Weird Fiction discussion

Have you come across a book and want to know if it would be considered as belonging to the Weird genre? Then please ask here in this topic!

Anyone who wants to chime in with an opinion as to whether a book should be considered Weird, classic Weird, New Weird, or something else altogether is welcome to offer an opinion. We have a lot of experts on Weird among our members here, many of whom know more about the subject than me.

When asking about a book, it might be helpful to tell all that you know about the book (or story) that might be relevant for helping determine its genre. The final result would no doubt result in a more accurate reply.

I still am not quite sure I understand what makes something weird fiction. Gothic'ish setting combined with sense of dread and some Elder Gods mythos?

For me, naturalistic fiction is not weird fiction. A naturalistic horror story may be well worth reading, of course.

I think weird fiction is horror with a speculative element that’s inexplicable. It can be fantasy, science fiction, or supernatural.

In Daphne du Maurier’s story
“The Birds” it is not explained why the birds are going bonkers.

In The Other Side of the Mountain two human characters land in a strange environment. One of the characters wonders if they are still on Earth.

The above remarks are presented in the spirit of discussion.

When I first started this group, I had read next to no weird fiction. So I read widely and got formal definitions for what Weird fiction was. I posted many (most) of them in various discussion topics in this group.

Now, I have read enough Weird fiction that I know it when I see it because I can compare it to other Weird writings and know if it has the same characteristics that made the other stories Weird.

There are definitely two distinct branches of Weird. The first is classic Weird. That is any story that could have been published in the original run of Weird Tales. It can include sword and sorcery so long as there is a strong mystical element, a la Robert E. Howard, but also maybe less sword like Clark Ashton Smith's. I also think of Lovecraftian authors as writing classic Weird, like Derleth, Wandrei, and others that followed that path. There are also Ray Bradbury-like weird stories, and Fritz Leiber-like weird stories. All have a distinct feel and use of certain tropes that other writers build on.

There is also New Weird, which is any story that could fit into the New Weird anthology we read in the group last year, edited by the VanderMeers. All of those stories had some remarkably similar features setting them apart from classic Weird. Foremost among them that I observed is that all the authors invented a world that operates on principles very different from ours, but the author never explains it, just operates the world and expects readers to catch on. It's a really fun take on Weird when done well, sort of random and meaningless when its different just for difference's sake.

The main characteristic of both classic Weird and New Weird is they both transcend genre. Very often a Weird book will be classified by GoodReads readers as horror, fantasy, and science fiction. When you see a lot of votes for all three of these categories on the same book, you're almost certainly reading Weird, even if it's not been widely recognized as such. It's great fun to read reviews of these books because people bring their preferred genre expectations to it and then get angry when the other two get billing. Science fiction readers hate it when you put horror, or especially fantasy elements into their otherwise pure SF story, for example.

The other main component of Weird is that the author seldom feels the need to explain the departures from our reality they are writing about. They just write it and expect the reader to catch up to the essential rules of the other world, to the extent there are any or that they're consistent, on the fly. This often makes for a wonderfully challenging read, which unprepared readers would consider overly confusing.

The Weird of today seems to be heading in a new direction, distinct from classic Weird and the VanderMeer New Weird. Next month's (November 2021 group read) offering is an example of it. The last two issues of Weird Tales certainly contains it.

The new direction, as I think of it, has been affected by Bizarro and indie publishing, sometimes negatively by the latter. You'll see what I mean. This new direction takes itself less seriously in terms of literary art or expression (like bizarro), and is willing to experiment more with forms and subject matter. It's often more humorous (like bizarro) and willing to undermine societal norms, although not in an in-your-face way like bizarro. It is never slapstick. Much of it is also affected by urban fantasy. Victor LaValle is the author I've read the most of writing in this way and is therefore a main source of my generalities.

The story often sets out very much grounded in the real world, sometimes in the historical real world, and stays there a while. It causes some readers to wonder if they have picked up non-genre fiction by accident. But then the weird stuff starts to come in, making it more fun. The advantage of this mode is that the author, if he has them, gets to establish his literary writing chops right at the start. He can convince a reader he is in competent hands, rather than some hack indie writer's, before he then turns his imagination loose and takes us on the incredible ride we paid for. Victor LaValle, at his best, really does this well.