Weird Fiction discussion

For April we are nominating books from the Modern Weird period which I have designated to mean 1990 and forward (or later) in time. Starting next year I'm considering changing the definition to 1995 and forward, but for this year I'm keeping the VanderMeers' cut-off date.

This month will mark the one-year anniversary of our club's existence. To commemorate I would like to nominate the quintessential New Weird novel, China Miéville's Perdido Street Station. It tops many lists as being the best New Weird book written.

Dan wrote: "For April we are nominating books from the Modern Weird period which I have designated to mean 1990 and forward (or later) in time. Starting next year I'm considering changing the definition to 199..."

I gave Perdido Street Station 4 stars. It is a Steampunk novel that has fantasy, science fiction, and horror.

I nominate the novella "Dog Eared Paperback of My Life" by Lucius Shepard.

The novella can be found in these two books:
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cg...

It involves parallel universes, and I think an argument can be made that its cosmic horror.

The protagonist in the story is like Lucius Shepard himself, a writer who travelled in the tropics.

As for the books that have the novella: Other Earths is a collection of alternate history stories. There is one other story in the book I though highly of, but two or three other stories I thought were terrible. Five Autobiographies and a Fiction is a collection of Lucius Shepards's novellas.

"Dog Eared Paperback of My Life" looks like an excellent choice! I've recently read an obscure parallel Earth story that contained fascinating concepts I really liked. It was a series actually, by Michael G. Coney, the centerpiece of which was Charisma. The description of the Shepard story strongly reminds me of the earlier Coney work. I'd certainly be up for another parallel Earth story in any event.

The two works you mention that have the novella would probably interest different audiences:

1) Other Earths is the economical way. I saw lots of used print copies available for purchase under $5, including shipping and tax. That would be of most interest to me because it provides 11 stories of parallel Earths (which is not necessarily a Turtledove style alternate history story; I think of the two subgenres as distinctly different, at least) including ones by Jeff VanderMeer, Stephen Baxter, Gene Wolfe, and Alastair Reynolds. Complete table of contents here: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?2...

2) Five Autobiographies and a Fiction for the person with a stronger interest in Lucius Shepard. Used print copies of this book, including shipping and tax, are available for under $8, which is a really good deal considering it listed for $35 when it came out seven years ago. Complete table of contents here: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?4...

I pick Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith.

Just like Perdido St., this one also won a Derleth Award.