Hello guys! So i've been reading "Two Worlds and in Between" by Caitlín R Kiernan, and I'm gonna be honest, even though I'm loving the book, I'm also having trouble with getting some of her stories, this one in particular "The Road of Pins" really got into my head, first things first, I loved it! Really made me feel anxious, but I kinda didn't get the ending, with Alex apparently noticing something in the tape that I didn't quite get

Can someone help me out with it?

I haven't read books for 3 years I'm really struggling on finding new books to read what sites or resources are helpful?

I want to get back into reading, how do I find books?

I know we have good reads, but I've kind of want a system like my anime list tbh it makes it easier to find better suggestions.

I've the book suggestions sub reddits bug idk how helpful they've been for me tbh.

Is there any other tools that would be helpful?

A lot of the times generally i would just go to the library to find stuff or find those street library donation boxes as well.

I haven't done those in such a long time I feel like I would you know where to start.

Tbh I think I'm just super overwhelmed lol

Cause I've kind somewhat forgotten a lot of the books I've read which dosent help either.

I know I used to really love r.l Stines Goose bumps books Plus the maze runner series

But yeah know I feel generally and utterly lost

I've just finished Pest by Michael Cisco and I've run out of books by this author to read, leaving aside those that are impossible to find because they are out of print.

Which author do you consider to be closer to his style and that is not impossible to find in physical form?

What are you reading this week?

No spam or self-promotion (we post a monthly threads for that!)

And don't forget to join the WeirdLit Discord!

I try to check my local used bookstore once a week to see what’s come in and was pleasantly surprised with 2 Robert Aickman books. The Wine-Dark Sea is 1st edition too. Pretty psyched!

Really interesting and out-there worldbuilding, and the 2nd and 3rd books do some very interesting things with POV. Can get very wacky at times. Has terrifying eldritch creatures as well. Seems like it should be weird lit but I've never heard anyone mention it in that context.

It is a genre which largely escapes the perception of pop culture, even if hidden just beyond the curtains.

Sure, a good amount of people outside of the community recognize Lovecraft and are quick to chirp the fashionable phrase cosmic horror, which is often true, but are they really recognizing what subdivides the work from the mainstream?

The speculation? The novelty? The sometimes plot-less mood driven description of a peculiar place or vague recounting of an annebriated haze?

I want to know what you think separates Weird Fiction from other genres of fiction.

I’m reading through The Haunted Looking Glass, edited by Edward Gorey, and I’m wondering if anyone has any similar anthology recommendations

I'm just wondering if it'll be worth getting I'm not sure exactly what books aren't available such but

Hello weirdos!

I'm rereading the Dune series (along with the rest of the world it seems) because I've enjoyed the movies so much. As a massive SF nerd I'd call it more weird than science fiction.

Herbert does not hold back and make it palatable for a general audience, every book ramps up the weirdness. I hope that it's a bit of an entryway to weirdlit for more people.

It's not quite as indescribable as Lovecraft or as descriptive as Mieville but I love it and it's weird 💚

Un Lun Dun is about a whimsical otherworld connected to the city of London, where all of its obselete and broken things end up. The main character is a girl named Deeba who ends up there with her best friend Zanna. They find out they're part of a prophecy, and adventures ensue.

This book came highly recommended to me by a friend. I'm a big fan of China Mieville and have read several of his novels, but I was initially unsure about reading this because it's YA. But I ended up really liking it. It's really whimsical and fun, and has some dark moments (although not as dark as his other books). I read a LOT of YA books as a kid, and grew to hate the boring recycled tropes. But it actually satirized these tropes in a really brilliant way.

Another thing that made me hesitant about the book is that its premise is quite similar to Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, and I believe Mieville has admitted to this as a major inspiration. But it has a lot of original content in it, so I don't think it's overly derivative. My favorite creation was the "utterlings"- the literal embodiment of linguistic descriptivism. Absolutely brilliant. I also really loved the illustrations by Mieville himself, and it made me wish his other books had them.

Something I thought was interesting is that Mieville is openly a communist, but his novels usually aren't very political. They often have political elements, but they're not really the focus, and it never feels like he's trying to do social commentary. This book seems to be different though, with social commentary as a big focus. Probably because it's a hallmark of the genre. I think it's executed pretty well, and had a unique take on the generic "be yourself" messaging.

Anyways, I would recommend this book to kids and adults alike. If you're an adult who doesn't want to read YA, maybe get it for your niece/nephew/whatever. And then they can read Perdido Street Station when they're older. I don't recommend listening to this as an audiobook, as you'll miss the delightful illustrations, as well as a lot of clever wordplay.

I already have the Weird, is there anything you'd recommend?

I'm reading the wonderful "Cinnamon Shops" for the second time, and I simply didn't remember this short story/vingnette titled "Pan" about which I would like to share my interpretation. (Spoilers below, and it will be a long text, so bear with me to those interested)

To me, this story is almost a playful jest by the author, where he describes in a ludic, poetic, and detailed way his childlike lyrical self exploring a vacant lot and encountering a hobo taking a dump and then fleeing into the bushes. I found it hilarious, brilliant, and completely unexpected, yet it made perfect sense at the same time when I read it. I wanted to hear others' opinions and found only this text, where the author, Sonja Crafts (Hauck) takes it to a completly different interpretative direction.

She even considers the possibility of it being a hobo taking a dump in the vacant lot behind the house, but not convinced, she presents symbolic reasons that it is actually a hobo masturbating while crouched. She justifies this view by bringing out mainly three aspects of the text: 1) the symbolism of Pan (the god of fertility, often depicted with his phallus), 2) the childlike perspective of the lyrical self who didn't yet understand what the man's act meant, as 3) "the description of the hobo’s movements decidedly vague" (her words). Besides, of course, all the thematic weight of coming-of-age, lost of inocence and discovery of sexuality so present in Schulz's fiction.

But the arguments she presents didn't convince me. I got the impression that the text I read seems very different from the text she read. I read Henryk Siewierski's translation into Portuguese, the excerpts she shares are in English, but I confess I don't know from which edition and translation.

But there are two key passages (I think the first one differ greatly between editions and how they were translated from Polish).

When the narration describes the man's action, the action that suggests what he's actually doing there crouched in the bushes, in the English edition I found (though I don't know if this is really the one she read, and she doesn't share this passage on the blog), it goes like this:

"Immobile, he seemed to be working very hard, struggling under some enormous weight."

In Portuguese, it was translated as follows:

"Estava parado, mas parecia trabalhar duro, lutar sem nenhum movimento contra um fardo enorme." Which in English would be: "He was standing still, but seemed to work hard, struggling without any movement against an enormous burden."

This was the moment I thought: huh, he's taking a dump! What kind of description, even if vague, would describe a man masturbating "standing still" and "without any movement"? I think Schulz is as descriptive as he is rigorous, he wouldn't waste words, and the description of this action doesn't seem nebulous to me.

So, although I have a total mastery of 0% of the Polish language, I went after the original (I think Mr. Siewierski's translation is reliable enough, but if there is a Polish speaker, they would be very welcome to clarify all this!). Anyway, the Polish excerpt of the man squatting in the bushes:

"Nieruchomy, zdawał się ciężko pracować, mocować się bez ruchu z jakimś ogromnym brzemieniem."

According to ChatGpt, the translation of this sentence would be:

"Motionless, he seemed to be working hard, grappling without movement with some enormous burden." Which seems much more accurate to me than the translation into English that I shared (and of which I'm not sure if it was the one the blog author read, and again, if there's a Polish speaker, please correct me!)

Then, there is the other key passage. This is at the end, after the hobo relieved himself from his "struggle". This passage indicates, to me, Schulz's playful jest (and I'll share from the English edition anyway):

"Deeply shaken, I saw how, still roaring with laughter, he slowly lifted himself up from his crouching position and, hunched like a gorilla, his hands in the torn pockets of his ragged trousers, began to run, cutting in great leaps and bounds through the rustling tinfoil of the burs – a Pan without a pipe, retreating in flight to his familiar haunts."

"Pan without a pipe," I believe, refers to the complete absence of sexuality in this situation, yet still, the god Pan brings fertility to the earth with his act of excremental relief.

Where to read books online?

Looking for an app or something where I can read books online

What are you reading this week?

No spam or self-promotion (we post a monthly threads for that!)

And don't forget to join the WeirdLit Discord!

I'm looking for more books to read stuff that are both creepy and full of suspense

I want adventure or dark and creepy horror vibes and maybe weird mystery stuff like dirk gently holistic detective

Not books but some other media i like stranger things, dirk gently cyberpunk and dark crystal

Stuff with very weird vibes or mystery thriller And scifi dystopia

Also I loved the labyrinth movie to

I'll add Goose bumps too

Looking for books I'm just listing stuff I've liked to help find other stuff I might like

If you are really into weird fiction, I strongly recommend the anime texhnolyze. One of my favorite works of art ever.