Comments on: Making Sense of The Weird: What Do You Think About the First Three Weeks of Weirdfictionreview.com?

By: NextFriday

NextFriday — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:04:07 +0000

I think I love the interviews the best. Especially the usual questions about weird influences that bring forward lots of reassuring names. I might still navigate through the New Weird with caution, but ‘Old’ Weird is like coming home. Meyrink and Borges anthologies, The Society Tiger and Sredni Vashtar — all of it is strangely reassuring.
My only regret is that I didn’t make it to the Cute and Creepy exhibition. It’s not an awfully long drive, but timewise it was a bit tight.

By: jeffvandermeer

jeffvandermeer — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:10:35 +0000

Vlad–that might work out well. Let me do some research first. Yes, we’ve read Lazarus.

By: Vlad Zhenevsky

Vlad Zhenevsky — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 04:28:54 +0000

And just in case: all Andreyev’s works are in the public domain now.

By: Vlad Zhenevsky

Vlad Zhenevsky — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 03:58:40 +0000

I will be happy to help, Jeff. Andreyev's story which is perhaps best known in English is "Lazarus", you might have bumped into it in a number of ghost-story anthologies. As for "He" ("Он", that is 3rd person singular in Russian), I might have a whack at translating it into English (for free, of course) if you'd need it and if it hasn't been translated by someone else. However, I must warn you that my usual vector of translation is English --> Russian (the latest translated novel being Cherie Priest's Boneshaker), so this hypothetical text might need some good editing.

By: jeffvandermeer

jeffvandermeer — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:53:08 +0000

Vlad--I may contact you further about both of these authors. We're aware of Andreyev, but I don't think we've read his story "He".

By: Vlad Zhenevsky

Vlad Zhenevsky — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:55:53 +0000

Oh, and the high points… For me those were Jean Ray and Alfred Kubin — it’s great they have a chance to escape from obscurity. And Ligotti, Ligotti, Ligotti…

By the way, you might be interested in having a peek at stories by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky (1887–1950), a lesser-known Russian writer — I believe he knew a thing or two about weirdness (a good example is the animated adaptation of his “Quadraturin” [Квадратурин], available legally on YouTube).

And there is also “He”, the brilliant short story by Leonid Andreyev which is probably unknown in English-speaking countries. Written in 1913, it is truly Lovecraftian without being Lovecraftish, so to speak. Still, I am not even sure if it has ever been translated into English.

By: Vlad Zhenevsky

Vlad Zhenevsky — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:34:40 +0000

Wonderful, just wonderful. Breathe on. There’s way too much absurdity in this world; seems it’s time to suppress it with weirdness.
And rest assured that someone follows your exploits even in weird, weird Russia)

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 03:22:18 +0000

This Jason very much enjoys the web comic. I don’t see much satire or camp in it, and it certainly is not of the same tone as that xkcd series that was referenced above. The last two episodes also quite strongly show that there is something deeper, perhaps sinister, going on underneath the travels of the two leads.

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:17:10 +0000

This site is amazing! It’s just nice to have a regularly updated website devoted to weird fiction (the regularly updated part is crucial).

I’m enjoying the fiction and nonfiction sections the most. I especially like that you’re able to post weird fiction that has been largely unavailable to English speaking audiences (e.g., Owen). I’m also enjoying the pieces on individual authors (e.g., Alfred Kubin) and the artist posts (e.g., Myrtle Von Damitz III). I confess to not reading the web comics as I’m not a comic guy myself.

Let me say again that I think frequent updates to the site are crucial. Keep up the great work!

By: jeff vandermeer

jeff vandermeer — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:34:49 +0000

vm–thanks! so glad you like aickman. ebook available soon.