December 20th, 2011 / 11:40 am
Random
Christopher Higgs
Random
Get Weird
(the brainchild of Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer)
Some of the goodies you’ll find there include…
(1) Exclusive Interview with Thomas Ligotti on Weird Fiction (Includes Ligotti’s top picks for under-appreciated weird fiction!)
(2) “Maldoror Abroad” by K.J. Bishop (The author’s infamous tribute to Comte de Lautréamont’s Decadent classic “Les Chantes de Maldoror”)
(3) Reza Negarestani’s essay “All of a Twist” (An Exploration of Narration, Touching on Negarestani’s Novel Cyclonopedia)
(4) China Miéville’s essay “M.R. James and the Quantum Vampire Weird; Hauntological: Versus and/or and and/or or?”
(5) Algernon Blackwood’s short story “The Willows”
ligotti. holy shit.
Feel vaguely frustrated that this showed up on HTMLGiant.This guy lives in town and I have friends that publish in this weird steam-punk community he’s into. Not going to lie, I kind of hate everything about it.
I really like: Ligotti, Negarestani, and sometimes Mieville (and Lovecraft who is the godfather I guess), but I understand the reticence towards this kind of shit; as incorporating the fanboy aspect and some of the fiction itself [and steam punk in general is almost always gross and dumb and, I don’t know, inherently racist in a sort of crypto sort of way], BUT, with that said, I still think the ‘gems’ of this ‘genre’ (and holy fuck do I hate that it’s called “weird fiction”) are totally worth it and a lot more interesting than a lot of the fiction that’s being published lately. Also, I’ll still be buying the massive The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories because, despite a frustration with the context, it’s all about the fiction.
Also: which guy is “this guy”? Jeff VanderMeer?
yup
He doesn’t write steampunk, although he’s edited two anthologies of it and there’s some sort of steampunk bible that he put together. I really like two of his books: City of Saints and Madmen and Shriek: An Afterword.
Ligotti is one of my favorite writers, although he quit fiction writing years ago and hasn’t returned to it since.
Ligotti’s preference for “uncanny” over “weird” is to be well-taken for two reasons: 1) “uncanny” doesn’t describe nearly as many things as “weird”, so it’s not as broadly inapplicable in the sense that’s here meant; and 2) “uncanny” picks out what’s essential in the contrast between “weird” and “haunt” (that Mieville talks quite usefully about).
ponyurl.com/bp52t5
goo.gl/tX8v0
I don’t care. I cannot keep hating on those guys — it’s my own issue.
I really liked SIRYO, though, even if you called it steam punk, stream gunk, fucking shit, killing small cute birds, nachos, etc.
I really like when people write out entire titles rather than confuse me with acronyms.
whoa, so much great stuff here
tinyurl.com/can5hdg
tinyurl.com/can5hdg
If it’s your own issue than why post about it in a public forum? Without any “why”. As far as the VanderMeers as editors, I can say with confidence, that a lot of what they do is much more daring than most publishers of “literature”. To say you hate someone is pretty strong language, and frankly makes you seem like a dick. You might not be. You might just have issues. But you seem like one.
I don’t care.
Then don’t reply.
Look, if it’s really that important to you, here’s the thing.
I originally wrote that first comment, posted it, then felt kind of shitty about it. Went back and thought about deleting it. Got a little stressed out because I couldn’t figure out how to delete that comment in ~5 seconds, said fuck it and just planted some
all up in it. Then BS commented, and realizing I may have offended BS, tried to respond in a way that I thought would have been nice and if not totally thoughtful, then like ~thoughtful or “thoughtful.”Then you wrote vaguely calling me a dick, and I wanted to be like, just call me a dick, dude. If I’m being a dick, just tell me. I don’t care.
But instead I just wrote, I don’t care.
Holy crap. I don’t know the acronyms for my own books. Glad you liked the book. Thanks.
About: “Then BS commented, and realizing I may have offended BS, tried to respond in a way that I thought would have been nice and if not totally thoughtful, then like ~thoughtful or “thoughtful.”
I wasn’t offended. I just posted to correct you about Vandermeer’s writing. His writing community/scene sort of thing is called “New Weird” (and I’m not a fan of classifications like that even though I’m completely enmeshed in a different one that’s slightly similar, although I’ve very fond of the “scene” aspect of it).
I assume Vandermeer edited the two steampunk anthologies and compiled (or whatever) the steampunk bible because (a.) steampunk is really popular now and there’s probably a decent amount of money to be made from those kinds of books and (b.) he almost definitely really likes steampunk.
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