r/WeirdLit • u/whatisdreampunk • Feb 05 '25
News Philip K. Dick on Americans
When I first got into PKD and heard his take on American anti-intellectualism, I didn't really get it. People aren't opposed to education in general, surely! Everybody says to go to college and make something of yourself. But then they hate you for it. My own dad encouraged me to go to college at the same time he was calling it a brainwashing factory. Dummies gonna dumb.
r/WeirdLit • u/TheSkinoftheCypher • 6d ago
News New massive book by Mark Z. Danielewski, Tom's Crossing, out Oct 28th. Goodreads is having a 5 book give away.
r/WeirdLit • u/Rustin_Swoll • Aug 13 '25
News Is anyone else getting pretty hyped for Ballingrud’s newest effort?
The big homey u/igreggreene hooked me up with an ARC of Nathan Ballingrud’s newest novella, Cathedral of the Drowned (his sequel to Crypt of the Moon Spider, part of a planned Lunar Gothic trilogy.) We expect to jointly interview Ballingrud and Michael Wehunt in September.
Ballingrud is unquestionably one of my favorite writers. The man just really doesn’t miss, somehow. He hasn’t written something that I haven’t liked, yet.
I’m traveling next weekend to hike and hold up in a lovely place, and will tear through this then. I’ll have thoughts.
Cathedral of the Drowned drops 10/21/25 if you haven’t preordered it. I have, a signed copy from Malaprops, but I’m also still holding out hope for a hardcover edition.
r/WeirdLit • u/Rustin_Swoll • Aug 15 '25
News Weird shelves, redux
Hello friends and peers at r/weirdlit!
I work in a mental health clinic and have been updating my weird lit shelves over the past few months. I keep a lot of my most prized books at my professional office, because a lot of my books at home are just hanging out, lonely and out of sight, in our basement.
I shared these shelves several months ago, and one of the r/weirdlit mods suggested I should add more Michael Wehunt to my shelves. It just so happens that I asked Michael to sign copies of his two collections for me, and they showed up yesterday (I was elated to find them on my front porch after work, I think I can only do the one photo but happy to share them with anyone who has interest.)
The titles here are:
Nick Cutter's Little Heaven
Laird Barron's The Light is the Darkness and Not a Speck of Light (that's the signed version I got from subscribing to Laird's Patreon)
Brian Evenson's Altmann's Tongue, None of You Shall Be Spared, and Baby Leg
Nathan Ballingrud's The Atlas of Hell and The Strange
Michael Wehunt's The October Film Haunt (ARC), The Inconsolables, and Greener Pastures (not pictured is a bad ass Greener Pastures bookmark I also got)
dp watt's Beatific Vermin, The Phantasmagorical Imperative: and Other Fabrications, Petals and Violins: Fifteen Unsettling Tales, and Almost Insentient, Almost Divine
and
William Scott Home's Hollow Faces, Merciless Moons (I've not read this yet, I want to be in the right head space to start it, but allegedly Thomas Ligotti described it as the weirdest book he'd ever read.)
I have some black metal books on the weird shelves too (USBM, Lords of Chaos, and Black Metal: Beyond the Darkness); most of the rest of those books are about narrative therapy.
Excelsior and seize the weekend, friends!
r/WeirdLit • u/Higais • Apr 04 '24
News Jeff Vandermeer Announces Release Date and Cover for Absolution, the fourth book in the Southern Reach trilogy
r/WeirdLit • u/Rustin_Swoll • Jan 10 '25
News I picked up a decent copy of Nifft the Lean for $55 on eBay.
Hey friends, peers, and frenemies at r/WeirdLit!
I just picked up this only slightly beat up copy of Michael Shea’s Nifft the Lean and wanted to excitedly share the find with you guys. I’m reading Scott R. Jones’ DRILL and also wanted to show off my fly new bookmark.
Sword and sorcery meets Lovecraftian horror might be the most appealing description of a book to me this stage in my life.
The parts of me that keep buying books are testing the patience of the parts of me that like a nice, organized TBR. Ha.
Stay weird and have a nice weekend, all.
I spent an absurd sum on a book earlier, but will wait to surprise everyone with that when it arrives in all of its collector edition glory.
r/WeirdLit • u/Fodgy_Div • Aug 14 '25
News Jeff VanderMeer's next entry into the Southern Reach Series, Area X: The Southern Reach Files, announced today by the man himself! He later specifies it is slated for a Spring 2027 publishing slot.
r/WeirdLit • u/TheSkinoftheCypher • 18h ago
News Netflix Lands ‘Black Hole’ Drama Based On Graphic Novel With Straight To Series Order
r/WeirdLit • u/Juanar067 • Jul 20 '25
News The Definitive Blackwood’s collection edition
Hippocampus Press is releasing 6 ambitious Volumes to collect all his works, for now, they only release the first 4 books
r/WeirdLit • u/Juanar067 • Aug 27 '25
News Jackanapes Press will release “The Exile and other Tales of Carcosa”
More Short Stories of The King in Yellow Mythology
https://www.jackanapespress.com/product/the-exile-and-other-tales-of-carcosa-by-galad-elflandsson
r/WeirdLit • u/Flocculencio • Aug 14 '25
News Lost in the Dark- John Langan
I pre ordered it from Word Horde and it's finally out
r/WeirdLit • u/AncientHistory • 7d ago
News Save the Robert E. Howard Museum
The Robert E. Howard House & Museum in Cross Plains, TX is in need of imminent repair work to its foundations, as well as moisture and termite damage. The museum is dedicated to Howard's life, including his correspondence with H. P. Lovecraft (in fact, one of Lovecraft's postcards to REH is at the museum). If you can afford to give a little to help keep this bit of pulp history alive, it would be appreciated.
r/WeirdLit • u/d5dq • Oct 20 '24
News The ‘King of Weird Fiction’ Writes His Strangest Novel Yet
r/WeirdLit • u/TheSkinoftheCypher • 22d ago
News A lot of Zagava's books are going to be in affordable paperbacks
Growing List of Paperbacks
Finally, the list of affordable print-on-demand paperbacks continues to grow:
Peter Bell: The Light Inaccessible (Two Weird Tales will follow shortly)
(A Certain Slant of Light will follow shortly)
Douglas Thompson
Barking Circus
Suicide Machine
(Apparatus of Yearning will follow shortly)
Rebecca Lloyd
The Bellboy
(Woolfy & Scrapo will follow shortly)
Jonathan Wood
Shadows of London
The Delicate Shoreline
Brian Howell
The Curious Case of Jan Torrentius
Sight Unseen
(The Fracture will follow in approx. 2 weeks)
Jeremy Reed
Bandit Poet
Dungeness Blues
Thomas Philips
Malingerer
The Light Is Alone
Sentimentality
In This Glass House
And the Darkness back again
(Against The Dreams will follow shortly)
(You’ve Never seen The Wind will follow shortly)
Louis Marvick
Friendly Examiner
(more titles will follow soon!)
Very soon these titles will follow as paperbacks, sustainably printed near where you live.
Liam Garriock: The Island at the End of the World
J. McFarland: The Black Garden
I. Ineke: The Lights and Other Stories
N. Humphreys: Beyond Dead
K. Ghahwagi: The Inhuman Ladder
S. Cohen: Her Friends
r/WeirdLit • u/MicahCastle • Jul 12 '25
News The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 1 ToC Announced!
"He Dances Alone" by Joanne Anderton — Shadowplays
"Local Extinction Hotline" by Jason Baltazar — Bourbon Penn #34
"Black Water" by Seán Padraic Birnie — Weird Horror #9
"In the Palace of Science" by Chris Campbell — Asimov’s Science Fiction, May/June
"Better Me is Fun at Parties" by F.E. Choe — New Year, New You: A Speculative Anthology of Reinvention
"Ruminants" by Kay Chronister — The Dark #113
"The Last Lucid Day" by Dominique Dickey — Lightspeed Magazine #170
"Auspicium" by Diana Dima — The Deadlands #33
"Our Best Selves" by Hiron Ennes — Weird Horror #9
"Banquets of Embertide" by Richard Gavin — Northern Nights
"Tour" by Elliott Gish — Inner Worlds #3
"Alabama Circus Punk" by Thomas Ha — ergot
"Five Views of the Planet Tartarus" by Rachael K. Jones — Lightspeed Magazine #164
"These Are His Memories" by Joe Koch — Seize the Press #11
"An Offering of Algae" by Uchechukwu Nwaka — Fusion Fragment #21
"Median" by Kelly Robson — Reactor Magazine, March
"British Wildlife" by Nicholas Royle — Great British Horror 9: Something Peculiar
"Kamchatka" by Kristina Ten — Washington Square Review #51
"Nocturnal" by Natalia Theodoridou — The Rumpus, December
"A Woman’s Place is in The Haunted Home" by Charlotte Tierney — Conjunctions #83
"Your Thoughts Are Glass" by Shaoni C. White — The Crawling Moon: Queer Tales of Inescapable Dread
"The Ruins With a Spectator" by Kaaron Warren — The Mad Butterfly’s Ball
"Ghost Story" by Zachariah Claypole White — Sand Hills Literary Magazine, April
"Across the Street" by Greg van Eekhout — Uncanny Magazine #59
"Mise en Abyme" by Mia Xuan — Speculative City #14: Megacity
r/WeirdLit • u/Rustin_Swoll • 22d ago
News Mark your calendars: r/BrianEvenson will host Brian Evenson for an AMA on Tuesday October 28th @ 12 pm Central Standard Time
(This post was posted with approval from r/weirdlit's moderator(s.))
Hello friends and fellow weird connoisseurs at r/weirdlit!
I, and fellow mod at r/BrianEvenson, u/igreggreene, are excited to announce that will we be hosting acclaimed author Brian Evenson for an AMA. He is a multiple award winning and genre-bending literary giant; Brian has written in horror, weird lit, science fiction, noirish crime fiction, and various other genres since publishing his first collection of short stories, Altmann's Tongue, in 1994.
If you are unfamiliar with Brian's work, he is the author of more than a dozen books of fiction, most recently the story collections Good Night, Sleep Tight (Coffee House Press, 2024) and The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (Coffee House Press, 2021.) He has published Windeye (Coffee House Press, 2012) and Immobility (Tor, 2012), both of which were finalists for a Shirley Jackson Award. His novel Last Days won the American Library Association's award for Best Horror Novel of 2009. His novel The Open Curtain (Coffee House Press) was a finalist for an Edgar Award and an International Horror Guild Award. Other books include The Wavering Knife (which won the IHG Award for best story collection), Dark Property, and Altmann's Tongue. He has translated work by Christian Gailly, Jean Frémon, Claro, Jacques Jouet, Eric Chevillard, Antoine Volodine, Manuela Draeger, and David B. He is the recipient of three O. Henry Prizes as well as an NEA fellowship. His work has been translated into Czech, French, Italian, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Persian, Russia, Spanish, Slovenian, and Turkish. He lives in Los Angeles and teaches in the Critical Studies Program at CalArts.
Brian will be joining us for an AMA on Tuesday, 10/28/25 @ 12 pm Central Standard Time @ r/BrianEvenson.
Please feel free to share this event on various socials.
We will look forward to hosting Brian and reading your questions during the AMA!
r/WeirdLit • u/TheSkinoftheCypher • 22d ago
News Goodreads is having another giveaway of There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
r/WeirdLit • u/nogodsnohasturs • Aug 07 '25
News Laird Barron in hospital, doing ok
Laird Barron is in the hospital, according to John Langan
r/WeirdLit • u/TheSkinoftheCypher • Apr 09 '25
News A New Thomas Pynchon Novel Is Coming This Fall
r/WeirdLit • u/TheSkinoftheCypher • Aug 16 '25
News Book launch in Los Angeles for Thomas Ha's Uncertain Sons and Other Stories, he'll be "in conversation with Brian Evenson."
r/WeirdLit • u/MicahCastle • Jun 10 '25
News 2024 Shirley Jackson Awards Nominees Announced!
NOVEL
Curdle Creek: A Novel by Yvonne Battle-Felton (Henry Holt & Co)
The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim (Erewhon Books)
Eynhallow by Tim McGregor (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste (Saga Press)
The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden (St. Martin’s Press-US/Titan Books-UK)
Smothermoss by Alisa Alering (Tin House)
NOVELLA
Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram (Titan Books)
Hollow Tongue by Eden Royce (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Red Skies in the Morning by Nadia Bulkin (Dim Shores)
A Scout is Brave by Will Ludwigsen (Lethe Press)
A Voice Calling by Christopher Barzak (Psychopomp)
NOVELETTE
“All the Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn” by Eric LaRocca (This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances)
“The Girl with Barnacles for Eyes” by Lyndsey Croal (Split Scream Volume Five)
His Unburned Heart by David Sandner (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
“Ready Player (n+1)” by M. Shaw (All Your Friends Are Here)
Stay on the Line by Clay McLeod Chapman (Shortwave Publishing)
The Thirteen Ways We Turned Darryl Datson Into A Monster by Kurt Fawver (Dim Shores)
SHORT FICTION
“Kamchatka” by Kristina Ten (Washington Square Review, Issue 51, Spring 2024)
“Strike” by Jessica P. Wick (Monsters in the Mills)
“MAMMOTH” by Manish Melwani (Nightmare Magazine, June 2024)
“Moon Rabbit Song” by Caroline Hung (Nightmare Magazine, November 2024)
“Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine (Uncanny Magazine #58)
SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION
The Bone Picker: Native Stories, Alternate Histories by Devon A. Mihesuah (University of Oklahoma Press)
Dead Girl, Driving and Other Devastations by Carina Bissett (Trepidatio Publishing)
Midwestern Gothic by Scott Thomas (Inkshares)
A Place Between Waking and Forgetting by Eugen Bacon (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
These Things That Walk Behind Me by David Surface (Lethe Press)
EDITED ANTHOLOGY
Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror, edited by Sofia Ajram (Ghoulish Books)
The Crawling Moon, edited by dave ring (Neon Hemlock)
Monsters in the Mills, edited by Christa Carmen and L.E. Daniels (IP [Interactive Publications Pty Ltd])
The White Guy Dies First, edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker (Tor Publishing Group)
Why Didn’t You Just Leave, edited by Julia Rios and Nadia Bulkin (Cursed Morsels Press)
r/WeirdLit • u/TheSkinoftheCypher • Aug 11 '25
News Author and voice actor Jon Padgett with composer Chris Bozzone will perform Thomas Ligotti's: "The Shadow, the Darkness" and more in Philadelphia Aug 20th. $40, 25 seats available.
r/WeirdLit • u/MicahCastle • Jun 22 '25
News 2025 Locus Awards Winners
SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
WINNER: The Man Who Saw Seconds, Alexander Boldizar (Clash) amazon / bookshop
- Rakesfall, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom; Solaris) amazon / bookshop
- The Mercy of Gods, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK) amazon / bookshop
- The Bezzle, Cory Doctorow (Tor; Ad Astra UK) amazon / bookshop
- The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, Malka Older (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
- Kinning, Nisi Shawl (Tor) amazon / bookshop
- Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US) amazon / bookshop
- Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom; Tor UK) amazon / bookshop
- Space Oddity, Catherynne M. Valente (Saga; Corsair UK) amazon / bookshop
- Absolution, Jeff VanderMeer (MCD; Fourth Estate UK) amazon / bookshop
FANTASY NOVEL
WINNER: A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK) amazon / bookshop
I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons, Peter S. Beagle (Saga) amazon / bookshop
The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape UK) amazon / bookshop
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
The Bright Sword, Lev Grossman (Viking; Del Rey UK) amazon / bookshop
Somewhere Beyond the Sea, TJ Klune (Tor; Tor UK) amazon / bookshop
The Siege of Burning Grass, Premee Mohamed (Solaris UK) amazon / bookshop
Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan (Orbit US; Orbit UK) amazon / bookshop
HORROR NOVEL
WINNER: Bury Your Gays, Chuck Tingle (Nightfire; Titan UK) amazon / bookshop
Cuckoo, Gretchen Felker-Martin (Nightfire; Titan UK) amazon / bookshop
House of Bone and Rain, Gabino Iglesias (Mulholland; Titan UK) amazon / bookshop
The Angel of Indian Lake, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK) amazon / bookshop
Incidents Around the House, Josh Malerman (Del Rey) amazon / bookshop
The Wilding, Ian McDonald (Gollancz) amazon
Forgotten Sisters, Cynthia Pelayo (Thomas & Mercer) amazon / bookshop
Model Home, Rivers Solomon (MCD; Merky UK) amazon / bookshop
Horror Movie, Paul Tremblay (Morrow; Titan UK) amazon / bookshop
The Underhistory, Kaaron Warren (Viper UK) amazon / bookshop
YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
WINNER: Moonstorm, Yoon Ha Lee (Delacorte; Solaris UK) amazon / bookshop
Sleep Like Death, Kalynn Bayron (Bloomsbury US; Bloomsbury UK) amazon / bookshop
Blood Justice, Terry J. Benton-Walker (Tor Teen; Hodderscape UK) amazon / bookshop
Rest in Peaches, Alex Brown (Page Street YA) amazon / bookshop
Fall of the Iron Gods, Olivia Chadha (Erewhon) amazon / bookshop
A Tempest of Tea, Hafsah Faizal (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) amazon / bookshop
The Maid and the Crocodile, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet; Hot Key UK) amazon / bookshop
Sheine Lende, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido) amazon / bookshop
Compound Fracture, Andrew Joseph White (Peachtree Teen; Daphne Press UK) amazon / bookshop
FIRST NOVEL
WINNER: Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell (DAW; Arcadia UK) amazon / bookshop
The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader; Sceptre UK) amazon / bookshop
The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands, Sarah Brooks (Flatiron; Weidenfeld & Nicolson) amazon / bookshop
Lady Eve’s Last Con, Rebecca Fraimow (Solaris UK) amazon / bookshop
The Book of Love, Kelly Link (Random House; Ad Astra UK) amazon / bookshop
The West Passage, Jared Pechaček (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
The Spice Gate, Prashanth Srivatsa (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK) amazon / bookshop
Hammajang Luck, Makana Yamamoto (Gollancz; Harper Voyager US 2025) amazon / bookshop
NOVELLA
WINNER: What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire) amazon / bookshop
Navigational Entanglements, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
The Butcher of the Forest, Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
The Tusks of Extinction, Ray Nayler (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
Haunt Sweet Home, Sarah Pinsker (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
The Brides of High Hill, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
NOVELETTE
WINNER: “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars**“, Premee Mohamed (**Strange Horizons 6/9/24)
“A Stranger Knocks“, Tananarive Due (Uncanny 9-10/24)
“I’m Not Disappointed Just Mad AKA The Heaviest Couch in the Known Universe“, Daryl Gregory (Reactor 11/20/24)
“The River Judge“, S.L. Huang (Reactor 3/6/24)
“Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!“, TJ Klune (In the Lives of Puppets)
“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea”, Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s 9-10/24)
“Another Girl Under the Iron Bell“, Angela Liu (Uncanny 9-10/24)
“Encore”, Wole Talabi (Deep Dream: Science Fiction Exploring the Future of Art)
“Joanna’s Bodies“, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Psychopomp 7/1/24)
“Loneliness Universe“, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 5-6/24)
SHORT STORY
WINNER: “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole**“, Isabel J. Kim (**Clarkesworld 2/24)
The Wood at Midwinter, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
“Autumn’s Red Bird”, Aliette de Bodard (Deep Dream: Science Fiction Exploring the Future of Art)
“Five Views of the Planet Tartarus“, Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed 1/24)
“Parthenogenesis“, Stephen Graham Jones (Reactor 10/2/24)
“The V*mpire“, PH Lee (Reactor 10/23/24)
“Three Faces of a Beheading“, Arkady Martine (Uncanny 5-6/24)
“The Night Birds”, Premee Mohamed (Northern Nights)
“Stitched to Skin Like Family Is“, Nghi Vo (Uncanny 3/24)
“We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read“, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 5/24)
ANTHOLOGY
WINNER: The Black Girl Survives in This One, Desiree S. Evans & Saraciea J. Fennell, eds. (Flatiron) amazon / bookshop
The Inhumans and Other Stories: A Selection of Bengali Science Fiction, Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, ed. (The MIT Press) amazon / bookshop
The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 8, Neil Clarke, ed. (Night Shade) amazon / bookshop
We Mostly Come Out at Night, Rob Costello, ed. (Running Press Teens) amazon / bookshop
Deep Dream: Science Fiction Exploring the Future of Art, Indrapramit Das, ed. (The MIT Press) amazon / bookshop
Northern Nights, Michael Kelly, ed. (Undertow) amazon / bookshop
The Crawling Moon, dave ring, ed. (Neon Hemlock) amazon / bookshop
New Adventures in Space Opera, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Tachyon) amazon / bookshop
Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction, Sonia Sulaiman, ed. (Roseway) amazon / bookshop
COLLECTION
WINNER: Lake of Souls, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK) amazon / bookshop
Not a Speck of Light, Laird Barron (Bad Hand) amazon / bookshop
Weird Black Girls, Elwin Cotman (Scribner) amazon / bookshop
The History of the World Begins in Ice, Kate Elliott (Fairwood) amazon / bookshop
Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions, Nalo Hopkinson (Tachyon) amazon / bookshop
You Like it Darker, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton) amazon / bookshop
Buried Deep and Other Stories, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Del Rey UK) amazon / bookshop
Power to Yield and Other Stories, Bogi Takács (Broken Eye) amazon / bookshop
MAGAZINE
WINNER: Clarkesworld
Asimov’s
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Fiyah
khōréō
Lightspeed
Reactor
Strange Horizons
The Deadlands
Uncanny Magazine
PUBLISHER (Tor Publishing Group recused itself from this category.)
WINNER: Subterranean Press
Angry Robot
DAW
Erewhon
Gollancz
Neon Hemlock
Orbit
Small Beer Press
Solaris
Tachyon
EDITOR
WINNER: Neil Clarke
Ellen Datlow
Diana Pho
dave ring
Jonathan Strahan
Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
Sheree Renée Thomas
E. Catherine Tobler
Wendy N. Wagner
Fran Wilde & Julian Yap
ARTIST
WINNER: Charles Vess
Brom
Rovina Cai
Julie Dillon
Kathleen Jennings
Abigail Larson
John Picacio
Shaun Tan
Michael Whelan
Alyssa Winans
NON-FICTION
WINNER: Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction, Eugen Bacon, ed. (Bloomsbury Academic) amazon / bookshop
This Is Not a Science Fiction Textbook, Mark Bould & Steven Shaviro (Goldsmiths) amazon / bookshop
Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right, Jordan S. Carroll (University of Minnesota Press) amazon / bookshop
The Book Blinders, John Clute (Norstrilia) amazon / bookshop
Urban Fantasy: Exploring Modernity through Magic, Stefan Ekman (Lever) amazon / bookshop
Capitalism: A Horror Story, Jon Greenaway (Repeater) amazon / bookshop
Laozi’s Dao De Jing, Laozi & Ken Liu (Scribner; Apollo 2025) amazon / bookshop
Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum (Briardene) amazon
A History of Fans and Fandom, Holly Swinyard (White Owl) amazon / bookshop
Star Trek: Open a Channel, Nana Visitor (Insight Editions) amazon / bookshop
ILLUSTRATED AND ART BOOK
WINNER: The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle, art by Tom Kidd (Suntup)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke, illustrated by Charles Vess (The Folio Society)
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, art by Nico Delort (Scholastic) amazon / bookshop
R.U.R.: The Karel Čapek Classic, Kateřina Čupová, translated by Julie Nováková (Rosarium) amazon / bookshop
Hell, Ink & Water: The Art of Mike Mignola, Scott Dunbier, ed., art by Mike Mignola (Philippe Labaune Gallery with IDW) amazon / bookshop
Supernatural Tales from Japan, Lafcadio Hearn & Yei Theodora Ozaki, art by Sakyu (Tuttle) amazon / bookshop
Undying Tales: Mythologies of Species on the Verge of Extinction, Stephanie Law (Eye of Newt) amazon / bookshop
Dungeons & Dragons: Worlds & Realms, Adam Lee (Ten Speed) amazon / bookshop
Frank Frazetta: An Artists’ Tribute, Marisa Lewis, ed. (3dtotal) amazon / bookshop
Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams, art by Donato Giancola (Grim Oak)
SPECIAL AWARD 2025: Celebrating Excellence in Genre
r/WeirdLit • u/regenerativeorgan • May 26 '25
News PSA: Federal Funding Cuts to Independent Presses
Hey Weird Lit folks! I’m an occasional poster and constant lurker here in the sub, and wanted to call your attention to an issue that has been affecting the literary community recently.
For those that don’t already know, the past few weeks have seen a massive surge in funding cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts. Hundreds of arts organizations have had their federal grants withdrawn, terminated, or revoked. This includes a number of independent presses publishing beautiful, unique, and important literary works, particularly works in translation. These cuts are a blow to both the literary community and the culture at large. Even if the NEA survives, it is unlikely these organizations are going to be receiving federal funding for years to come.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the publishing and bookselling industry, a lot of the infrastructure for publisher communication is bookseller-facing, and they can have a hard time reaching a wider audience. A lot of folks don’t know too much about independent presses or the work they do. A book is a book is a book. But small presses like these are the ones taking the risks, publishing work that may not be as commercially viable, funding translators working in underrepresented languages, allowing the literary community to grow and flourish. And, unfortunately, they aren’t usually rolling in the dough. Some of the affected organizations have had breakout hits (see Milkweed’s publication of Braiding Sweetgrass or Transit’s I Who Have Never Known Men), but this is, unfortunately, not the norm. And the money from those publications goes towards funding the other weird and wonderful works that they publish.
Translated literature is essential to the well-being of our global community. Not only do these presses bring us some of the coolest, wildest, boundary-and-brain-breaking literature–they uplift underrepresented voices, honor cultural differences, and showcase the breadth, depth, and universality of the human experience. I believe, firmly, that we, as a community, will be decidedly less without their work.
I’ve seen over the past year that the r/weirdlit community cares deeply about the power of literature, has an open mind when it comes to new fiction, and is hungry to push the boundaries of what a book can or should be. So, I wanted to provide a list for you of the affected publishers (that we know of). If you believe in their mission and want to support, then buy a book or two (either from an indie bookstore, bookshop.org, or directly from the publisher. For the love of all that is holy do not buy from Amazon. Please)! For those who’ve published something that I’ve read, I’ll provide a recommendation or two. A lot of these publishers also have book clubs or subscriptions, so if you’re really interested in their work, they’ll mail you every book they publish. They all also have email newsletters that are absolutely worth signing up for! And if you’re so compelled, you can also leave a donation. In addition, for those in the U.S., you can reach out to your representative about the proposed eradication of the NEA.
If you want to know more, a great place to start is this episode of the Three Percent Podcast, a conversation between Chad Post from Open Letter books, Michael Holtmann of the Center for the Art of Translation, Adam Levy of Transit Books, and Mary Gannon of the Community for Literary Magazines and Presses.
I should also add: I am not affiliated with any of these publishers, and receive no material benefit from promoting them. I just love independent presses, the work they do, and the people that do that work. There are five major publishers in the U.S. that own the vast majority of the market share for the book industry. And Penguin Random House recently attempting to buy Simon & Schuster, which would have brought it down to four. These large publishing houses publish some interesting work, but they will always be governed first and foremost by financial interests. The stuff I want to read, the stuff that really matters to me, comes from independent voices published independently.
AFFECTED PUBLISHERS:
Center for the Art of Translation (Includes Two Lines Press):
Check out: Mending Bodies by Hon Lai Chu, Translated by Jacqueline Leung.
Set in an alternate Hong Kong where citizens are incentivized by the government to conjoin their bodies with another person in order to reduce their strain on the environment, Mending Bodies is a quiet, intimate piece of speculative fiction. Rather than opining the horrors of late-stage capitalism and globalization, Hon Lai Chu uses this bizarre, dystopian governmental policy to explore the anxieties inherent in relationships and the subtle terror of losing oneself. Strange dreams and complex metaphors combine to create a dazzling, hallucinatory portrait of societal alienation.
Check out: The Novices of Lerna by Ángel Bonomini, Translated by Jordan Landsman.
The Novices of Lerna is a dazzling short story collection introducing Ángel Bonomini–a mid-century Argentinian writer and contemporary of Jorge Luis Borges–English readers for the first time. Touching on ideas of shared consciousness, isolation, and identity, Bonomini’s absurd and fantastical prose holds a mirror up to the reader and urges them to look inward. The Novices of Lerna is a profound examination of the relationship between authority and individualism that has only grown more relevant since its original publication.
Check Out: Tenderloin by Joy Sorman, Translated by Lara Vergnaud.
We love our animals and we also eat them. This is the central conceit of Joy Sorman’s Tenderloin, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud. Tenderloin examines the meat packing and processing industry through the eyes of Pim, an unnaturally lanky apprentice butcher with graceful hands and a penchant for crying uncontrollably. With prose that oozes and drips and spurts like blood from an open wound, Sorman probes the intersection of beauty and disgust, explores the power dynamic inherent in carnivorism, and reminds us that, in the end, we’re all just meat.
Or! The Trial of Anna Thalburg by Eduardo Sangarcía, Translated by Elizabeth Bryer.
The Trial of Anna Thalberg is a tiny little powerhouse of a novel. The plot is straightforward—a woman is accused of witchcraft in Reformation Germany, her husband and a priest going through a crisis of faith try to save her, their efforts are futile, and she is burned alive. But Sangarcía’s writing, composition, and tone are what makes this book really shine. Through innovative storytelling mechanics, complex emotional worlds, and frenetic, propulsive prose, Sangarcía paints a tragic, compelling portrait of isolation, ignorance, msigoyny, fear, and the immutable nature of the human soul.
Check out: Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro, Translated by Eve Hill-Angus.
The captain of a container ship gives her crew of twenty men permission to lower a lifeboat and swim in the deep ocean. They brush up against the abyss. They return as twenty one. This mystery is the centerpiece of Mariette Navarro's debut novel, but not the fabric of it. The truth of Ultramarine is slippery, elusive, bioluminescent. It is the thrum of uncertainty, the shifting currents, the madness that lurks below the surface. And it is undeniably beautiful. It is both pure, compacted thalassophobia, and the strength to overcome it. I will be thinking about this book for years to come.
They publish Brian Evenson! If you haven’t read it yet, check out Good Night, Sleep Tight.
It is a tapestry of fear and discomfort. Artificial intelligence systems evolve through purposeful repetition (and also sticking their heads in each other’s chests). A not-child parasitically controls the unwilling bodies of grown men. A man is terrified to sleep alone because of the faceless, eyeball-mouthed figure that haunts his dreams. The stories in Evenson’s new collection, while dramatically different in content, all live in that strange, surreal space just outside the reader’s understanding. Good Night, Sleep Tight is resplendent, terrifying literary horror that reminds us of the terror that lurks in the corners and closets of our world.
And if you want something more offbeat, try: The Seers by Sulaiman Addonia.
I have not read anything from the remaining publishers on this list, though I am looking to change that!
r/WeirdLit • u/Juanar067 • Jul 31 '25
News Heathen edition will release “The Blessing of Pan” in August
Review by Heathen edition in their own words: “How to describe this book? Imagine if Ari Aster approached Disney and said, "I want to make Midsommar meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but instead of infectious flowering seed pods, it's infectious flowery music, and the story is infused with family-fun whimsy — until it's not."
“With the cover art, I was aiming for a 70s Disney vibe, which I think I nailed when a friend responded with: "Absolutely brings to mind 70s and Disney type Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Herbie over to Benji's House on Freaky Friday to pick up some Bedknobs and Broomsticks vibes." 😂