THE NEW WEIRD edited by ANN & JEFF VANDERMEER
Tachyon Publications paperback, 320pp, RRP US$14.95

The New Weird - edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

Reviewed by David McWilliam

Ann & Jeff VanderMeer’s impressive anthology is the perfect starting point for an exploration of the innovative “New Weird” movement in genre fiction, which was brought to prominence in 2000 by the critical and commercial success of China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station. Prior to reviewing The New Weird I was familiar with the works of several of the contributing authors, whose inventive take on fantasy writing made me want to know more about the generic milieu from which their ideas were spawned.

Editor Jeff VanderMeer’s introduction, ‘The New Weird: “It’s Alive?”’, explores the genesis of the genre in the New Wave experimentation of the 1960s and the transformative horror, spearheaded by the works of Clive Barker, in the 1980s. An anthology that seeks to present a representative sample of the style of writing typifying a literary subgenre requires a working definition in order to assist its readers’ understanding of the project. (more…)


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