Edited by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer
Fiction today is thoroughly categorized. Walk into any bookstore and
you can easily find what you're looking for stuck under a neatly printed label,
be it fantasy or mystery or romance. But what about those stories that escape
generalization? Those odd ones, those black sheep, that refuse to be labeled
under any one category?
Well, they can be found within the pages of The Weird, a mammoth tome edited by renowned author/editor couple
Jeff and Ann VanderMeer. The Weird is
a collection of fiction written over the past hundred years, from 1908 to 2011.
Its stories are by turns creepy, intriguing, and mesmerizing, and each one is
written by a different author. Some names will be familiar—Stephen King, NeilGaiman, George R. R. Martin. Others such as Haruki Murakami, Olympe Bhêly-Quenum,
and Leonora Carrington await discovery.
Not
only is The Weird a chance to
experience the odd side of fiction, it's also an opportunity to discover
unfamiliar authors, most outside our cultural boundaries. The Weird is lengthy (1,100-odd double-columned pages) but worth
the time and effort. Most readers will find themselves eagerly sucked into this
book, for once The Weird latches on
its tentacles, it never lets go.... Five stars from this reviewer.
Robert Green is a confirmed bibliophile and aspiring writer whose
love of sci-fi has caused him to own many more books than he has
physical room for. He is also the owner and creator of the up-and-coming
company Verity Books, which can be seen at various cons throughout the
year. Any questions or comments can be sent to
veritybooksanddvds@gmail.com or facebook.com/veritybooksanddvds.
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