Status Updates From The Weird: A Compendium of ...

The Sea Was Wet As Wet Could Be by Gahan Wilson (1967)- A horror retelling of Lewis Carroll's poem The Walrus and The Carpenter.

Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier (1971)- A story of a man whose holiday is derailed by two sisters' psychic visions after the death of his child.

The Salamander by Mercè Rodoreda (1967)- A story about a woman accused of witchcraft after being seduced, who turns into a salamander when they attempt to burn her at the stake.

The Ghoulbird by Claud Seignolle (1967)- A story about a bird that lures victims into the marsh to die (maybe...)

The Colomber by Dino Buzzati (1966)- A story about a foreboding fish and fate.

The Other Side of the Mountain by Michel Bernanos (1967)- An excellent story about a ship voyage turned shipwreck turned travelogue through a surreal and dangerous landscape.

The Howling Man by Charles Beaumont (1959)- An excellent story about a man who falls ill and is taken to an abbey with a creepy secret.

Same Time, Same Place by Mervyn Peake (1963)- Very well written, being Peake, but I thought this one was just sad. :(

Mister Taylor by Augusto Monterroso (1952)- A tale about a man who establishes a shrunken head sales business in Latin America. Nicely satirical.

Axolotl by Julio Cortazar (1956)- A nice surreal story about a man meditating on Axolotls, and the changes they invoke in him.

A Woman Seldom Found by William Sansom (1956)- A short but sweet one about a man who finds a woman who's too perfect.

The Hungry House by Robert Bloch (1951)- An excellent ghost story about a couple unwittingly moving into a haunted house.

The Complete Gentleman by Amos Tutuola (1952)- A very weird one about a man saving a woman kidnapped by a skull that built its own body.

"It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby (1953)- An excellent story of a town subject to the whims of a terrifyingly powerful child

A Child in the Bush of Ghosts by Olympe Bhely-Quenum (1949)- A story about a child confronting his fear of death. Not sure I got this one, but also nice to have a non-Western story.

The Summer People by Shirley Jackson (1950)- Only Jackson can make what otherwise seems to be a relatively mundane series of events feel so creepy.

The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles by Margaret St. Clair (1951)- A fun satirical one

The Aleph by Borges (1945)- Loved this. I thought I'd read most Borges, but I don't remember this one. A very interesting take on infinity, as is common with Borges, and a fun and wryly self-deprecating metafictional nature too.

The Crowd by Ray Bradbury (1943)- An imagining of crowds as true, eerie animals.

The Long Sheet by William Sansom (1944)- A very allegorical tale of labour told through the wringing out of a sheet.

Smoke Ghost by Fritz Leiber (1941)- An excellent story about a man haunted by a modern industrial ghost.

White Rabbits by Leona Carrington (1941)- A fun story about some quirky neighbours who rear rabbits (/s)

Mimic by Donald A. Wollheim (1942)- A shorter story about what mimics humans may have.

Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass by Bruno Schulz (1937)- I've been wanting to read this (well, the collection) for a while, and I did love it. The kafkaesque tale of a man visiting his dying (dead?) father in a sanitorium where time is jumbled up (perhaps...)

Far Below by Robert Barbour Johnson (1939)- A tale of the defense against ghouls that attack the NYC subway system. This was... fine.

The Town of Cats by Hagiwara Sakutaro (1935)- A tale about a lost wanderer in the Japanese mountains who wanders into a town of people he wonders if are possessed by the spirits of cats. Wasn't a fan on this one (not even sure it was speculative)

The Tarn by Hugh Walpole (1936)- A short tale of a jealous man driven to take his more successful friend to a mountain Tarn which whispers temptation to him