Lovecraft was weird, and before him there was Clark Ashton Smith and Lovecraft was weird, and before him there was Clark Ashton Smith and
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Worlds Without End Roll-Your-Own Reading Challenge

The Weirdness

The Weirdness

What is it with The Weird? I know that Lovecraft was weird, and before him there was Clark Ashton Smith and Arthur Machen. There was the magazine Weird Tales which sounds like it should have been weird. Jeff and Anne VanderMeer have published an 1100 page anthology of The Weird, and I've read their definition of it -- several times. But I'm still not sure I get it. And now to further complicate things, there is The New Weird.

So this year I am going to read as much weird ficition as I can find.

The Wikipedia entry on Weird Fiction lists over 50 weird writers, and there is the table of contents from the VanderMeer's book with right at 100. There is also the e-jounal Weird Fiction Review, where you can read interviews with current weird -- or I guess that should be "New Weird" practictioners and get leads to many new publications. Weirdness seems to find its natural home in short stories more so than novels, so if you sign up for a year of weirdness, expect to read a lot of collections and anthologies.

There is now a sub-genre heading for Weird in Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy. I have begun to label titles. Be sure to add the subgenre label to whatever you read if it is not already there. And remember that any book or writer not currentlly in the WWEnd database can be added. Make your requests through the "Can't Find the Book You Want" forum.

Let The Weirdness begin.

Challenge Details
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror
Challenge Span: January 2016 – December 2016

Reading Levels
Select your reading level below. You can adjust your level up or down at any time during the challenge.

 Resident of Arkham = 3 books + 0 reviews
 Student at Miskatonic U. = 6 books + 2 reviews
 Worshipper of Dagon = 9 books + 3 reviews
 High Priest of Cthulhu = 12 books + 6 reviews

This challenge has expired. Please have a look at some of our other challenges for something that may interest you.

charlesdee

charlesdee

The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature
The Ballad of Black Tom
The Blizzard
The Complete John Silence Stories
Deadman's Road
The Explorer and Other Stories
Hell's Bounty
Lord of a Visible World:  An Autobiography in Letters
Lovecraft Country
The Man Who Made Models:  The Collected Short Fiction Volume One
Memoirs of a Porcupine
The Three Impostors
Dustycc

Dustycc

12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Engelbrecht

Engelbrecht

The Blind Owl
Bone Swans:  Stories
The Castle
Engelbrecht Again!
Engines of Desire
Father Panic's Opera Macabre
Hell
The Last Days of New Paris
Mr. Splitfoot
Musrum
The Soft Machine
The Street of Crocodiles
katofrafters

katofrafters

Annihilation
Authority
The Day the World Turned Upside Down
Kiwi

Kiwi

3
2
1
km098

km098

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
knig.guru

knig.guru

The Ballad of Black Tom
Datura
Engines of Desire
The Explorer and Other Stories
The Hill of Dreams
Jagannath: Stories
The Light is the Darkness
Tainaron:  Mail from Another City
The Troika
MaggieK

MaggieK

Acceptance
The Croning
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
The Return Of The Sorcerer:  The Best of Clark Ashton Smith
Sarah Canary
The Wasp Factory
3
2
1
Momosnyx

Momosnyx

The Litany of Earth
The Mothers of Voorhisville
The Sleeper and the Spindle
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2015
Year's Best Weird Fiction, Volume Two
pizzakarin

pizzakarin

The Croning
Don't Read This Book
Wetware
strongaf

strongaf

Black Water:  The Anthology of Fantastic Literature
The Book of Fantasy
Fantastic Worlds: Myths, Tales, and Stories
Ficciones
Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural
The Haunted Looking Glass:  Ghost Stories
Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural
5
4
3
2
1
tecolote

tecolote

Engines of Desire
The Explorer and Other Stories
Occultation and Other Stories
Paradox
Silk
4
3
2
1
thereddeath

thereddeath

3
2
1
wecowo

wecowo

Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood
The Hill of Dreams
The Physiognomy
Weesam

Weesam

City of the Iron Fish
The Croning
The Etched City
The Mark of the Beast
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
The Physiognomy
Shriek: An Afterword
Stranger Things Happen
This Census-Taker
The Three Impostors
Unpossible and Other Stories
Viriconium
xserd

xserd

Annihilation
Viriconium
Weaveworld