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The new weird

W

Wabbit

New Member
Apparently there is a new literary movement in SF called the new weird. I have never heard of this before, has anybody here? Apparently it's the blurring of genres in SF with horror and fantasy. China Mieville is the champion of this movement. Here is what he has to say regarding the new werid movement.

"Something is happening in the literature of the fantastic. A slippage. A freeing-up. The quality is astounding. Notions are sputtering and bleeding across internal and external boundaries. Particularly in Britain, where we are being reviewed in the papers, of all things, and selling copies, and being read and riffed off by yer actual proper literary writers. We are writing books which cheerfully ignore the boundaries between SF, fantasy and horror. Justina Robson, M John Harrison, Steve Cockayne, Al Reynolds, Steph Swainston and too many others to mention, despite all our differences, share something. And our furniture has invaded their headspace. From outside the field, writers like Toby Litt? and David Mitchell? use the trappings of SF with a respect and facility that has long been missing in the clodhopping condescension of the literati."

Hmmmm, but is it still SF? Would you consider Perdido Street Station as SF? I personally would not. I think it's very much fantasy. Sure it has some other elements in it, but still it's fantasy. I'm not sure this is a movement at all. Authors have been blending other genres into their works for many years. Actually it's probably as old as writing! There are lots of Fantasy books that have SF elements woven in ( think Dragon Riders of Pern ) and there are lots of SF with Horror ( think Aliens ). The list is endless. I'm not sure it's really a movement.

What do you all thing? :)

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
.. Toby Litt ..
Click to expand...
One of my favourites!!

Anyway, i think you are right in saying that this already exists. That said, I will be following this 'movement', becuase I love it when there's a genre-skip in a book.

Cheers, Martin :cool:
 
I agree, SillyRabbit, this isn't anything new, it's been going on for ages. Clive Barker's written numerous fantasy horror books.

It makes you wonder why they would make such an assertion.
 
This just suddenly reminded me of the time I was sitting around with my dad watching a documentary about Andrew Lloyd Webber. Mr. Webber was at the piano, and said something like, "I think this particular sort of phrase is very me, very Webber" and ploinks out a few bars, and my dad looked at me and said, "Gershwin" and went back to watching the show.

Every so often, it occurs to me that I did not have a particularly normal childhood.

Sorry for the tangent, carry on.
 
lol - sounds like typical young author bollocks to me. The boundaries between sci fi, fantasy and "literary" fiction have always been vague, when you start talking about magical realism and the "literature of the fantastic" (popular in the victorian era) it gets even more blurry. Anybody who has worked in a departmentalised book shop could tell you that.

A lot of authors resent being marginalised into sci fi (not so much with fantasy writers) i remember being harangued by Jeff noon(who used to work in the same book store as i did) for not putting his books in fiction and Victor Pelevin crosses a lot of boundaries without problem.

at the end of the day the bracketing occurs to help readers find authors easier, it helps reviewers make comparisons and booksellers/librarians to categorise them.

kskyhappy

after rereading the quote i wonder whether they are talking about modernising the literary fantastic genre? Usually typified by the main protagonist being in a situation which the author provides you with various rational reasons for something unusual that has happened and then slaps you round the head with a real headless horseman - think sleepy hollow.
 
I don't know but I don't think so. Have you read Perdido Street Station? It's not that way. It's strange from the get go and never tries to make you think it's anything but a fantasy world populated by weird monsters, demons and other strange stuff. There is a book that I am going to buy that is supposed to be in the "new weird" genre. This book is just weird too. Really, its basically fantasy. Strange and not typical fantasy ( IE: Elves and dwarfs with a quest ) but, still, it's fantasy.

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
Hmmm, I don't think it is. I think that it's just some authors being pretentious :)

BTW, I like your sig very much. A lesson worth to remember :)

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
But China Mieville is supposed to be Steam Punk. He can't be allowed to have yet another silly made up genre as well. It isn't fair on anybody else.

Actually, I'm currently in the process of creating another new genre. Ciderspork, aka Scrumpypunk (haven't quite made up my mind yet). Inspired by a minor rant I had involving Cyberpunk and pirates, no need to go into the details, though I might later be needing some help with a few minor plot details.
 
litany - your new avatar made me laugh. i'd go with scrumpypunk!

Wabbit - i think you hit the nail on the head, and re:btw - you should have seen what i was trying to build!

ksky
 
kskyhappy said:
you should have seen what i was trying to build!
Click to expand...
It wasn't a man with a flying umbrella was it? Me and my old woodwork teacher never saw eye to eye. Course, he was a midget...

Anyhoo, that umbrella turned out excellent and yet another teacher learned not to cross me. Course the handle snapped off a week later due to shoddy workmanship, but there was no need to let him know that.
 
It's called The Year of our War by Steph Swainston.

Synopsis
The Fourlands have been at war for the last two thousand years, ever since God left the world. Despite the fact that the war against the Insects is such an integral part of life and it gives the calendar its name, a state approaching equilibrium has been achieved. The Insects are separated from the three sentient species of the world by the Wall, a barrier of masticated detritus. From time to time, the cancre of the Wall is lanced to drain the Insects into corrals and killing floors where they can be slaughtered. The book opens with just such an event, a messy assault lead by Dunlin Rachiswater, the King of Awia. During the attack and with his blood up, Rachiswater plunges through the Wall with a group of his men to take the battle to the Insects.

Sounds very interesting. Have you read it? What do you think either way? :)

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
Sounds kinda Starship Troopers-ish (Heinlein?).

Anyway, it's way too sci-fi for me. Don't think I'd enjoy it that much.

Cheers, Martin :cool:
 
It does seem kind of odd cooking up all these little sub-genres, but I guess it makes good fodder for jacket blurbs. In any event, from my own reading experience, I'd have to put Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, as well as nearly anything by K.W. Jeter, in the "new" genre.
 
Update on the book I mentioned a couple of posting up. I was in the book store today and they had it there! I read about 6 pages and I won't be buying. Seems kinda crap to me. The writing is a MESS. Shame, it sounded really good. On the plus point, I have not ordered it from Amazon yet, so it will save me some cash :D

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
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