Weird Fiction discussion

Greetings members of the GoodReads group devoted to Weird Fiction. As we approach March which will mark our group's 4th birthday--yes, we will have been in existence 48 months--I just wanted to let you know the group is still going strong. We picked up 60 or so new members this year and our group total now stands at 284. The number of active participants in the group at any given time however has been and remains low, no more than half a dozen. Who this is varies over time as people's interest in the genre waxes and wanes.

While growing membership numbers has never been a specific goal of mine--I value quality over quantity--more members would still be welcome. We always have room more devotees of weird fiction. Please let your friends know about this group. Don't hoard your joy!

I realize there is a challenge involved. Most people, even literary ones, are unaware there is a genre called weird. Here's what I do to explain it. The quickest way is to say that weird fiction is a type of speculative fiction, a genre that often has elements of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, all three in fact, in the same story. It's usually written in a literary way that's often experimental--the works tend to defy norms--but usually still have strong narratives. There should be a story there, but you might have to dig a bit for it. Unlike many genres we are less uncomfortable if a few questions remain unanswered at the end of the story. A popular work you might know that would be a good example of weird fiction is the Netflix series Stranger Things. Have you seen or heard of that? Do you see how the horror, fantasy, and SF aspects combine there? I find most people then arrive at some idea of what weird fiction is.

We have collectively read 72 works together. I expect we will be at about 90 by the end of 2023. These (and only these) works are all listed on the group's bookshelf. Somewhere in the group's discussions folders--searching from the group homepage is your friend here--you can find the discussion of each of these 72 works individually archived. The topics for these works are never closed. If you go back and read one of them at any time, and really, you should, you're welcome to post anew to the topic. If you're writing about one of these 55 or so works I have read, I will probably engage and respond to your post. I'm sure there are other members in the group who have read the book and seen your post and would be willing to as well. So feel free to revisit any time. I hope to read or finish some of the 15 or 20 works on our bookshelf I haven't gotten to or completed yet and thus reopen some of the topics myself this year.

Because of the special place H. P. Lovecraft holds for our genre--he is to weird fiction what Shakespeare is to English drama--we have been going through one work per month of his for two years now. We have finally reached the last six Lovecraft works we are going to collectively consider as a group. You are welcome to join us just for these six works if you haven't participated yet. We went chronologically, so these final six are arguably Lovecraft writing some of his very best works at the height of his powers. All of them are written in the years 1931-1936 shortly before Lovecraft's too early demise (from intestinal cancer at the age of 46) in early 1937. These final six works might be a reasonable place to start (or refresh) your Lovecraft reading.

We kick off 2023 with two works I am excited about. At the Mountains of Madness is perhaps Lovecraft's most science fiction-ish story. It tells of an Antarctic expedition gone horribly wrong. The narrator is trying to warn off the next explorer group lest they share poor Gadney's fate. Would he convince you not to go? Also, we have a more modern work to read: Edgar Cantero's This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us (2018), about a private eye who is really two people in one, literally, and has a murder spree case to solve. This book is a bit of a departure from weird fiction in that it has a non-American or British author, a lot of humor (very unusual for weird), and a noir aspect--think Humphrey Bogart. But weird it nevertheless is as you can see people trying to classify its genre here on GoodReads as fantasy, SF, and horror, and who really knows all what? The literary standards are also high. Come join us, won't you? Start the new year off weird!

I just culled our membership list. Forty to fifty members had not been on GoodReads for more than a year. A few had not even logged in once this decade yet! That means they could not possibly have been to our group in more than a year either. So, off they go, out of the group.

When removed from a group, GoodReads automatically blocks people from rejoining (as a default). I'm happy to have anyone back who wishes to be a member. So I unblocked every one of the forty plus bootees individually. I will continue to periodically weed out people who have been inactive on GR for over a year.

Hopefully, we'll soon be back up to 300 members again, a threshold we crossed near the beginning of the year. If everyone would tell their friends what Weird Fiction is, I'm sure we will get there. It's such a wonderful genre to get into.

Glad I wasn't culled.

I just noticed this update. Thank you for taking the time to write it, and for every other lengthy post you make in here. I have only been on Goodreads and a member of this group for a short while, but I already appreciate your writing.

I do find it a bit odd how this group seems to have less activity than other groups which attracts people who love horror, science fiction and fantasy. They would most likely all appreciate weird fiction in some way! I can actually tell by their choice in books, you know. (The september group read for one of the groups is even cosmic horror themed. Come on!)

I also prefer quality over quantity. I just wish more people participated in discussions in here. I mean, we are bound to have many wonderful and intelligent members!

I think one reason we have fewer members is because most people consider weird to be an adjective rather than a genre label, think Weird Tales was a magazine name for tales that were merely odd or horror, etc.

Another reason is because I am sole moderator of the group, not by design, but no one else has expressed an interest. I have never cared much about quantity in terms of members. I notice it and am happy to see the number slowly increase, but that's the extent of it. Having been a co-moderator on other groups I can testify that it is unusual of me not to concern myself with that. Most moderators care about how many members their group has, care deeply, and do lots of things to try to raise that number. I think they see it as a form of personal validation, or something.

I'm not interested in being a proselytizer for weird fiction. I already know it's the greatest genre ever, the one that can be horror, fantasy, science fiction, or most often some unique, imaginative blending of all three. But it took *me* more than fifty years to find it. I think it's on people to find us. We'll be here when they do.

Welp, welp, don't cut me! I fell out of the wagon for a little bit, mea culpa, got distracted by other things. I promise I will get back to our reading!

Dan wrote: "I think one reason we have fewer members is because most people consider weird to be an adjective rather than a genre label, think Weird Tales was a magazine name for tales that were merely odd or ..."

I see what you mean. I would rather be part of a smaller group of passionate/interested members than a large group of half interested ones. I don't know how things have been since the beginning, so I wouldn't know what would help create more discussion amongst those who are members, but I remember I forgot to change my group discussion update setting in one other group until I got a message. Perhaps a lot of members have turned off regular notifications at some point and forgot to put it back on? Have you done a reminder in the past by way of messaging for both the nomination stage and start of a group read?

Also, I remember the group photo made me hesitant about checking this group out. I kind of didn't think it was about what it is about. It might not be a big deal, though, but it may also have an effect on people. Sorry, I hope it's okay that I ask and comment about these things. I'm new and just mean well for our group.

The people I removed from the group were ones that had not logged into GoodReads, the entire website GoodReads as a whole, in more than a year. I can only think of two reasons for that:

1) They died.
2) They permanently lost interest in GoodReads.

For either of these two cases I think removal from weird fiction is the least of their problems. If they come back, they are more than welcome to rejoin. We don't discriminate against the undead.