane and Gallically modulated translation–but all traces of such things are wholly overshadowed by a potent and inborn sense of the spectral, the morbid, and the horrible which gushed forth from every cell of the artist’s creative mentality and stamped his macabre work with the ineffaceable mark of supreme genius. Poe’s weird tales are alive in a manner that few others can ever hope to be."

Since Lovecraft considered this Poe tale to be Weird, I am not about to argue! I like the way Lovecraft subtly defines Weird for us by saying what specifically in the Poe tale met the definition for the term.

hmm. Very interesting, I am still looking for different 'weird fiction' books. Have any suggestions?

My first post, topic title "About This Group" lists about forty writers who write in the Weird genre. My second link in that post is to a list of almost 200 books that are considered "New Weird". Any of those that look interesting to you would be a good place to start.

Also, starting April 1, here at this group we will be reading one possibly two works (one old school Weird, the other new school Weird) and discussing them. Reading these with us each month will help you soon build a repertoire of Weird in order to become an expert on the genre.

Oh, um well i already look up and read many weird fictions.

Hello everyone. I guess I joined Goodreads at exactly the right time, because I just did a search for "weird fiction" and here was this newly formed group...

My tastes so far have tended towards what Dan would classify as old-school weird (some of it really very old... Poe is my idol), so I'm looking forward to some new weird adventures here. It's also going to be fun to discuss books with people whose eyes don't glaze over when I start talking about authors I like.

Welcome, Merl. I'd say I was 60-40 interested in Classic vs New Weird myself. It's great to have another person aboard who loves the classics.

Hi i'm Andrew. I am new to goodreads, I have always enjoyed things weird much more than normal. I work full time as a technician at an oil change place but just started school for creative writing online. So I am starting to read everything I can get my hands on. Currently doing a fiction, nonfiction, and something I enjoy. Hope to get to know everyone!

Welcome Andrew! We're still a small group so getting to know everyone will be easy. I applaud your ambition to creatively write. We have a poll currently ongoing due to end Saturday night if you would like to cast your vote for our April New Weird read.

Dan wrote: "Welcome Andrew! We're still a small group so getting to know everyone will be easy. I applaud your ambition to creatively write. We have a poll currently ongoing due to end Saturday night if you wo..."

Awesome! I read the collaboration for this month and voted for next!

Hi everyone - I stumbled across this group while looking for folks interested in English landscape horror (turns out not so many of those...!). This is right up my street though, I hope I'm not intruding!

Obviously a fan of all things horror and uncanny and other. Don't have too many recs to make but will hopefully when I get a feel for it. Generally up for reading anything!

Welcome Owen. I am sure we will occasionally touch on your unusual niche of English landscape horror. I also know the group Literary Horror has stories that do as well. I am glad you found us.

Thanks Dan - look forward to it.. I'll skip over the current reads as I won't catch up - I'll join in in the next round.

Cheers

My name is Rosemarie and for years I was afraid to read weird fiction or horror, in fact not until I retired from teaching as a substitute teacher in middle schools.
Then I discovered Edgar Allen Poe, Algernon Blackwood and got hooked on H.P. Lovecraft. I am a big fan of classic weird fiction and would love to hear about more authors from that time period.

Welcome Rosemarie. I ran a poll and was super surprised in how much more interest there is in classic Weird than modern Weird, especially given that three of the last four nominations for books we're reading this month were for modern Weird. Since I now know that there is such an interest in classic Weird, I'm planning more events here in this group later this month to slake the thirsts.

H.P., love him or hate him, there seems to be no middle ground. As an occasional writer myself, I love him because I recognize how hard it is to do what he makes look so easy and natural. However, I can also see why some people think him somewhat windy.

Feel free to pick up with and comment on our classic short story, The Challenge from Beyond, by five 1930s authors this month. It's not too late. In fact, I've yet to finish the story myself.

Thanks. I find Lovecraft strangely addictive. And I will check out the short stories.

Welcome, Quirk! So glad you decided to join us considering how widely read I know you to be. There's hardly a book we can discuss you don't at least know something about. I'm going to have to look for that movie, "The Curse."

Owen wrote: "Hi everyone - I stumbled across this group while looking for folks interested in English landscape horror (turns out not so many of those...!). This is right up my street though, I hope I'm not int..."

Ok, I'm intrigued. Owen, can you give us some examples of what you mean by English landscape horror?

Quirkyreader wrote: "I think it all started when I was about three and watched “The Curse of The Crimson Cult” on TV with my dad. And yes, it is based on “Dream In The Witch House” by H.P. Lovecraft."

I recently saw that film for the first time. It must have, ahem, expanded your mind if you saw it at such a young age. I hadn't realised it was based on Witch House at all.

Merl wrote: "Owen wrote: "Hi everyone - I stumbled across this group while looking for folks interested in English landscape horror (turns out not so many of those...!). This is right up my street though, I hop..."

Hi Owen, I was also intrigued by this. Do you mean literary works associated with Folk Horror films like Witchfinder General and the Wicker Man? That's interesting: I've picked up but not yet read a film tie-in copy of Ronald Bassett's novel Witchfinder General - Tony Tenser, who bought the film rights that resulted in Michael Reeves's masterpiece, thought it was dreadful - because honestly I'm not an enthusiast for historical fiction.

I've also never read David Pinner's Ritual (Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer's original source for Wicker Man), which looks much more promising.

Rick wrote: "I joined this group..."

Hi Rick and welcome to the group.

Sorry, but I had to delete the remainder of your post because except for these quoted first four words above it looked like spam for your book. We do have a place in this group where we would welcome you to post about your work. It is in the folder titled "Author Promotion." We really do read and consider what authors have to say there.

Thanks my bad!

No problem, Rick. And it just occurred to me, I should have made things easier for you by posting a link rather than have you hunt for it. Here's where we welcome information (like your post was) about members' written books: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Congrats on having two published!

Dan wrote: "No problem, Rick. And it just occurred to me, I should have made things easier for you by posting a link rather than have you hunt for it. Here's where we welcome information (like your post was) a..."

Thanks for sending the link; I'm new to goodreads (well, I used to be on goodreads a decade ago) so I'm a bit ignorant of protocol! I'll make sure I be more mindful going forward.

Hi everyone! I am new here, also relatively new to the genre and working through a long TBR list of Weird stories... working my way through Ramsey Campbell’s Brichester anthologies at the moment.

I can see why Lovecraft considered Poe to be Weird... From what I’ve seen so far, Weird uses a lot of Gothic Horror elements and themes but twists them into more ‘rational’ shapes to plague the rational mind with the shadows they throw against the walls.

Full disclosure: my current novel is Gothic Weird, which deliberately plays with tropes from both genres. I don’t have links or anything, it’s in beta stages. I’m more interested in learning more about the genre & chatting to other fans & writers of it!

Summer is going to be a really busy time so I hope I can engage with the group but I have a major work deadline mid-July (eep) and am getting married in August (yay) so I have tons to do! But I would like to dip in and out of discussions if that’s ok. I hope you’ll understand if I disappear!

CM/Mel

Welcome Mel! It's good to have you as a new member.

We have a few other writers of Weird in our group. They have let us know about their publications in the topic "Promote Your Writing" which can be found in the "Author Promotion" folder under Discussions. Here's a link if you want a shortcut: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Have you found the group of Weird writers that formed their own group? It's not terribly active, which is odd considering they have five times as many members as us. It may be of interest to you: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Congrats on the upcoming nuptials. We look forward to reading from you whenever you can spare the time.

Hi, I'm Amy, big fan of the weird! And sci-fi, horror, spec, and urban fantasy. Not sure what I'm looking to get out of the Group, except some recommendations I think. I like the casual book club thing you alls have going too.
Happy reading!

Hi Amy. Welcome to the group. Looking over your library of books read, you sure find some interesting stuff! I like the two nominations you provided too. Good to see you're plunging right in!

Hi! I'm Bobby Derie. Still getting used to Goodreads after all these years... Weird fiction fan & scholar. I've written a couple books on Lovecraft & Robert E. Howard, and I've got a weekly review blog on women, POC, and LGBTQ+ authors/characters and the Cthulhu Mythos.

Hi Bobby. Welcome to our group. It looks like your reading is mostly in what we call here the Classic Weird. It's a real pleasure to have someone so expert on these authors join our group. I hope you can recommend some Lovecraft and Howard for us for our group readings, maybe let us know where we can find some of the best and latest scholarship on matters Cthulhu. I'm really glad you're here.

Hi everyone. I'm a historical fiction reader and traditionally published author but I've always had a darker streak running in me for Weird going back to when I discovered Poe at the age of 12. I love Blackwood and Machen, among others. Have published two Weird short stories as well with Weirdbook and British Fantasy Society. Looking forward to chatting with folks! BTW, Algernon Blackwood was a member of my club in London. Will try and post a photo of the portrait we have of him!

Welcome Clifford. So grand to have a published author who appreciates Weird join us. We have not yet done much with Algernon Blackwood. I'd love to see a photo of the portrait hanging at your club.

Hi Dan, Took one yesterday when I was at the Savile Club. Will try and post it somewhere here for you. I will also check out your story on Casting the Runes

Just uploaded the portrait of Blackwood to the Photos section of the group. Hope this is OK!

"Casting the Runes" was M. R. James's work, not Blackwood's. I had the two confused. I don't think I've ever read any Blackwood.

A number of black and white photos of Blackwood exist. This is the first time I've seen him in color! Very cool. It looks like the portrait was drawn fairly close to the end of his life. Thanks for sharing!

Dan wrote: ""Casting the Runes" was M. R. James's work, not Blackwood's. I had the two confused. I don't think I've ever read any Blackwood.

A number of black and white photos of Blackwood exist. This is the ..."
Yes, saw that when I went to your link! I have M R James complete ghost stories and there are some fantastic stories in there that definitely fall under a weird heading. For Blackwood I recommend "The Wendigo" (which influenced Lovecraft) and James' "Canon Alberic's Scrapbook"

I'm actually also very interested in historical fiction. I've read a lot of Michener's work, some Uris, and Jennings too, of course. Even some of Irving Stone's, Nigel Tranter's, and of course Clavell, who teaches us the word sepuku.

Your scope of historical fiction is a little tighter, I see. One area of specialty you have is colonial New England piracy as I see from your Quelch's Gold: Piracy, Greed, and Betrayal in Colonial New England. You may have heard of the Rhode Island Cranston governors then, John and his son Samuel, who did so much to end privateering once and for all. I'm a direct descendant through my grandmother Blanche Cranston. Samuel's wife was Freeborn Williams, the granddaughter of Roger Williams, Rhode Island's discoverer.

The book we are reading this month by Aickman may have a story of particular interest to you. The third story is historical fiction / fantasy set in western Germany, the Bodensee, or Lake Constance, in the early 1800s, I think. It's amazing the level of detail Aickman captures this period with. It's as if he were there.

I'm impressed Michael Moorcock thought so highly of your Gideon's Angel.

Dan wrote: "I'm actually also very interested in historical fiction. I've read a lot of Michener's work, some Uris, and Jennings too, of course. Even some of Irving Stone's, Nigel Tranter's, and of course Clav..."

Thanks for that, Dan. Much appreciated! Yes Governor Cranston gets mentioned in my book on Quelch. He was considered a soft touch on pirates by governor Dudley in Boston! I will check out the Aickman book. Sounds interesting.

So my six greats grandfather is in your book? That's definitely motivation to read it! I am surprised to read he was considered a soft touch though. My understanding (family lore) was that he passed or enforced laws against privateering where none before existed. He also won thirty elections in a row for governor.

(I miswrote earlier. Freeborn was Gov. Roger Williams' daughter. Her daughter, Mary, was the one who married Gov. Samuel Cranston.)

Hey all!

I got introduced to Weird mostly through Reddit. Always looking for interesting recs.

I'm mostly interested in the Weird for trippiness's sake. I'm most interested in that feeling you get when the world drops out from under you, and you realize you have to start all over from scratch.

Welcome Patrick. I think October's group read might be right up your alley. It has a reputation for being very slipstream and surreal. I think you're joining at a good time. We're getting more back into our Weird Fiction roots right now.

Hi All!
I read and write dark tales in the speculative/supernatural genre. Authors who have influenced me include Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and of course, Lovecraft!
I originate from Arthur Machen country in Wales.
I've recently released a collection of short stories called Door and other twisted tales which I will post about in your author promo section. I'll include the link to free copies there.
Good to meet you all!

Dan wrote: ""A number of black and white photos of Blackwood exist. This is the ..."

There's a couple of videos of him reading, too, like this one:
https://youtu.be/wRy4D11qc8I

Thanks Paul. I had no idea Blackwood lived long enough to feature on film. What a treat!

Catherine wrote: "Hi All!
I read and write dark tales in the speculative/supernatural genre. Authors who have influenced me include Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and of course, Lovecraft!
I originate from Arthur Machen..."

Welcome Catherine. I'm really excited to have you join us. We have an unusually large number of writers in our group. I think the genre itself attracts writers because we often read the work of writers' writers. I'm eager to read what you make of these Weird works we're reading as we go forward and of your own most recent work, the story collection especially.