Martin (not someone I associate with the genre), William Gibson and Michael Chabon. While some are well known to have done so, such as HP Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Frank Kafka, China Miéville, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Stephen King and Mervyn Peak (to name just a few) others are not so obvious like George R.R.

I was also surprised by some of the authors that have actually written stories within this genre. Admittedly it is a pretty eclectic mix, which is understandable considering the common theme.

I am still quite shocked at just how many stories are contained within the book, it's simply incredible and the author list read's almost like a who's who of fiction - it's like having a whole library contained within one volume. The introduction gives a fascinating abridged history of weird fiction and provides some insight into just how knowledgeable about the subject Ann really is, I felt quite humbled and more than a little excited about the content within and believe me you will not be disappointed. Along with her very well respected and award winning husband Jeff Vandermeer they have compiled and edited this collection, this veritable bible of the strange. It's also introduced by the world's most eminent caretaker of weird fiction Ann Vandermeer, winner of the Hugo and editor of the longest running weird fiction magazine 'Weird Tales' which was founded way back in 1923. It has a foreword by one of the great fantasy writers who dabbled in weird - Michael Moorcock and with an afterword by the king of 'new weird', the most eloquent China Miéville.

It's difficult to convey just how much information is contained in this truly gargantuan book but let me try and set the scene.ġ152 pages but these aren't paper back sized pages - this is not only as thick as a brick but as large as a hardback and wider than most - contained within are 110 different stories which total over 750,000 words. The Weird is a landmark tome of leviathan proportions, gathering together the best weird fiction from the last 100 years or so (beginning in 1908) from some of the most talented people that ever put pen to paper.

The weird vandermeer