The Genre of Weird Fiction

WEIRD FICTION
By Alex Ness
May 12, 2024

SO WHAT IS THIS GENRE?

You might look at the covers of these works, and think it is horror, but it isn't actually that, unless it is. What do I mean? Well, sometimes even I don't know the answer to that. What I mean this time is that Weird Fiction is so labeled because it can be a hybrid of genres, sci fi and horror, or fantasy and sci fi, or horror and fantasy, or, a genre that doesn't follow any convention, but that of the whim of the writer.  However it is also more than a whim. It is asking a question and the characters live in the world where the question changes the known facts, and dives deep in the differences. And the term weird isn't meant as derisive, but describes how the world you are viewing is one that is different, than the one you, the reader, live in.

WHO STARTED IT?

Some people label HP Lovecraft the originator of the genre, but clever readers will know, that is ignoring some great writers of the 1800s who changed writing and story telling altogether. Edgar Allan Poe did much to introduce new subjects and genres, but didn't altogether mix and match them in the fashion of Weird Fiction. I love his work, he is in my top 10 writers of any sort, quite easily. His short stories, poetry about new subjects like histories of strange topics, horror and cruelty in poetry form, and true crime, in all forms, make him a master. Jules Verne and HG Wells told stories that were genuinely Weird Fiction, and they were quite good, so I'd point to them as the genres originators. After their match started the kindling burning, many more joined in. Lord Dunsany melded ideas of time travel, magic, fantasy, and horror, almost immediately upon started his many fields of writing. I include him for his taking hold of the genre, and getting it fully, as in, there were very few false starts in his works.

Does it matter who started it all? It does as far as giving credit goes, but they didn't bend reality much in their works. That was left to those who chose to challenge the outlook of the people of their time. Weird Fiction truly makes the reader think about the questions being asked, and does so by presenting things the reader had probably never considered.

WHY DO I LIKE IT?

I like it very much. The reason for that is not what you might expect. I am rarely made afraid by horror. Science fiction is usually either too hard or too soft, and fantasy, while I often do love it, it rarely works for me unless I love or hate all the characters. In Weird Fiction, I rarely like the characters, it is about the thing that is the crux of the story. The idea of traveling time and finding the world changed beyond the trajectory one might have assumed, and then becoming part of the future but returning to the past. It creates mad possibilities.

WHO ARE THE BEST IN THE GENRE? Well, I like these more than others.  Click to enlarge. Authors shown in no particular order of preference.

Clive Barker,  Algernon Blackwood, William Hope Hodgson, Ramsey Campbell

Clark Ashton Smith, Frank Belknap Long, Brian Lumley, Arthur Machen

Robert Bloch, Plunkett, Edward John Moreton Drax, 18th Baron Dunsany, HP Lovecraft, August Derleth

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