Weird Fiction discussion

With the closest poll results ever run achieved here at Weird Fiction, author Jeff VanderMeer with his New Weird classic Annihilation squeaked out the victory and is what we will be reading and discussing March 2021. It used to be that Perdido Street Station held the #1 spot for New Weird, but in the last year or so VanderMeer's book has supplanted Mieville's for the honor. Perhaps it's a better or more widely liked novel. Maybe it's because VanderMeer as an editor has done more to promote the genre, especially recently. Mieville has not been a very active writer of late.

In any case, this will be my first VanderMeer work. I have mixed feelings about reading VanderMeer's fiction. Many of the works he, or his wife, regards highly as editors come across to me as overwritten fluff short on plot or dialog substance. If he writes the same type of stuff he appears to value, I may be in for a haul. On the other hand, so many people really seem to like his work. I figure it's past time to give it a try.

You may notice that there is only one discussion topic for the group read book this month. That's because our discussions don't seem voluminous enough to warrant two. Let's see how having just one works out.

I hope everyone is now going out to procure their copy of this novel so that we can begin it together on March 1. Be sure to share your thoughts here as you read it. As always, if you write any spoilers, please be kind and use spoiler tags, which are these marks < > before, and <[slash] > after, followed by the word spoiler inside the two sets of marks to hide your comments from those not as far along in their reading yet.

So, do we have any VanderMeer fans here already? Maybe you can share why you voted for this book.

Helpful tip: a lot of public libraries carry this book, the first of a trilogy, or the entire trilogy under one title Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy. The author himself recommends all three be read as one book, and from reviews I have read they do make more sense that way than reading the first volume as a stand-alone. If you don't care for the first volume though, don't bother with the next two. The first is apparently the best.

Warning: this book got a wide circulation amongst readers unfamiliar with weird, particularly new weird, fiction. Predictably, the book therefore garnered mixed to negative reactions from readers who demand more traditional storytelling structure. To enjoy this book for what it is, I suspect, we will need to have our more tolerant weird hats on when reading. It sounds from the descriptions a lot like the TV series Lost.

I tried to read the second book and while there was nothing really wrong with it, it didn't hold my attention like the first, and I quit somewhere in the middle. I am okay with keeping the first book as a standalone, and don't mind at all that there are many unanswered questions. It just makes my mind go off on its own, which I enjoy. I don't know if he ever explains everything by end of the third book, but I don't think it is necessary, and it might even detract.

Scott wrote: "I tried to read the second book and while there was nothing really wrong with it, it didn't hold my attention like the first, and I quit somewhere in the middle. I am okay with keeping the first bo..."

The second book is a very different one, true. It is a cool book in its own right; but it's a different narration and a different attraction. A fella is trying to piece together and make sense of pieces of somebody else's attempt to piece together and make sense. This gives the whole narrative a certain cerebral edge.

I am one third of the way through now and loving it. This is the best book (so far) that I have read this year, and I am approaching twenty. I can't wait for the situation to explain itself to the extent it will. In the meantime I'm just amazed by the writing and how VanderMeer is unveiling the plot. You think you're starting to get a handle on things and down drops a bomb like (view spoiler)[the biologist's husband having been on the previous expedition (hide spoiler)].

The last two thirds of this book probably won't last another 24 hours before I've read them. It's a fairly short book, just 128 pages in the trilogy version (Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy) I checked out of the library. Highly recommended if you're one of the few who haven't read it yet.

Dan wrote: "I am one third of the way through now and loving it. This is the best book (so far) that I have read this year, and I am approaching twenty. I can't wait for the situation to explain itself to the ..."
It IS an amazing book. I am re-reading it now and it still blows my breath away.

Glad you are liking it so much Dan!

Finished it and absolutely loved it. This is what Weird fiction is all about, or should be, in my opinion. Giving it my seldom used 5-star rating, my first one this year and my first one for any Weird fiction book.

I must admit that given some of the comments I read about the novel from reviewers I expected a certain lack of clarity or ambiguity, including lots of unanswered questions, or even worse, plot holes. But this book has nothing of the sort. Everything is perfectly explained and accounted for to me.

We get the story through the perspective of the biologist writing to her societal contemporaries. Everything important the biologist discovered and could possibly know we now know. What more could a reader want?

This is a beautiful blend of science fiction, horror, and Lovecraftian dark fantasy given how little we directly know about the alien(s). The writing was a model of beauty in terms of directness, simplicity, and clarity. What an incredible story! I'll have my review of it up in a day or two.

I just found out there is a fourth book in this trilogy scheduled to appear soon. Due to other commitments it will be a while before I can read the second installment, much less the fourth, but I am looking forward to its publication.

Here is my idiosyncratic and less than adequate review of such a great novel: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Hello! I've been in this group for a bit but have yet to participate, but I adore Jeff VanderMeer's work and am so excited to see this discussion. I agree Dan that for me Annihilation is the complete package and some of the criticisms regarding it's ambiguity or loose ends don't work for me- the book is amazing as a stand alone title and I was perfectly happy with it's ending.

Btw-My favorite work by him is actually The Strange Bird ( a novella based in the Borne universe- rather than the Southern Reach trilogy). Beautiful, weird, horrific and heartbreaking.

Nicole wrote: "My favorite work by him is actually The Strange Bird ( a novella based in the Borne universe- rather than the Southern Reach trilogy). Beautiful, weird, horrific and heartbreaking."

Can it be read without having read any of the other Borne stuff?

Scott wrote: "Nicole wrote: "My favorite work by him is actually The Strange Bird ( a novella based in the Borne universe- rather than the Southern Reach trilogy). Beautiful, weird, horrific and heartbreaking."
..."

I would recommend to at least read the first book, Borne, before reading The Strange Bird. There are many characters from the first book revisited from a new perspective in the novella, and I think some of the impactfulness might be lost if you don't have that as a reference point.