New Weird- Wiki defined!

New Weird- Various definitions have been given of the genre. According to Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer, in their introduction to the anthology The New Weird, the genre is “a type of urban, secondary-world fiction that subverts the romanticized ideas about place found in traditional fantasy, largely by choosing realistic, complex real-world models as the jumping off point for creation of settings that may combine elements of both science fiction and fantasy.”^[2] According to Gardner Dozois, however, the VanderMeers’ anthology “ultimately left me just as confused as to what exactly The New Weird consisted of when I went out as I’d been when I went in.”^[3] Robin

Anne Reid notes that while the definition of the New Weird is disputed, “a general consensus uses the term” to describe fictions that “subvert cliches of the fantastic in order to put them to discomfiting, rather than consoling ends”. ^[1] Reid also notes the genre tends to break down the barriers between fantasy, science fiction and supernatural horror.^[1] In comparing The New Weird to Bizarro fiction, Rose O’Keefe of Eraserhead Press claims that “People buy New Weird because they want cutting edge speculative fiction with a literary slant. It’s kind of like slipstream with a side of weirdness.”^[4]

Part of this genre’s roots derive from pulp horror authors, whose stories were sometimes described as “weird fiction“. The “weird tale” label also evolved from the magazine Weird Tales; the stories therein often combined fantasy elements, existential and physical terror, and science fiction devices.^[5]

Keep tuned in… things are about to take a turn… verb. stray from normal path, aberrate, angle off, avert, bear off, bend, bend the rules, break pattern ,circumlocate, contrast, deflect, depart, depart from, differ, digress, divagate, diverge, drift, edge off, err, get around, go , miss, go haywire, go off on tangent, go out of control, go out of way, leave beaten path, not conform, part, shy, swerve, swim against stream, take a turn, turn, turn aside, vary, veer, Wander…

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Author: S.M.Muse

Bestselling author S.M Muse writes, fun, action-packed adventures full of everyday magic, and darker than Mid-night foes. His characters are clever, fearless, and resilient, but in real life, S.M. is afraid of spiders, things that go bump in the night, and roughing it in the great outdoors. Let’s face it. S.M. wouldn’t last ten minutes in one of his books. S.M Muse is best known for his Heir of Nostalgia fantasy series, and soon to be Urban Contemporary thriller, The Summer People. Visit him at http://www.heirofnostalgia@gmail.com View all posts by S.M.Muse