''The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories'' is an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

of weird fiction edited by Ann and

Jeff VanderMeer Jeff VanderMeer (born July 7, 1968) is an American author, editor, and literary critic. Initially associated with the New Weird literary genre, VanderMeer crossed over into mainstream success with his bestselling Southern Reach Series. The se ...

. Published on 30 Oct 2011, it contains 110 short stories, novellas and short novels. At 1,126 pages in the hardcover edition, it is probably the largest single volume of fantastic fiction ever published, according to '' Locus''.

The editors' object in publishing ''The Weird'' was to provide, through its contents, a comprehensive definition of "the Weird", a type of fiction that their introduction describes as "as much a ''sensation''"—one of terror and wonder—"as (...) a mode of writing", and as a type of fiction that entertains while also expressing readers' dissatisfaction with, and uncertainty about, reality. To that end, ''The Weird'' includes works that range from

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and mainstream literature "with a slight twist of strange", but it also amounts, according to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', to "a history of the

horror story Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defi ...

". The editors limited their chronologically ordered collection to fiction from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and largely avoided including stories focusing on tropes of the horror genre such as zombies, vampires, and werewolves, to highlight what they considered the Weird's innovative qualities. To cover the genre comprehensively, they commissioned original translations of, among others, works by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Michel Bernanos, Julio Cortázar and Georg Heym. The anthology contains the following works: * ''Foreweird'' by

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has wo ...

* Introduction by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer * Alfred Kubin, ''The Other Side'' (excerpt), 1908 (translation, Austria) * F. Marion Crawford, '' The Screaming Skull'' 1908 * Algernon Blackwood, '' The Willows,'' 1907 *

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

, '' Sredni Vashtar,'' 1910 *

M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English medievalist scholar and author who served as provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936) as well as Vice-Chancellor of the Univers ...

, '' Casting the Runes,'' 1911 * Lord Dunsany, ''How Nuth Would Have Practiced his Art,'' 1912 *

Gustav Meyrink Gustav Meyrink (19 January 1868 – 4 December 1932) was the pseudonym of Gustav Meyer, an Austrian author, novelist, dramatist, translator, and banker, most famous for his novel ''The Golem (Meyrink novel), The Golem''. He has been described as ...

, ''The Man in the Bottle,'' 1912 (translation, Austria) * Georg Heym, ''The Dissection,'' 1913 (new translation, Germany) *

Hanns Heinz Ewers Hanns Heinz Ewers (3 November 1871 – 12 June 1943) was a German actor, poet, philosopher, and writer of short stories and novels. While he wrote on a wide range of subjects, he is now known mainly for his works of horror, particularly his tril ...

, ''The Spider,'' 1915 (translation, Germany) *

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

, ''The Hungry Stones,'' 1916 (India) * Luigi Ugolini, ''The Vegetable Man,'' 1917 (first translation, Italy) * A. Merritt, ''The People of the Pit,'' 1918 * Ryunosuke Akutagawa, '' The Hell Screen,'' 1917 (new translation, Japan) * Francis Stevens (Gertrude Barrows Bennett), ''Unseen—Unfeared,'' 1919 *

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

, '' In the Penal Colony,'' 1919 (translation, German/Czech) * Stefan Grabinski, ''The White Weyrak,'' 1921 (translation, Poland) * H. F. Arnold, '' The Night Wire,'' 1926 *

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

, '' The Dunwich Horror,'' 1929 * Margaret Irwin, ''The Book,'' 1930 * Jean Ray, ''The Mainz Psalter,'' 1930 (translation, Belgium) * Jean Ray, ''The Shadowy Street,'' 1931 (translation, Belgium) *

Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an influential American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction stories and poetry, and an artist. He achieved early recognition in California (largely through the enthusiasm ...

, ''Genius Loci,'' 1933 * Hagiwara Sakutaro, ''The Town of Cats,'' 1935 (translation, Japan) *

Hugh Walpole Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (13 March 18841 June 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among ...

, ''The Tarn,'' 1936 *

Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz (12 July 1892 – 19 November 1942) was a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish writer, fine artist, Literary criticism, literary critic and Art education, art teacher. He is regarded as one of the great Polish (language), Po ...

, '' Sanatorium at the Sign of the Hourglass,'' 1937 (translation, Poland) * Robert Barbour Johnson, ''Far Below,'' 1939 *

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Along with Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, Leiber is one of the fathers of sword and sorcery. Life ...

, ''Smoke Ghost,'' 1941 * Leonora Carrington, ''White Rabbits,'' 1941 * Donald Wollheim, ''Mimic,'' 1942 *

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...

, ''The Crowd,'' 1943 * William Sansom, ''The Long Sheet,'' 1944 *

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

, '' The Aleph,'' 1945 (translation, Argentina) * Olympe Bhely-Quenum, ''A Child in the Bush of Ghosts,'' 1949 (Benin) * Shirley Jackson, ''The Summer People,'' 1950 * Margaret St. Clair, ''The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles,'' 1951 *

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime fiction, crime, psychological horror fiction, horror and Fantasy Fiction, fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and ...

, ''The Hungry House,'' 1951 * Augusto Monterroso, ''Mister Taylor,'' 1952 (new translation, Guatemala) * Amos Tutuola, ''The Complete Gentleman,'' 1952 (Nigeria) * Jerome Bixby, '' It's a Good Life,'' 1953 * Julio Cortázar, ''Axolotl,'' 1956 (new translation, Argentina) * William Sansom, ''A Woman Seldom Found,'' 1956 * Charles Beaumont, ''The Howling Man,'' 1959 * Mervyn Peake, ''Same Time, Same Place,'' 1963 * Dino Buzzati, ''The Colomber,'' 1966 (new translation, Italy) * Michel Bernanos, ''The Other Side of the Mountain,'' 1967 (new translation, France) * Merce Rodoreda, ''The Salamander,'' 1967 (translation, Catalan) * Claude Seignolle, ''The Ghoulbird,'' 1967 (new translation, France) * Gahan Wilson, ''The Sea Was Wet As Wet Could Be,'' 1967 *

Daphne Du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Gerald du Maurier, Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her gra ...

, ''Don’t Look Now,'' 1971 * Robert Aickman, ''The Hospice,'' 1975 * Dennis Etchison, ''It Only Comes Out at Night,'' 1976 * James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Sheldon), ''The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Do Terrible Things to Rats,'' 1976 * Eric Basso, ''The Beak Doctor,'' 1977 * Jamaica Kincaid, ''Mother,'' 1978 (Antigua and Barbuda/US) * George R.R. Martin, '' Sandkings,'' 1979 * Bob Leman, ''

Window A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent ma ...

,'' 1980 *

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

, ''The Brood,'' 1980 * Michael Shea, ''The Autopsy,'' 1980 *

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

John Shirley John Shirley (born February 10, 1953) is an American writer, primarily of horror, fantasy, science fiction, noir fiction, westerns, and songwriting. He has also written one historical novel, a western about Wyatt Earp, ''Wyatt in Wichita'', and ...

, ''The Belonging Kind,'' 1981 * M. John Harrison, ''Egnaro,'' 1981 *

Joanna Russ Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as '' How to Suppress Women's Writing'', as ...

, ''The Little Dirty Girl,'' 1982 * M. John Harrison, ''The New Rays,'' 1982 *

Premendra Mitra Premendra Mitra (4 September 1904 – 3 May 1988)Samsad Bengali Charitabhidhan Vol.II edited Anjali Bose, Published by Sagitta Samsad, Kolkata, Edition January,2019,Page-240 was an Indian poet, writer and film director in the Bengali language. ...

, ''The Discovery of Telenapota,'' 1984 (translation, India) * F. Paul Wilson, ''Soft,'' 1984 *

Octavia Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer who won several awards for her works, including Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to recei ...

, ''Bloodchild,'' 1984 *

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English writer, filmmaker, and visual artist. He came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of short stories collectively named the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading horror author ...

, ''In the Hills, the Cities,'' 1984 * Leena Krohn, '' Tainaron,'' 1985 (translation, Finland) * Garry Kilworth, ''Hogfoot Right and Bird-hands,'' 1987 *

Lucius Shepard Lucius Shepard (August 21, 1943 – March 18, 2014) was an American writer. Classified as a science fiction and fantasy writer, he often leaned into other genres, such as magical realism. Career Shepard was a native of Lynchburg, Virginia, wher ...

, ''Shades,'' 1987 *

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...

, '' The Function of Dream Sleep,'' 1988 *

Ben Okri Sir Ben Golden Emuobowho Okri (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian-born British poet and novelist.Ben Okri" ...

, ''Worlds That Flourish,'' 1988 (Nigeria) * Elizabeth Hand, ''The Boy in the Tree,'' 1989 *

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

, ''Family,'' 1989 * Poppy Z Brite, ''His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood,'' 1990 * Michal Ajvaz, ''The End of the Garden,'' 1991 (translation, Czech) *

Karen Joy Fowler Karen Joy Fowler is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Her work often centers on the 19th century, nineteenth century, the Woman, lives of women, and social alienation. She is best known as the author of the b ...

, ''The Dark,'' 1991 * Kathe Koja, ''Angels in Love,'' 1991 *

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for hi ...

, ''The Ice Man,'' 1991 (translation, Japan) * Lisa Tuttle, ''Replacements,'' 1992 * Marc Laidlaw, ''The Diane Arbus Suicide Portfolio,'' 1993 * Steven Utley, ''The Country Doctor,'' 1993 *

William Browning Spencer William Browning Spencer (born 1946) is an American novelist and short story writer living in Austin, Texas. His science fiction and horror (genre), horror stories are often darkly and surrealistically humorous. Awards and honors His novel ''R� ...

, ''The Ocean and All Its Devices,'' 1994 *

Jeffrey Ford Jeffrey Ford (born November 8, 1955) is an American writer in the Fantastique, fantastic genre tradition, although his works have spanned genres including fantasy, science fiction and mystery. His work is characterized by a sweeping imaginati ...

, ''The Delicate,'' 1994 * Martin Simpson, ''Last Rites and Resurrections,'' 1994 *

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

, ''The Man in the Black Suit,'' 1994 *

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

, ''The Snow Pavilion,'' 1995 * Craig Padawer, ''The Meat Garden,'' 1996 * Stepan Chapman, ''The Stiff and the Stile,'' 1997 *

Tanith Lee Tanith Lee (19 September 1947 – 24 May 2015) was a British science fiction and fantasy writer. She wrote more than 90 novels and 300 short stories, and was the winner of multiple World Fantasy Society Derleth Awards, the World Fantasy Lifetime ...

, ''Yellow and Red,'' 1998 * Kelly Link, ''The Specialist’s Hat,'' 1998 * Caitlin R. Kiernan, ''A Redress for Andromeda,'' 2000 *

Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, ...

, ''The God of Dark Laughter,'' 2001 *

China Miéville China Tom Miéville ( , born 6 September 1972) is a British speculative fiction writer and Literary criticism, literary critic. He often describes his work as "weird fiction", and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called ...

, ''Details,'' 2002 * Michael Cisco, ''The Genius of Assassins,'' 2002 *

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

, ''Feeders and Eaters,'' 2002 *

, ''The Cage,'' 2002 *

, ''The Beautiful Gelreesh,'' 2003 * Thomas Ligotti, ''The Town Manager,'' 2003 *

Brian Evenson Brian Evenson (born August 12, 1966) is an American academic and writer of both literary fiction and popular fiction, some of the latter being published under B. K. Evenson. His fiction is often described as literary minimalism, but also draws ins ...

, ''The Brotherhood of Mutilation,'' 2003 * Mark Samuels, ''The White Hands,'' 2003 * Daniel Abraham, '' Flat Diane,'' 2004 * Margo Lanagan, '' Singing My Sister Down,'' 2005 (Australia) * T.M. Wright, ''The People on the Island,'' 2005 * Laird Barron, ''The Forest,'' 2007 * Liz Williams, ''The Hide,'' 2007 *

Reza Negarestani Reza Negarestani (born 1977) is an Iranian philosopher and writer, known for "pioneering the genre of 'theory-fiction' with his book" ''Cyclonopedia'' which was published in 2008. It was listed in Artforum as one of the best books of 2009. Negar ...

, ''The Dust Enforcer,'' 2008 (Iran) * Micaela Morrissette, ''The Familiars,'' 2009 * Steve Duffy, ''In the Lion’s Den,'' 2009 * Stephen Graham Jones, ''Little Lambs,'' 2009 * K. J. Bishop, ''Saving the Gleeful Horse,'' 2010 (Australia) * ''Afterweird'' by

The introduction notes that certain stories were not included because of problems with obtaining the reproduction rights, but that the editors considered these stories as an extension of the anthology: Philip K. Dick's '' The Preserving Machine'', J. G. Ballard's ''The Drowned Giant'',

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

's '' A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings'' and

Otsuichi is the pen name of is a Japanese writer and filmmaker. He is a member of the Mystery Writers of Japan and the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan. He made his debut with ''Summer, Fireworks and My Corpse'' while still in high school. Major wo ...

's ''The White House in the Cold Forest''.

Reception

The anthology was well received by reviewers from the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', who called it an "authoritative" representation of weird fiction, the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', who considered that the volume's broad range of authors proved that "the bizarre and unsettling belong to no one race, country or gender" and ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', who characterized it as a "standard-setting compilation" and a "deeply affectionate and respectful history of

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

’s blurry edges". ''Locus'' magazine's reviewer noted that the anthology's chronological order allowed the reader to construct a "fossil record" of the Weird's evolution. He wrote that its broad geographical scope made noticeable the distinct traditions of English-language weird fiction, which depict the "eruption of the inexplicable into meticulously ordered realities", and the traditions represented by many translated works, whose cultures are more thoroughly grounded in folklore and mythology, or which resist a Western impulse toward rationalism and realism. Damien Walter, writing for ''

'' in a

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

of the genre's style, warned of "the madness of the many authors contained in its pages and clearly inhuman determination of its 'editors'", prophesying that "Soon the chrysalid will form, and The Weird itself will burst into the world as a radiant winged moth of metaphysical doom!" ''The Weird'' received the

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of ...

for best anthology in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weird, the Weird fiction Atlantic Books books 2011 anthologies

Contents

Reception

References