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u/selfabortion · 6 pointsr/WeirdLit

I would say the three you listed are definitely canonical, with Mieville and Vandermeer being considered part of the "New Weird" revival. I think really Jeff and Anne VanderMeer's anthology has most of what would be canonical, along with some more obscure stuff that is important but not widely known.

You can view the authors in that anthology here at this Amazon preview and it's well worth having on your book shelf.

There are certainly important writers who were omitted either by necessity or for other reasons, but it's a great starting point for such a discussion. I for one was surprised William Hope Hodgson, Ambrose Bierce, and Walter De La Mare were not included amongst the older authors in that anthology, and I was a little surprised also that it did not go a little further back, historically, with something like a Poe short story or an excerpt from Melmoth the Wanderer. I would think of Hodgson, Bierce, and de la Mare as canonical, but they were omitted. Oh well, it's impossible to do something like that perfectly.

For what it's worth, my favorite, and in my opinion, those that should be considered modern canon, of the newer weird authors are: K.J. Bishop, Kelly Link, M. John Harrison, and Michael Cisco, in addition to Mieville and Vandermeer. My favorite older ones are De La Mare, Franz Kafka (my favorite author of all time right here), and Jean Ray. I think Kelly Link probably has the most staying power of the more recent authors, while Bishop and Cisco are less recognizable even if they are important. I'd also throw in Ligotti as important to the field, though that's more based on impression and word of mouth than direct experience as I've only read one of his stories. People seem to love that elusive fellow.

Some authors from the middling period (I'd estimate 1940s-1970s) that I would say are most canonical are Daphne du Maurier, Charles Beaumont (wrote for Twilight Zone), Richard Matheson, Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury. I was also surprised that Matheson was not included in that anthology. I think that in a lot of cases, stories by those authors are well-known and have become important cultural markers, even if the author's names are sometimes forgotten. Almost everybody is familiar with Jackson's "The Lottery," even if they don't read weird lit. Almost everybody is familiar with one of du Maurier's stories, even if they don't know it (The Birds, Don't Look Now). I think that's an important marker of considering if something is important to a genre because it acts in a kind of ambassadorial fashion. Likewise with someone like Kafka: he wrote very weird stories, and he was so talented at it that a new word was coined to describe something with that particular weird quality that his stories had.

Most of the authors that Centipede Press chooses for its fancy editions should probably also be considered part of the canon, though they do also put out hard-boiled crime fiction and straight-up horror sometimes. S.T. Joshi, who is an important editor in the field, puts out his Library of Weird Fiction series through Centipede, so you can look through those authors as important staples which are in some cases not included in the anthology I linked above.

EDIT - Expanded a bit

u/d5dq · 2 pointsr/WeirdLit

"The Willows" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" are among my favorite horror short stories of all time. I have mixed feelings about "Summer People." I really liked the story up until the end. I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending. I'll probably reread it though.

Regarding Annihilation, my judgement is probably clouded because I'm a huge VanderMeer fan but I loved it. I read it in like 3 hours. I feel like it may not appeal much to fans of his Ambergris stuff though. I don't want to say to much about it because that would spoil it but don't go in with high expectations and you won't be disappointed. Just enjoy it. I'm definitely planning on reading the rest of the series. Also, he and his wife have another anthology out this month which I am excited for.

u/of_bactrian_descent · 1 pointr/WeirdLit

>Agents of Dreamland

thank you mate - too many books and less time for reading... So far i managed to read just one collection by Caitlin Kiernan : "The Ammonite Violin"- I loved so much her style and felt at home with her pessimism and bleak views... I'm looking forward to read more, starting from this one here ( usually i avoid collections called "the best of" but she really has a huge production + some titles are not available ). For sure i'll read also her novellas in the future and i thin i'll start from Agents Of Dreamland.

u/theadamvine · 2 pointsr/WeirdLit

Not sure if you're interested in self-published work, but you might dig my book Corruption. It's a horror/portal fantasy set in Eastern Europe with giant lice, sexual curses, vodka-guzzling wights, and a solar apocalypse. If that sounds up your alley, give it a shot! If not, then I'd say start with the classics - you really cannot go wrong with The Master and Margarita.

Edit: found a typo and thought of another one - Gene Wolfe's The Land Across was great, too, albeit not an easy read.

u/Roller_ball · 2 pointsr/WeirdLit

My backlog of short story collections has gotten way too big as of late, so I think I might sit out this month.

Also, I've been eye-balling the Best of Collection that she is releasing this month. I'm not positive, but I think this is the previous Best of Collection from her, but that one was always way outside my price range.

u/PulpCrazy · 1 pointr/WeirdLit

In this week's episode, in honor of Clark Ashton Smith's birthday (January 13, 1893), I'll be discussing "The Dark Eidolon." It first appeared in the January 1935 issue of Weird Tales, and is probably the Zothique story that carries the most name recognition.

It tells of Namirrha, a powerful sorcerer who returns to his home city in order to exact revenge on its ruler for a boyhood transgression.

Links:

Read "The Dark Eidolon" on the Eldritch Dark: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/212/the-dark-eidolon

Purchase The Dark Eidolon and Other Stores: http://www.amazon.com/Eidolon-Other-Fantasies-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143107380/

Purchase The Maze of the Enchanter: http://www.amazon.com/Enchanter-Collected-Fantasies-Clark-Ashton/dp/1597800317/

Purchase Tales of Zothique (Necronomicon Press): http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Zothique-Clark-Ashton-Smith/dp/0940884712 | http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=Tales+of+Zothique

Clark Ashton Smith at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Ashton_Smith

The Eldritch Dark Website: http://www.eldritchdark.com/

The Double Shadow Podcast: http://thedoubleshadow.com/

u/AncientHistory · 6 pointsr/WeirdLit

The New Weird is, like a lot of "subgenres", a marketing gimmick. There's nothing notably different or consistent about the stories, it's not a movement. Weird fiction has always been that grey area where genres collide, elements of horror, fantasy, science fiction. There's nothing particularly different about stuff in collections like the VanderMeers' The New Weird, except that the writers are generally of a newer generation...and even that's iffy, because the generational aspect of things turns over. There are certain folks that work together, publish together, collaborate, etc. but it's not the folks in that anthology.

u/solaire · 9 pointsr/WeirdLit

If you really want to delve deeper into this genre, I recommend getting your hands on Jeff and Ann Vandermeer's anthology The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. In my opinion there is no other single anthology that covers so much ground of this particular thread of speculative fiction while being up to date with current developments. It is the veritable weird fiction bible, within it you will find selected stories from all the essential writers as well as many more obscure ones. You couldn't find a better place to start if you wanted to see what is out there. I won't repeat any of the suggestions made here, but stories by most of the authors you see in this thread will be in this anthology.

u/JandersOf86 · 3 pointsr/WeirdLit

Along these same lines, if you guys haven't read The Ballad of Black Tom, I strongly suggest it. Stylish Lovecraftian horror, black protagonist, racial tensions amidst the horror (though not at all overwhelming or "agenda-driven"). I really enjoyed it.

u/elil_hrair_rah · 2 pointsr/WeirdLit

Has anyone read Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt? I'm trying to find out if it's actually weird fiction or not before I try it out. It's apparently about a witch that haunts a town, and the town is under tight surveillance by the town elders. Which automatically makes me think there's going to be a "The Village" type twist where we find out the witch is actually just a legend concocted by the town leaders. If that's the case, I'm not interested in reading it. But if there's actually a witch, I do. Problem is, I can't seem to find out anywhere which one it is...

u/Sindriss · 3 pointsr/WeirdLit

Great list. I have read most of these. A few random thoughts.

Solomon Kane is a bit pulpy. For a horror list I would probably replace it with The Horror Stories of Robert E Howard.

The Terror was very well written (I read it in 2 days) but a bit disappointing in that everything was explained, otherwise it could have been a great weird tale. Did you watch The Terror television series?

Thomas Ligotti is truly terrifying and weird.

I avoid ghost stories since I find them boring, neither weird nor scary. Every single Gothic story is about murder or undead.