The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories
Page 239
This collection is not (just) an act of canon. It does not, nor could it, enshrine one set of texts. Without motion – of crawling and wriggling kind – there is no Weird. All canons are tombs, yes, but this collection is a post-elegy, wearing
an eaten shroud
– a long-dead rag for the dead. But this is Weird, and as Lovecraft insisted, ‘That is not dead which can eternal lie / and with strange aeons even death may die’. The answer to that riddle is simple. What can be the vector of the hole-y unholy post-life life but the worm?
These are strange aeons. These texts, dead and/or not, burrow, and we cannot predict everything they will infect or eat their path through. But certainly your brain, and they will eat the books you read from today on, too. That is how the Weird recruits.
This is a worm farm. These stories are worms.
Acknowledgments
Any project this ambitious and with this wide a scope depends on the help of many people. For key translations, advice and negotiations we must profusely thank Gio Clairval; without her efforts this anthology would be much the poorer. Thanks, too, for largesse and special ops, to Edward Duff, Jonathan K. Stephens, Armando Corridore and Konrad Walewski.
In addition to advice from our editor, Nicolas Cheetham, we had access to invaluable resources in the form of prior anthologies that helped shape The Weird. Our thanks in particular to the following editors, many of whom also provided advice, resources, or other valuable information: David Hartwell, Kathryn Cramer, Ellen Datlow, Marvin Kaye, Kirby McCauley, S.T. Joshi, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Ramsey Campbell, J.N. Williamson, Leonard Wolf, Peter Crowther, William J. Tyler, Robert Weinberg, John Betancourt, Dennis Etchison, Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Martin H. Greenberg, Richard Dalby, Jonathan Strahan, Peter Straub, Bradford Morrow and Alberto Manguel. Special thanks to Ray Russell at Tartarus Press for massive amounts of help well beyond the call of duty, Jerad Walters at Centipede Press for access to rare materials, and to William Schafer at Subterranean Press for several key story suggestions – all of you are class acts. Thanks to Dedalus and Atlas Press for access to the most decadent permutations of the weird. Thanks also to Anil Menon, Jaya Bhattacharji, Alan Swirsky, Nick Wood, Matthew Cheney, Eric Schaller, and Larry Nolen for various contributions to the effort.
Our appreciation for recommendations from many dozens of other people, too many to list individually, but thank you for your help. Further thanks to all of the publishers, estates, agents and writers who made this book possible. Heart-felt thanks to Becci Sharpe at Corvus for tracking down certain permissions, and to the Corvus team: Nicolas Cheetham, Mathilda Imlah, Nicole Muir and Sachna Hanspal.
Thanks to Bruegger’s Bagels, Hopkins Eatery and Monks for keeping us fed and sane. Finally, thanks to our families and friends for putting up with us while we worked on this project (and neglected them) – it devoured our lives for several months.
For more information on weird fiction, especially the works in this anthology, visit www.theweirdcompendium.com
Extended Copyrights
Daniel Abraham: ‘Flat Diane’ by Daniel Abraham, copyright © 2004 by Daniel Abraham. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October/November 2004. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Robert Aickman: ‘The Hospice’ by Robert Aickman, copyright © 1975 The Estate of Robert Aickman. Originally published in Cold Hand In Mine: Eight Strange Stories. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.
Michal Ajvaz: ‘The End of the Garden’ by Michal Ajvaz, copyright © 1991. Originally published in Návrat Starého Varana. Translation by James Naughton copyright © 1994. Reprinted by permission of the author and translator.
Rynosuke Akutagawa: ‘The Hell Screen’ by Rynosuke Akutagawa. Originally published in Osaka Mainichi (1918). Translation by Morinaka Akira, copyright © 2011. Published by permission of the translator.
H. F. Arnold: ‘The Night Wire’ by H. F. Arnold. Originally published in the Sept. 1926 issue of Weird Tales.
Clive Barker: ‘In the Hills, The Cities’ by Clive Barker, copyright © 1984, 1988, 1998 by Clive Barker. Originally published in 1984 in The First Books Of Blood. Reprinted by permission of the author and Sphere, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group.
Laird Barron: ‘The Forest’ by Laird Barron, copyright © 2007. Originally published in Inferno: New Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, 2007, edited by Ellen Datlow. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Eric Basso: ‘The Beak Doctor’ by Eric Basso, copyright © 1976. Originally published in The Chicago Review, 1977. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Charles Beaumont: ‘The Howling Man’ by Charles Beaumont, copyright © 1959 by the Greenleaf Publishing Company, renewed 1987 by Christopher Beaumont. Originally published in Rogue Magazine, November 1959. Reprinted by permission of Don Congdon Associates.
Michel Bernanos: ‘The Other Side of the Mountain’ by Michel Bernanos, copyright © 1967. Originally published in book form in French by Jean-Jacques Pauvert under the title La Montagne Morte de la Vie in 1967. This new translation by Gio Clairval, copyright © 2011. Published by permission of the translator and the author’s estate.
Olympe Bhêly-Quénum: ‘A Child in the Bush of Ghosts’ by Olympe Bhêly-Quénum, copyright © 1949. Originally published in Liaison d’un été. Reprinted by permission of the author.
K. J. Bishop: ‘Saving the Gleeful Horse’ by K.J. Bishop, copyright © 2009. Originally published in Fantasy Magazine, 2010. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Jerome Bixby: ‘It’s a Good Life’ by Jerome Bixby. Originally published in Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2, 1953.
Algernon Blackwood: ‘The Willows’ by Algernon Blackwood. Originally published in The Listener and Other Stories (1907).
Robert Bloch: ‘The Hungry House’ by Robert Bloch, copyright © 1951. Originally published in Imagination. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.
Jorge Luis Borges: ‘The Aleph’ by Jorge Luis Borges, copyright © 1945. From Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Hurley, copyright © 1998 by Maria Kodama; translation copyright © 1998 by Penguin Putnam Inc. Originally published in the Argentine journal Sur, 1945. Reprinted by permission of Andrew Hurley, Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Group (USA), Inc and The Wylie Agency LLC.
Ray Bradbury: ‘The Crowd’ by Ray Bradbury, copyright © 1943, renewed 1970 by Ray Bradbury. Originally published in Weird Tales, March 1943. Reprinted by permission of Don Congdon Associates.
Poppy Z. Brite: ‘His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood’ by Poppy Z. Brite, copyright © 1990. Originally published in Borderlands 1, 1990, edited by Tom Monteleone. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Octavia Butler: ‘Bloodchild’ by Octavia Butler, copyright © 1984, 1995 by Octavia Butler. Originally published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, June 1984. Reprinted in Bloodchild And Other Stories, 1995. Reprinted by permission of Seven Stories Press.
Ramsey Campbell: ‘The Brood’ by Ramsey Campbell, copyright © 1980. Originally published in Dark Forces, 1980, edited by Kirby McCauley. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Leonora Carrington: ‘White Rabbits’ by Leonora Carrington, copyright © 1941. Originally published in View no. 9–10, New York 1941–1942. First published in book form in The Seventh Horse by Leonora Carrington, 1988. Reprinted by permission of Flammarion, Paris.
Angela Carter: ‘The Snow Pavilion’ by Angela Carter, copyright © 1995 Angela Carter. Originally published in Burning Your Boats. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate, c/o Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd.
Michael Chabon: ‘The God of Dark Laughter’ by Michael Chabon, copyright © 2001. Originally published in the New Yorker, April 2001. Reprinted by arrangement with Mary Evans Inc.
Stepan Chapman: ‘The Stiff and the Stile’ by Stepan Chapman, copyright © 1997. Originally published in Xero Magazine no. 1–4, 1997. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Michael Cisco:
‘The Genius of Assassins’ by Michael Cisco, copyright © 2002. Originally published in Leviathan 3, 2002, edited by Forrest Aguirre and Jeff VanderMeer. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Julio Cortázar: ‘Axolotl’ by Julio Cortázar, copyright © 1956. Originally published in Final del juego by Los Presentes, México. This new translation by Gio Clairval, copyright © 2011. Published by permission of the translator and the author’s estate.
F. Marion Crawford: ‘The Screaming Skull’ by F. Marion Crawford. Originally published in Collier’s Magazine, July 1908. First collected in Uncanny Tales (UK) and Wandering Ghosts (US) 1911.
Daphne du Maurier: ‘Don’t Look Now’ by Daphne du Maurier, copyright © 1971. Originally published in Not After Midnight, Gollancz, (UK) and Don’t Look Now and Other Stories, Doubleday, (US). Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.
Steve Duffy: ‘The Lion’s Den’ by Steve Duffy, copyright © 2009. Originally published in Cern Zoo: Nemonymous 9, 2009. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Lord Dunsany: ‘How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art’ by Lord Dunsany. Originally published in The Book of Wonder, 1912.
Harlan Ellison: ‘The Function of Dream Sleep’ by Harlan Ellison, copyright © 1988 by The Kilimanjaro Corporation. Reprinted by arrangement with, and permission of, the Author and the Author’s agent, Richard Curtis Associates, Inc., New York. All rights reserved. Harlan Ellison® is a registered trademark of The Kilimanjaro Corporation.
Dennis Etchison: ‘It Only Comes Out at Night’ by Dennis Etchison, copyright © 1976 by Kirby McCauley, © 1982 by Dennis Etchison. Originally published in Frights, edited by Kirby McCauley. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Brian Evenson: ‘The Brotherhood of Mutilation’ by Brian Evenson, copyright ©2003. Originally published as a chapbook by Earthling Press, 2003. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Hanns Heinz Ewers: ‘The Spider’ by Hanns Heinz Ewers. Originally published in 1915.
Jeffrey Ford: ‘The Delicate’ by Jeffrey Ford, copyright © 1994, 2002. Revised from its original publication in Space and Time, no. 83, 1994 and reprinted in The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant and Other Stories, Golden Gryphon, 2002. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Jeffrey Ford: ‘The Beautiful Gelreesh’ by Jeffrey Ford, copyright © 2003. Originally published in Album Zutique #1, edited by Jeff VanderMeer. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Karen Joy Fowler: ‘The Dark’ by Karen Joy Fowler, copyright © 1991. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Neil Gaiman: ‘Feeders and Eaters’ by Neil Gaiman, copyright © 1990, 2002. Originally published as a comic book in Revolver Horror Special. First published in this form in Keep Out the Night, edited by Stephen Jones. Reprinted by permission of the author.
William Gibson & John Shirley: ‘The Belonging Kind’ by William Gibson & John Shirley, copyright © 1981. Originally published in Shadows 4, 1981, edited by Charles L. Grant. Reprinted by permission of the authors.
Stefan Grabinski: ‘The White Weyrak’ by Stefan Grabinski, translated by Miroslaw Lipinski, copyright © 1994. Originally published in Slowo Polskie, 1921. Reprinted by permission of the translator.
Elizabeth Hand: ‘The Boy in the Tree’ by Elizabeth Hand, copyright © 1989. Originally published in Full Spectrum 2, edited by Lou Aronica, Patrick LoBrutto, Shawna McCarthy, and Amy Stout. Reprinted by permission of the author.
M. John Harrison: ‘Engaro’ by M. John Harrison, copyright © 1981. Originally published in Winter Tales 27. Reprinted by permission of the author.
M. John Harrison: ‘The New Rays’ by M. John Harrison, copyright © 1982. Originally published in Interzone 1. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Georg Heym: ‘The Dissection’ by Georg Heym. Originally published in Der Dieb. Ein Novellenbuch, 1913. This new translation by Gio Clairval, copyright © 2011. Published by permission of the translator.
Margaret Irwin: ‘The Book’ by Margaret Irwin, copyright © 1930. Originally published in The London Mercury. Reprinted by permission of PFD (www.pfd.co.co.uk) on behalf of the Estate of Margaret Irwin.
Shirley Jackson: ‘The Summer People’ by Shirley Jackson, copyright © 1948, 1952, 1960 by Shirley Jackson. Originally published in Come Along With Me. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate and Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
M.R. James: ‘Casting the Runes’ by M.R. James. Originally published in More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, 1911.
Robert Barbour Johnson: ‘Far Below’ by Robert Barbour Johnson. Originally published in Weird Tales, 1939.
Stephen Graham Jones: ‘Little Lambs’ by Stephen Graham Jones, copyright © 2009. Originally published in Iron Horse Literary Review. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Franz Kafka: ‘In the Penal Colony’ by Franz Kafka. Originally published in German in 1919 as ‘In der Strafkolonie’ by Kurt Wolff Verlag. Translation by Ian Johnston, copyright © 2007 Reprinted by permission of the translator.
Caitlin R. Kiernan: ‘A Redress for Andromeda’ by Caitlin Kiernan, copyright © 2000. Originally published in October Dreams: A Celebration of Halloween, edited by Richard Chizmar and Robert Morrish. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Garry Kilworth: ‘Hogfoot Right and Bird-Hands’ by Garry Kilworth, copyright © 1987. Originally published in Other Edens, edited by Christopher Evans and Robert Holdstock. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Jamaica Kincaid: ‘My Mother’ by Jamaica Kincaid, copyright © 1978 by Jamaica Kincaid. Originally published in At The Bottom Of The River by Jamaica Kincaid. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC, and The Wylie Agency.
Stephen King: ‘The Man in the Black Suit’ by Stephen King © 2002. Originally published in The New Yorker, December 1994. Reprinted by permission of the author and by Hodder and Stoughton Limited.
Kathe Koja: ‘Angels in Love’ by Kathe Koja, copyright © 1991. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1991. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Leena Krohn: ‘Tainaron: Mail From Another City’ by Leena Krohn, copyright © 1985. Originally published in Finland by SanomaWSOY. First published in English by Prime Books, 2004. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Alfred Kubin: Excerpt from The Other Side by Alfred Kubin, copyright © 1908. Originally published in German as Die Andere Seite by Christa Spangenberg, Munich. Translation by Mike Mitchell, copyright © 1988. Excerpt reprinted by permission of Dedalus.
Marc Laidlaw: ‘The Diane Arbus Suicide Portfolio’ by Marc Laidlaw, copyright © 1993. Originally published in OMNI, May 1993. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Margo Lanagan: ‘Singing My Sister Down’ by Margo Lanagan, copyright © 2004. Originally published in Black Juice, Allen & Unwin. Reprinted by permission of Allen & Unwin, PTY LTD.
Tanith Lee: ‘Yellow and Red’ by Tanith Lee, copyright © 1998. Originally published in Interzone no. 132, June 1998. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Fritz Leiber: ‘Smoke Ghost’ by Fritz Leiber, copyright © 1941. Originally published in Unknown Worlds. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.
Bob Leman: ‘Window’ by Bob Leman, copyright © 1980. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1980. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.
J. Robert Lennon: “Portal” J. Robert Lennon, copyright ©2010. Originally published in Weird Tales. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Thomas Ligotti: ‘The Town Manager’ by Thomas Ligotti, copyright © 2003. Originally published in Weird Tales. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Kelly Link: ‘The Specialist’s Hat’ by Kelly Link, copyright © 1998. Originally published in Event Horizon. Reprinted by permission of the author.