The Weird

New Weird is described as a type of urban, secondary-world fiction that starts from realistic, complex real-world models and then builds settings that can combine fantasy and science fiction. The page also says the term is disputed, and that its fiction subverts familiar fantasy clichés toward discomfiting ends.

Reading notes

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• Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer define it as urban, secondary-world fiction that uses realistic real-world models as a starting point for settings that mix fantasy and science fiction.
• Gardner Dozois says the anthology left him unsure what the term really included.
• Robin Anne Reid says the term is generally used for fiction that subverts fantastic clichés to produce discomfort rather than consolation.
• Reid also notes that the genre tends to break down the barriers between fantasy, science fiction, and supernatural horror.
• Rose O’keefe says readers buy New Weird for cutting-edge speculative fiction with a literary slant, similar to slipstream with added weirdness.
• The genre’s roots are linked to pulp horror writers and to Weird Tales, whose stories often combined fantasy, existential and physical terror, and science fiction devices.