Weird Lit

[Anonymous No.22962219]

Recommendation thread?
Who I've read and liked/hated omitting the classic authors such as Algernon or other strictly horror authors such as King.

>Thomas Ligotti 10/10
>Laird Barron 9/10
>China Miéville 2/10 (this is fantasy and scifi, nothing ''weird'' about it).
>Jeff VanderMeer 7/10 (Almost feels like a King inspired weird)
>Nathan Ballingrud 8/10 (Feels like normal human drama with some weird just thrown in).
>John Langan 10/10
> Jon Padgett 10/10 (The Secret of Ventriloquism is easily the best weird lit I've ever read in my life).

Recommendations? If you start naming people like Anne Rice and Dean Koontz you will be ignored completely.

[Anonymous No.22962262]

Please god there is nowhere else to talk about weird lit and the entire Reddit is filled with morons please respond.

[Anonymous No.22962320]

>>22962219
Buzzati is great, it's a shame very little of his work has been translated. He also worked on some cool comics which are very hard to find nowadays.
I enjoyed The wine dark sea by Robert Aickman and want to read more of his work.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is also good.
If you enjoy reading pulp fiction Robert Howard and Fritz Leiber.

[Anonymous No.22962361]

[Anonymous No.22962385]

Start a substack or something OP if you really want to discuss it. /lit/ moves too quickly for it’s own good owing to the 2016 election tourists

[Anonymous No.22962468]

>>22962361
Awesome, I've read a lot of these, and some seem more goofy/fantasy but I'll check them out. Thanks!

>>22962385
Is that when the ''Christianity is actually amazing and based and not stupid at all" posts started getting flooded by that one idiot?

[Anonymous No.22962563]

Any weird high fantasy books?

[Anonymous No.22962626]

>>22962563
Discworld?

[Anonymous No.22962628]

>>22962563
Yeah they are called ''Fantasy'' books.

[Anonymous No.22962648]

>>22962628
>>22962626
Nah, something like Morrowind, with those strange vibes.

[Anonymous No.22962656]

>>22962648
Morrowind is just fantasy anon...

[Anonymous No.22962668]

>>22962648
You're looking for a subgenre of fantasy, not weird lit. I don't know what you're looking for, but weird lit is ''shove the ever expanding green skeleton up the chimney and avoid its green dust fumes" weird not ''The goblin had 3 tits lol".

[Anonymous No.22962691]

>>22962648
I honestly don't know what you mean. Morrowind is pretty vanilla.
Maybe the Witcher series or The prince of nothing series.

[Anonymous No.22962704]

>>22962656
>>22962668
But Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation is just "strange place" stuff, the same as Morrowind.

[Anonymous No.22962740]

Weird in what sense?
I would recommend The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso and Death on Credit by Louis-Ferdinand Céline. One Hundred Years of Solitude can be really weird too (like the surgery by the invisible doctors), but it's beautiful.

[Anonymous No.22962990]

>>22962468
Which ones have you read, and what did you think of them? Any favourites?

[Anonymous No.22963088]

I'd recommend The Other Side by Kubin and The Notebook trilogy by Kristoff

[Anonymous No.22963091]

>>22962990
>Teatro Grottesco
One of my favorite collections from Ligotti, this seems to be one of his more accessible collections. I enjoy how he writes in a time out of place, that could fit just as well in 2024 as 1914.
>The Imago Sequence
Really liked this, but like his shorts more. The ending was just hinted at enough and I love that he brings in subjective art as a point of horror.
>Occultations
Easily my favorite, especially the mental images of the title story. I can still feel that ''thump'' of the head hitting the ground.
>North American Lake Monsters
I like Ballingrud's ability to weave a human story in between the ''weird'' but some of it is a little overbearing, and not as weird. I believe there is a story about a lake monster that washed up on the shore, and it's only slightly part of the story about a father and his daughters conflict as a teenager. Still very good though.
>The Wide Carnivorous Sky
One of my favorites, the other stories are good, but the title story ended up sticking with me the most. I love creature features but the creature isn't fleshed out all of the way and its abilities and origin or only hinted at.
>The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All
My second favorite collection from Barron, the story of ''Blackwood's Baby'' throws us back to a time and setting of Algernon, and I find this story very Algernon-inspired, save for the more gruesome parts.
>Songs of a Dead Dream/Grimscribe
For a weird fiction lover, this is Ligotti's masterpiece of collected stories in my opinion. They aren't as easy to get into as other collections, but anyone with any kind of imagination at all will enjoy ''Flowers of the Abyss". It feels very Ambrose Bierce inspired.
>A Collapse of Horses
More fantastic short stories, although I found the title one a little on the weak-side as a ''horror'' story of someone with Alzheimer's, it feels a little too on the nose.
>The Secret of Ventriloquism
Easily my favorite weird fiction book. I can't even begin to explain or describe it. It has stuck with me since I read it and I measure all weird fiction to how engaging and weird it is. That the Author switches formats and it still relates to the overarching story is fantastic. Highly recommended and I tell everyone to read it.
>Songs for the Unraveling of the World
Another solid collection by Evenson, this time more focused in the strictly ''weird''.
>Wounds
This is the book I'd tell people to read first before ''American Lake Monsters''. Much better weaving of the weird and less family/people drama in my opinion.
>The Immeasurable Corpse of Nature
One of the weakest I've read, it's very ''lightly'' weird, having to deal more with personal experience of what it is to live and die and have someone close to you die. This is a nice ''light'' intro to weird fiction.

Well, it looks like I haven't read ''most'' of the list, I have some catching up to do, although I will say I looked up all of them on Goodreads and skipped downloading the ones that look goof

[Anonymous No.22963131]

>>22963091
Thanks, a very detailed reply! I'm still looking to read most of these (Currently reading Teatro Grottesco), and that gives a nice overview of what they're like.

[Anonymous No.22963134]

>>22963091
>favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite

[Anonymous No.22963142]

>>22963134
I'm sorry, did this upset you?
Most are prefaced by saying ''of this author'' or ''of their short collections''.
Are you ... retarded?

[Anonymous No.22963154]

>>22963142
You write like a girl.

[Anonymous No.22963157]

>>22963154
boo hoo, just appreciate that he actually put in time and effort to give a decent overview of the collections he's read.

[Anonymous No.22963167]

>>22963154
I was not aware, I'll try to make my writing more ''giant penis'' and less ''whatever I feel like''.

[Anonymous No.22963256]

>>22963154
What does "writing like a girl" entail?

[Anonymous No.22963276]

>>22963154
>You write like half of the best authors on planet Earth

He should take it as a compliment?

[Anonymous No.22963279]

>>22963154
Haha, because they can't write!

[Anonymous No.22963311]

>>22963154
What an asshole.

[Anonymous No.22963416]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned our lord and savior Philip K. Dick yet. "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep", i.e. the book that became the movie "Blade Runner", is a good place to start. After that, consider "The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch", and finally, the weirdest book I've ever read, "Ubik".
>>22962361
Thanks! Saved.

[Anonymous No.22963418]

>>22962219
My father wrote ten books of erotica about his wife taking black dicks.

[Anonymous No.22963701]

>>22963416
Dick wasn't really a weird fiction author, he had far out sci fi. I will agree Ubik is ''odd'' but not really weird.

[Anonymous No.22963715]

>>22963701
weird, far out, odd...just hair-splitting

[Anonymous No.22963717]

>>22963715
>Weird fiction is whatever I say it is

Alrighty.

[Anonymous No.22963733]

>>22963154
BASED

[Anonymous No.22963788]

>>22963733
>samefagging

Imagine doing this.

[Anonymous No.22964701]

>>22962656
>Morrowind is just fantasy anon...
No.

[Anonymous No.22964705]

>>22963154
and u write like a faggot : )

[Anonymous No.22964716]

>>22962219
I really liked The Other Side of the Mountain. Short read.

[Anonymous No.22965014]

>>22962219
All authors from our very own /lit/. Some good stories in here.

[Anonymous No.22966020]

>>22963154
And you write like a nigger

[Anonymous No.22966029]

>>22963154
why did this make /lit/ seethe? lol

[Anonymous No.22966034]

>>22962740
Shut the fuck up, retard

[Anonymous No.22966035]

>weird lit
meme buzzword
"weird fiction" is just horror without the traditional gothic horror tropes of werewolves and ghosts, that's all it is and that's what lovecraft himself classified it as
lovecraft would be sickened if he saw people like mieville and barron and ligotti assocating themselves with his work
and there's the fact that ligotti knows fuck all about lovecraft and calls him a "disturbed individual" when lovecraft himself was noted to be sociable, amicable and extremely humorous , if slightly eccentric

[Anonymous No.22966064]

>>22966035
Cool, which weird lit have you read and enjoyed?

[Anonymous No.22966091]

>>22966035
I guess the better word is surreal. Most of it is horror but there is "weird" lit that's not horror.

[Anonymous No.22966122]

The Employees by olga ravn

[Anonymous No.22966190]

>>22962656
All scotch is whisky, not all whisky is scotch. You stupid, pedantic shitling.

[Anonymous No.22966210]

>>22965014
That mag is atrocious. That Labuschagne and Miles guy suck major ass

[Anonymous No.22966281]

There is like one guy in here that is super mad at everything.
Go read your bible you keep fapping over and spamming threads with.

[Anonymous No.22966287]

>>22966035
Lovecraft sucks. He's a shit writer. He had some good ideas but is easily one of the worst. Everyone that came after him inspired by him wrote circles around him.

Ligotti makes Lovecraft look like a babbling, drooling, toddler.

[Anonymous No.22967488]

>>22966287
Ligotti is soulless.

[Anonymous No.22969042]

>>22967488
You’re soulless

[Anonymous No.22969046]

>>22969042
I'm peak SOVL.

[Anonymous No.22969748]

>>22966210
I like Miles. I don't think you gave his story a chance

[Anonymous No.22969750]

>>22965014
this OP

[Anonymous No.22969768]

>>22962563
Not high fantasy but Voyage to Arcturus is very weird.

[Anonymous No.22969772]

>>22963091
Have you read Noctuary. I think Teatro is overall his best collection, but 4 of his absolute best short stories are in that one.

[Anonymous No.22969775]

>>22962219
I can say with utmost sincerity that nobody on /lit/ has read 'Third Best' by Arjun Rao. Give it a read faggots.

[Barkon No.22969776]

[Anonymous No.22969778]

>>22963788
>redditspacing

[Anonymous No.22969974]

>>22969778
>le green arrow

[Barkon No.22969979]

>>22969974
My 2 can do all arts zeta good(martial, stroke, scene, etc). If we were to use a 2 as a sort of breaker randomly in dimensional war, the random stuff I apply or use is going to be so neat, hidden and great, I'd blow you away. And then blow you. CAUSE YOURE HOT.

[Barkon No.22969984]

>>22969979
The 2 of the broken green has brought me so my intellect and potential wealth in this simulation of 50 years.

[Anonymous No.22970010]

>>22969984
Say what?

[Anonymous No.22970277]

>>22969775
did u write this u pajeet faggot? there is no way this is weird lit

[Anonymous No.22970358]

>>22963154
you will never fuck a woman

[Anonymous No.22971281]

>>22962648
Lord Dunsany, Clark Ashton Smith, Jack Vance, M. John Harrison and Gene Wolfe are definitely what you want.

[Anonymous No.22971295]

>>22966281
>There is like one guy in here that is super mad at everything
>One
Your post should be 4chan banner.

[Anonymous No.22971304]

>>22962648
>>22971281
Also Lovecraft's Dream cycle.

[Anonymous No.22971416]

>>22966064
"lovecraft" (who isn't weird lit) is the only one i have enjoyed
i have read ligotti and vandermeer and all the other hacks and theyre shit
>>22966091
but nothing about lovecraft is "surreal". he's just a pulp weird fiction writer with some new ideas about horror, although most of his work is in the typical gothic style (which i have no problem with0
>>22966287
Ligotti is a chinlet hack

[Anonymous No.22971421]

>>22963154
They hated him because he spoke the truth

[Anonymous No.22971425]

>>22962219
Padgett is so shit. The inner dialogue of the police woman was extremely cringe. Stop recommending absolute garbage to people.

[Anonymous No.22971510]

>>22971281
Name one book from each author, please. Ok, I know about Jack Vance's 'Dying Earth" and Gene Wolfe's TBONS.

[Anonymous No.22971591]

>>22971510
Dunsany: Gods of Pegana
Clark Ashton Smith: anything that he wrote in the settings of Hyperborea, Averoigne and Zothique cycles (pic rel is a good way to start)
Jack Vance: The Tschai cycle or Planet of Adventure
Harrison: the Viriconium series
Wolfe: the rest of the Solar Cycle

[Anonymous No.22971601]

>>22971591
>Clark Ashton Smith
Which cycle is the most Morrowindish or like high fantasy?

[Anonymous No.22971663]

>>22962219
Read Brian Evenson’s “A Collapse of Horses” collection. That’s what got me into this kinda stuff

[Anonymous No.22971725]

>>22971601
I'd say Zothique.

[Anonymous No.22971731]

>>22971725
Thanks.

[Anonymous No.22971879]

>>22966287
Based 6th grade, book report tier, analysis.

[Anonymous No.22972379]

Opinions on Ramsey Campbell?

[Anonymous No.22973045]

I really loved the fisherman, is there more stuff out there like that? Stories set in the early 20th century but feature rpg elements? (Evil dark wizard, plucky layman led by sorcery scholar?)

[Anonymous No.22973242]

>>22966035
Wtf I thought lovecraft was a socially inept chudcel like me?

[Anonymous No.22973247]

>>22962219
>Thomas Ligotti
Love his work. Has a certain rustic decayed atmosphere that hooked me in immediately with the first handful of stories.

[Anonymous No.22973261]

>>22973247
He gets better with every collection.

[Alex Beyman No.22973280]

Forgive the fact that these are videos. I know artists get their panties in a twist about AI content too. But they're adaptations of my short stories, which imo qualify:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ-p72aSTxY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdKyPkClmBg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG3hgPl2tkM

[Anonymous No.22973295]

>>22962320
I don't have to add anything to comment but based taste, nevertheless.

[Anonymous No.22974579]

>>22962563
Michael Cisco

[Anonymous No.22976371]

Up

[Anonymous No.22976426]

>>22962468
/lit/ is a Christian boars newfag

[Anonymous No.22976431]

>>22976426
Board

[Anonymous No.22976718]

>>22963701
>>22963416
Read PKD’s story “Faith of Our Fathers”

It seriously reads like a Lovecraft story.

[Anonymous No.22976732]

>>22971304
The battle sequences in Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath are so fucking bad lmao

[Anonymous No.22976739]

Has anyone read Matt Cardin’s collection To Rouse Leviathan? How is it?

All I know is that Cardin is a big Ligotti scholar but also studied religious studies and that informs his work.

[Anonymous No.22976742]

>>22966287
>>22969042
>Ligotti

[Anonymous No.22976748]

>>22971416
>"lovecraft" (who isn't weird lit)
>nothing about lovecraft is "surreal". he's just a pulp weird fiction writer

[Anonymous No.22976769]

Might as well ask here
I recall reading a short story once
>an archaeological dig into the lower layers of a landfill
>In the layers dating back fifty years or so, they discovered first one skeleton, then dozens more, and began to receive letters warning them to stop.
>Somehow they could tell that the letters were coming from old people - the wording, or the fact that it was all letters rather than email.
>They kept digging, and pretty soon discovered an entire stratum of skeletons, millions of them, enough to populate the entire city.
>Conclusion was that half a century ago, the entire population had been replaced somehow, and they were the descendants of those replacements.
Anyone ever heard of something like this?

[Anonymous No.22976789]

>>22963091
Uh, Teatro Grottesco is Ligotti’s most experimental collection, especially since its later in his career.

Songs of a Dead Dreamer/Grimscribe are his first two, and they are much more accessible. They’re more in line with traditional weird horror.

[Anonymous No.22976808]

>>22962361
If you like Ligotti

[Anonymous No.22976831]

>>22966035
So what term would you prefer?

Cosmic horror?
Surreal horror?

[Anonymous No.22976838]

Some good small publishing houses that publish some great weird horror.

Grimscribe Press, which publishes the Ligotti-inspired journal Vasterien

Plutonian Press

[Anonymous No.22976845]

Anyone here read Gemma Files? How is her work?

[Anonymous No.22977896]

Bump

[Anonymous No.22978253]

Read some ligotti. Kinda bland stuff.

[Anonymous No.22978274]

>>22963154
This post serves to demonstrate how many foid lurkers there are on /lit/.

>>22963167
You're 100% a woman lmao

[Anonymous No.22978560]

Michael Cisco

[Anonymous No.22978647]

>>22978560
Which of his works would you recommend?

[Anonymous No.22978656]

>>22962219
Is there anything like Ligotti’s early works out there? everything that isnt in the penguin collection is hot garbage

[Anonymous No.22979144]

>>22978656
his best work is written after the first two collections, you are stupid and tasteless, but that's your problem.

[Anonymous No.22979575]

>>22962219
I enjoyed The Cipher by Kathe Koja

[Anonymous No.22979593]

>>22979575
The Cipher is top tier

[Anonymous No.22980101]

>>22962219
Mark Samuels was pretty good. There is a "best of" anthology that came out recently and it's not bad, does have some of his better stuff in it. But if you can find Written in Darkness or The Man Who Collected Machen they're both knockout collections

[Anonymous No.22980731]

>>22962262
>Plebbit
Oh

[Anonymous No.22982236]

>>22976769
Huh, never heard of that, but sounds like a cool story

[Anonymous No.22982262]

>>22978656
If you can't understand anything that isn't handed to you on plate just say that.

[Anonymous No.22982992]

>>22965014
Is this actually worth reading? I've seen it floating around this board but haven't seen it mentioned outside of it.

[Anonymous No.22983000]

>>22982992
Like 50 percent of the stories are kino and half are dogshit. Take from that what you will. It's actually impressively polarized in that respect. For the kino I'd say it's worth it. Pick up Tales 2. Pretty sure it has more and better stories.

[Anonymous No.22983008]

>>22982992
Worth it just to be in the loop in regards to the so called /lit/ renaissance.

[Anonymous No.22983022]

>>22983000
Traffic Stop is kino.

[Anonymous No.22983112]

>>22971416
>Ligotti is a chinlet hack