As we enter the fifth week of Weirdfictionreview.com’s existence, we’re offering the next installment of Leah Thomas’s web comic, a great essay by China Mieville, fiction from Caitlin R. Kiernan, and an interview with Liz Williams. Check it out and let us know what you think. The Kiernan story comes from our The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, which we think makes a great holiday present. (We’ll have weirdie holiday recs next week.)
Meanwhile, The Weird compendium continues to infiltrate the world – pictured above being held by Charles Tan. Irish radio interviewed us about the anthology and The Scotsman published a lovely review in which they said some very nice things:
What is truly ingenious in this volume is the way the editors have tessellated works of indisputable literary genius with stories from the pulp tradition. To move from Franz Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony” to William Sansom’s “The Long Sheet,” and to realise their almost subliminal connections, is an unlikely and thrilling jolt…There are so many delights in this that any reader will find something truly memorable. For me, it’s the deliciously horrific “The Book” by Margaret Irwin, which is a salutary shocker for any book reviewer, about a tome so awful it even infects the way you read books that were placed next to it. The Weird manages to do something almost similar…a tremendous experience.
We also did a long interview with Gav Reads that turned out well. In addition, Des Lewis and Maureen Kincaid Speller continue with their very different readings of The Weird. And next week we’ll be posting fiction by Ramsey Campbell and a feature with this iconic author, along with lots of other goodies – including more information on the upcoming US publication of The Weird.