Books : The New Weird

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: The New Weird
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.0876608
EAN num: 9781892391551
ISBN number: 1892391554
Label: Tachyon Publications
Manufacturer: Tachyon Publications
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: February 01, 2008
Publishing house: Tachyon Publications
Sale Popularity Level: 77956
Studio: Tachyon Publications



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Editor's Notes and Comments:

Product Description:
This avant-garde anthology that presents and defines the New Weird—a hip, stylistic fiction that evokes the gritty exuberance of pulp novels and dime-store comic books—creates a new literature that is entirely unprecedented and utterly compelling. Assembling an array of talent, this collection includes contributions from visionaries Michael Moorcock and China Miéville, modern icon Clive Barker, and audacious new talents Hal Duncan, Jeffrey Ford, and Sarah Monette. An essential snapshot of a vibrant movement in popular fiction, this anthology also features critical writings from authors, theorists, and international editors as well as witty selections from online debates.




Customer Reviews
User popularity level: out of 5 stars

Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - NEW WEIRD TALES - An Anthology Done Right
More than just a brilliant and challenging selection of tales written in the "New Weird" milieu, the Vandermeers' THE NEW WEIRD is a thought-provoking exploration into the very nature of literary movements.

The book is broken down into five very different parts:

1) INTRODUCTION by Jeff Vandermeer, who comes off as an exceptionally broad-minded and insightful editor and literary critic of sorts. His intelligent and entertaining introduction sets the stage well.

2) STIMULI consists of tales by authors who predated the New Weird movement (or moment), but whose widely varied sensibilities, taken together, influenced and instigated the spontaneous formulation of the NW. These authors, mostly of legendary status, have influenced genres as diverse as Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Horror, Historical, and Modern "Literary" Fiction.

For me, the personal high point is a rare early story by the modern master of Weird Fiction, Thomas Ligotti.

3) EVIDENCE is the part of this book that most anthologies are comprised entirely of - newer stories by "movement" or "moment" authors. Here I was introduced to extremely exciting authors like China Mieville, Brian Evenson, and Jeffrey Thomas. This is where you'll really get a feel for what the NW sub-genre is really all about.

4) SYMPOSIUM is a wide-ranging exploration of what literary mo(ve)ments - the New Weird in partuicular, of course - mean to readers, writers, publishers, and editors from a practical as well as philisophical perspectives. Of special interest is a partial reproduction of the internet message-board discusion that is generally credited with having helped kick-start the NW. Great stuff.

5) LABORATORY (great title) is a round-robin story-cycle by seven or eight authors, all writing in the NW mode, that, to my surprise, ended up being one of the great revealtions of the book. Paul Difilipo set the stage, and each subsequent author took the story and developed it in their own unique way, successfully creating a single story that no single mind ever could or would have.

In short, THE NEW WEIRD is everything that most other mo(ve)ment anthologies - like MIRRORSHADES, for instance - are not. My subsequent book: STEAMPUNK, edited by the Vandermeers.


Rated by buyers 4 out of 5 stars - New, Weird, Fun
I randomly bought this book at an event where the VanderMeers were promoting their newer "Steampunk" collection. I perused both books and found the "New Weird" stories much more captivating. Maybe this isn't fair as by chance I had opened it to Mieville's story and the long winded Victorian/Dickinson-ian writing on the other side never was my taste; even if I do like steampunk! So I bought this book for a friend, read a few stories and got hooked.

The very first half is good (not great) and basically serves to wet your appetite for the second half. In fairness I would expect this as the very first half was supposed to be a kind of "inspiration" section that lead to the newer works of the psuedo-genre they would ask you to call "New Wierd." 4~5 of the stories where truly amazing and made it all worth while, even if some of the others felt a little hollow or seemed incomplete.

I too am unsure why the cover art for such a genre would be so mild and steampunk-y (a mechanical geared beetle...) and have to agree with the other reviews that a few of the stories and excerpts didn't fit that well within the "genre/project." I also felt the symposium was a lot of hot wind, but overall was happy to be introduced to many new authors, and was surprised to find myself enjoying reading a book for the very first time since college... wow!


Rated by buyers 2 out of 5 stars - Pseudoweirdos
In speculative fiction there are many anthologies claiming to define a hot new sub-genre, with editors explaining why the selected stories fit the label, and why that label should be embraced by readers in the know. Such genre boosterism is usually a non-issue if the collected stories are memorable. But this particular anthology falls all over itself trying to define the supposedly groundbreaking new style to be called "The New Weird," and fails to come up with a believable definition or even a working collection of stories to fit the label. The book even contains a non-fiction section featuring various writers and editors trying to define "The New Weird" and to promote their own inclusion in it, while simultaneously whining about how harmful categorizations can be and how the unknowing mainstream is diluting their uniqueness.

The basic, loose definition of "The New Weird" is an edgy mix of dark fantasy and horror, with maybe a dash of sci-fi, and a kinship with the classic old "Weird Tales" and affiliated pulps. That's true of most of the stories here, but knowledgeable readers will know that such creative exercises are hardly new. (The sub-genre has claimed its own groundbreaking superstar, China Mieville, whose bodacious talents are worshipped by everyone else in this book nearly to the point of jealousy.) But the editors and commentators unnecessarily endeavor to flesh out the underwhelming basic definition with some English-major gibberish like urban politicization and grotesque transformations of the body. But these attributes don't even appear in many of the stories here, proving that categorizations really are as problematic as these correspondents say they are.

As for the stories themselves, the editors could come up with just nine entries that directly qualify for the working definition of "The New Weird." A few of these are intriguing and memorable, but novel excerpts from Leena Krohn and Steph Swainston are nonfunctional as stand-alone stories, and the tales by Jeffrey Thomas and Jeffrey Ford (Gibson-esque cyberpunk and medieval fantasy, respectively) don't even conform to the sub-genre definition. The same pattern applies to the six other pre-definitional stories that start the book, selected as supposedly early influences on the new sub-genre. Here we have two more tales, by Michael Moorcock and Kathe Koja (alternate military history and psychological horror, respectively), that also don't fit the definition of "The New Weird." Though at least this section of the book is made worthwhile by Clive Barker's stupendous "In the Hills, the Cities" which is just as terrifying and disturbing as when it very first dropped back in 1984.

And finally, the book ends nonsensically with a round-robin story by a series of authors, whom the editors admit are not even part of "The New Weird" movement. The story is a directionless and disordered collection of subplots, and it doesn't even have an ending, as for some incomprehensible reason the editors left the conclusion on an outside website. When all is said and done, one of the few commendable things about this book is the selective but far-reaching "Recommended Reading" section, which will launch interested and adventurous readers toward much more fulfilling experiences. [~doomsdayer520~]


Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - A sample of what the subsequent generation of horror, science fiction, and fantasy will bring forth.
A look at the darker side of the world with horrifying rituals, insane festivals and more disturbing imagery are to be found in this exciting new short story collection - "The New Weird". Featuring stories by acclaimed authors Clive Barker and Michael Moorcock among a dozen other authors of various level's of experience of fame, "The New Weird" is a collection set on pushing the envelope on what society defines as weird and terrifying - all written in exceptional prose and sure to send some shivers down the spines of readers. "The New Weird" is a highly recommended anthology for anyone who wants a sample of what the subsequent generation of horror, science fiction, and fantasy will bring forth.


Rated by buyers 4 out of 5 stars - Not Free SF Reader
I thought this anthology would be interesting, and it doesn't disappoint.

There's an introduction by VanderMeer, J. To sum that up he says wants to provide a rough guide to the New Weird, acknowledging that it is quite possibly a past history thing.

On the rest of the non-fiction, there is part of a forum discusion from a few years ago, wherein the existence or not of the topic is debated. Amusingly, Jonathan Strahan calls it a load of old cobblers, then over the page comes up with this very anthology title (and also sort of implies that the New Space Opera might be something similar, and goes on to produce a great anthology titled exactly that, too). A kiss of life Super Editor, perhaps, is he?

There are some essays by others talking about the subject, and also some European editors, some from more Eastern Europe, and a German, talking about this sort of fiction in their countries and how it does commercially. The Czechs hung a fiction line of it that has done well, and not so good in dour Germany, it seems.

On the fiction front, things go from the fabulous find of a story about Jack Half-A-Prayer from China Mieville's New Crobuzon, to a poor excerpt from a novel by Steph Swainston. She is one of the names invoked along with Mieville, Di Filippo, and Bishop (whose story is rather good, and I had read before), as being part of the early moment of this stuff, around Perdido Street Station time. However, the Swainston excerpt isn't from the book mentioned - perhaps that one is better, being as it appears the very first in a trilogy, and higher rated and more widely held on librarything, too. However, her writing in this excerpt isn't within a bulls roar of any of the others mentioned. Extremely cheesy science fantasy that veers more towards the romance science fiction romance subgenre at time, it seems to me. It has that crossover dabbler not quite getting it feel, it seems. Excerpts are problematic enough in anthologies without sticking in dodgy examples.

Moorcock's war story seems to be just a garden variety slightly nutty people at war tale, certainly not even remotely weird, particularly if you are thinking of mad scientists in Gran Bretan, or Warlords of the Air, or multiversal chasing grail hunting super nazis.

The actual cover itself isn't particularly weird, either, being sort of virginal white, with a clockwork bug - dime a dozen on the internet, these days, those sort of things, it seems.

Jeffrey Thomas has a pure SF story here, though, and I noticed a free novel released recently online - if it is anythinglike this, it will be worth checking out. Judge Dredd meets Blade Runner, or something like that.

Most of this stuff is fantasy or horror, and often both. Alistair Rennie being the classic example here of gross, grotesque horror-fantasy. This story is apparently new to the collection, so well done. I'd definitely like to see more of this.

The last fiction part includes a 'laboratory', wherein the editors ask some writers who aren't Weird enough, mostly, perhaps, to try New Weird. PDF sets it up for them, and then they take a crack at various parts of a related set of stories. Whether it was worth doing this rather than including some other good New Weird stories, I think I'd come down on the side of no, given the retrospective aim of this book.

In a good move, they have included a list of 70 odd books that are New Weirdish, while noting at the start they are leaving out Alastair Reynolds and company 'space opera new weird' books. Cyberpunk is ok, presumably, given Thomas. Then they go and leave half a page blank on their book list. Why not put them in at the end rather than waste the space? At least given the wasted paper they could have said why - don't read it/not familiar with/don't like it/publisher said no, especially as they open the book with writers than have committed space opera in the pat.

Chasm City, for example, is way weirder and more grotesque than the very tame Ligotti story that could easily have fallen out of a rift in time to 1920.

So, overall this anthology manages to make it to good, but nothing past that, and does contain a couple of excellent and a few good stories.

As a final note, the Tachyon publisher site has a 'part 8' of the Festival Lives laboratory experiment, also by PDF.


New Weird : The Luck in the Head - M. John Harrison
New Weird : Crossing into Cambodia - Michael Moorcock
New Weird : In the Cities the Hills - Clive Barker
New Weird : The Braining of Mother Lamprey - Simon D. Ings
New Weird : The Neglected Garden - Kathe Koja
New Weird : A Soft Voice Whispers Nothing - Thomas Ligotti
New Weird : Jack - China Miéville
New Weird : Immolation - Jeffrey Thomas
New Weird : The Lizard of Ooze - Jay Lake
New Weird : ... Read More


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