Weird Fiction discussion

How about it folks? What one or two group reads do you think we weird fiction lovers would enjoy reading as a group this July? Please have nominations in by mid-June. July is a summer reading month; maybe something long and ambitious would be appropriate?

I nominate The Leaves of a Necronomicon edited by Joseph S. Pulver Sr..

I nominate Viy. This book HORRIFIED me when I was a little girl. It's a supernatural monster story. I don't remember if I nominated that before. There's a couple really bizarre movies shot of this in this century. It's short though. Maybe I find an antology of such stories including this one and post that one later.
Viy means "the one who sees".
(Edited to add - I was quite amused to see Goya's Saturn devouring his son on the cover of this edition. Whoever slapped it on that cover must have been in a hurry!)

I'd like to nominate A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon. I was looking through a New Weird list here on the site and it stood out to me. From the blurb: "Below the neon skies of Dayzone – where the lights never go out, and night has been banished – lowly private eye John Nyquist takes on a teenage runaway case. His quest takes him from Dayzone into the permanent dark of Nocturna." Sounds like a good one.

Thanks Dave and Zina. Good nominations both.

As a second nomination, how about The Willows by Algernon Blackwood?

"Two friends are midway on a canoe trip down the Danube River. Throughout the story Blackwood personifies the surrounding environment—river, sun, wind—and imbues them with a powerful and ultimately threatening character. Most ominous are the masses of dense, desultory, menacing willows, which 'moved of their own will as though alive, and they touched, by some incalculable method, my own keen sense of the horrible.'"

I'll nominate Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, published in 1989, and The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada, published in 2013.

Thank you for these two nominations David, but after careful consideration of both I have determined that neither is in the weird genre. I therefore am disqualifying them. If I am mistaken and overlooked something and a good case can be made for them being genre weird fiction, please let's discuss further. I'm open to reconsidering.

To save me time in cases like these, I think I will cut and paste from the May 2025 Nominations topic for further explanation:

I'm sorry, but I am disqualifying this nomination entry. I want to keep works we consider reading as a group within the weird fiction genre. It's the name of our group after all! It is a common misconception among people new to the genre that any work containing fiction with a person acting weird, or a situation that's strange, can be considered weird fiction. But that's not the case.

If it were, all fiction can be said to be weird. (I am not interested in running a group in which all fiction is eligible. I think GoodReads already has other groups like that, but as far as I know we are the only Weird Fiction group.) Why would an author write about a normal situation? There's no reason to be interested in those. Every situation has one element or another of a situation that's not normal. That's why an author writes of it. The "not normal" aspect of something happening in a work of fiction does not elevate that fiction into the realm of weird fiction. Something else does.

I have written extensively in other topics in this group about what weird fiction is and is not. I don't wish to repeat those definitions and descriptions here. It would take too long. If you're interested in learning about what the genre known as weird fiction truly is, I encourage you to investigate those topics under likely headings in likely looking categories in this group and on the Internet in general.

I will say one thing on definitions that might be of some help. Most people are familiar with the old Rod Serling TV series, "The Twilight Zone." For the work you are considering nominating, could you see it placed in a script for this series that Rod would produce? If the answer is a resounding "yes!" the work you are considering is probably weird fiction. Seldom funny, or sexual for sex's sake; sex came up only in the context of what loneliness meant. "The Twilight Zone" is quintessential weird fiction genre.

I welcome all weird fiction genre (or likely genre, we on occasion have in the past got this wrong, but less often lately) nominations for consideration as group reads.

David, I hope you feel free to still nominate two works of genre weird fiction, if you wish.

Dave J. wrote: "As a second nomination, how about The Willows by Algernon Blackwood?

"Two friends are midway on a canoe trip down the Danube River. Throughout the story Blackwood personifies the surrounding envir..."

The willows was a part of the The Wendigo and Other Stories by Algernon Blackwood that we read a few months back.

It is indeed an awesome story, very expansive nature scene, the river, the feel of it all.

David wrote: "I'll nominate Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, published in 1989, and The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada, published in 2013."

oooh I liked the synopsis of The Hole, adding iit to my list, thanks!

I'll nominate Weird Horror, Issue 4, Spring 2022 again! It's been a while, hah :)

Zina wrote: "The willows was a part of the The Wendigo and Other Stories by Algernon Blackwood that we read a few months back."

Thank you for reminding me it was a part of that collection, Zina. So, yes I have to disqualify it as a nomination for group read in July since group reads are for material not already on our bookshelf.

However, I have been thinking seriously about giving the novella a reread. I skimmed then DNF'ed it when reading it as part of that collection. I didn't care for how long the story went with nothing but river appreciation happening. But I have learned to better appreciate Blackwood since. I would not mind having another go at it. We could do it as a buddy read. I think I'll add it in the next few weeks as one.

So Dave J, you have a second nomination open now.

Dan wrote: "But I have learned to better appreciate Blackwood since. I would not mind having another go at it..."
I hope you like it better this time! Personally I loved the story - but I guess I am easier to please than you are, haha. II thought the river appreciation (oh my, how aptly put!) was awesome in its own right, but also here the horror and weird come out as part of those natural forces and to me it all makes sense together.

Zina wrote: "The willows was a part of the The Wendigo and Other Stories by Algernon Blackwood that we read a few months back."

Dan wrote: "Thank you for reminding me it was a part of that collection, Zina. So, yes I have to disqualify it as a nomination for group read in July since group reads are for material not already on our bookshelf...

So Dave J, you have a second nomination open now."

Ah ok, thanks for letting me know. Hm, in that case...

I'll instead nominate Railsea by China Mieville. It sounds like a fun one, especially since Moby-Dick is one of my favorites.

Nicolai Alexander wrote: "It's been a while, hah :)"

Yup, welcome back :)

My second nomination is The Call of Poohthulhu by Neil Baker. And with that it's time to close the topic and run the poll. New nominations can be for August's group read in that topic, which will be open through mid-July.