Weird fiction lurks in the most surreal corners of your imagination. It forces an unsettling mask onto the mundane, contorting what we know into the strange, the horrible, and the weird. Among those who enjoy weird fiction, a debate rages on: Is this a proper genre or a mode of writing? The answer remains as ambiguous as many of the works that claim the name, but in this blog post, I’m going to treat it as a complete subgenre of speculative fiction.
What is Weird Fiction?
Weird fiction exists in the murky intersections of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Birthed out of the Gothic movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this subgenre cherry-picks tropes from the major speculative fiction subgenres and subverts them, breathing fresh, bizarre life into them. While a certain surreal aesthetic is the most recognizable aspect of weird fiction, the real artistry in this sub-genre lies in the way it dissects the human condition. Think Poe, Kafka, and Lovecraft. Each writer established a dark, perplexing mood to critique human nature. The appeal for weird fiction lies in the discomfort readers feel when recognizing the universal truths hidden within its ghastly prose. Fans of drama or romance like to have their hearts broken. Fans of weird fiction like to have their worldview altered.
Common Tropes
Weird fiction is interstitial; it exists in the grey areas connecting your favorite speculative fiction genres. It might bypass the monsters we love from horror, such as vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. Maybe it will take drug—or technology—induced paranoia from science fiction. Or perhaps it will lean on the disturbing mythos and worldbuilding we love in fantasy. Weird fiction can take all these elements, throw them in a blender, and produce a concoction that will haunt you. (Think about combining the tropes I just named, and you’ll likely end up with a Lovecraftian story.) The most common way we see weird fiction tales claw their way into existence is by replacing traditionally supernatural elements with something surreal. These might include:
- Surreal Imagery: Weird fiction incorporates dreamlike settings and imagery throughout. Think dripping walls, psychedelic cities, or landscapes just off enough to cause concern. Modern writers of weird fiction (sometimes called New Weird), use this to evoke the uncanny.
- Uncertain Reality: Considering the genre’s strange mix of the surreal and sublime, it is common for characters in these stories to question reality. Perhaps even you, the reader, question what’s real and what’s not within the narrative.
- Obsession: Characters often develop an obsession with the weird elements they encounter that may lead to paranoia or insanity. Think House of Leaves or The Fall of the House of Usher.
Why I Like Weird Fiction
Weird fiction dismantles our assumptions about reality. It makes us question our place in the world and within ourselves. It is a deeply psychological genre that combines the aesthetics found in surrealism with notions of absurdism and nihilism. I love weird fiction because it lingers like an aftertaste you can’t place that makes you question what you’ve eaten. It thrives in unreality, and in a time when reality is less than appealing, weird fiction is just what I need.
Why YOU Should Explore Weird Fiction
Worried about trying to critique the human condition but coming off as too pedantic? Experimenting with weird fiction could be the right move for you. Hidden under layers of oddities, you can take all the shots at humanity you want to without appearing heavy-handed. There’s a subtlety to weird fiction that, once mastered, provides the perfect canvas for political and social analysis. If you decide to give weird fiction a go, remember that it often incorporates these themes:
- Uncanny: Evoke the unsettling feelings when something is just off enough to be both familiar and unfamiliar. Read more about representations of the uncanny in literature here.
- Unpredictable: Weird fiction blends and distorts our favorite genres and tropes, keeping us on our toes as we read. What better way to accomplish this than by subverting their expectations?
- Unimportant: A common theme we see in weird fiction, especially when written by the likes of Lovecraft, is an overwhelming sense of our cosmic insignificance. If you want to put “happily ever after” in its place, try weird fiction’s “why does it even matter?”
Weird Fiction Novels We Love
Here’s a fun fact about me: I lived in Japan for about six years. While there, I consumed as many books by Japanese authors as possible and learned that Japanese authors are masters of weird. As such, my favorite weird story is a short story by Edogawa Ranpo called “The Human Chair” (人間椅子, Ningen Isu). It’s a mind-boggling story about a man who lives inside the sofa he created. If you want to always question the contents of your living room furniture, give this one a read.
“The Enigma of Amigara Fault” by Junji Ito is one of my favorite mind-bending stories. Is it in manga/comic form? Yes. Even though I read it ten years ago, I think about it often, especially when faced with mountains and desires that call to me. Are these desires good for me, or are they…something more?
Weird fiction has impacted my imagination throughout life, but one of the biggest came in the form of H.P. Lovecraft’s work. At the Mountains of Madness features an expedition to Antarctica in which an ancient alien civilization is uncovered beneath the ice and snow. Lovecraft was a master of the fear and strange that dwell at the edge of our understanding and in conveying these ideas in a way that touches on that primal element of the mind.
I haven’t personally read a lot of weird fiction, but Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite authors, and he has a ton of weird fiction. My favorite piece by him is “The Tell-Tale Heart” which tells the story of a man trying to convince the reader of his sanity, even though he’s clearly not very sane at all. I love the narrator’s slow descent into insanity and just how weird that descent becomes.