Status Updates From The Weird: A Compendium of ...

My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid (1978)- A strange series of little flash pieces, describing a woman and her mother, who is a god or a monster, her tormentor or herself.

Sandkings by GRRM (1979)- A story about a man who acquires some "pets" to worship him and war for him, when it all goes wrong. This was excellent.

The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats by James Tiptree Jr. (1976)- A sad one about the horrors of animal research and one empathetic researcher.

The Beak Doctor by Eric Basso (1977)- Probably the weirdest one yet, and very challenging. They describe it as Joycean, and if that's what Joyce is like, the difficulty reputation is well earned. Hard to grasp, but very oneiric and atmospheric and feverish.

The Hospice by Robert Aickman (1975)- A strange story of a somewhat surreal hospice, which seems to be trying to draw in a lost business.

It Only Comes Out at Night by Dennis Etchison (1976)- A good fearful story about the paranoia and dangers of monotonous, featureless long drives, with a hint of sinister events at this one part of the road.

The Sea Was Wet As Wet Could Be by Gahan Wilson (1967)- A horror retelling of Lewis Carroll's poem The Walrus and The Carpenter.

Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier (1971)- A story of a man whose holiday is derailed by two sisters' psychic visions after the death of his child.

The Salamander by Mercè Rodoreda (1967)- A story about a woman accused of witchcraft after being seduced, who turns into a salamander when they attempt to burn her at the stake.

The Ghoulbird by Claud Seignolle (1967)- A story about a bird that lures victims into the marsh to die (maybe...)

The Colomber by Dino Buzzati (1966)- A story about a foreboding fish and fate.

The Other Side of the Mountain by Michel Bernanos (1967)- An excellent story about a ship voyage turned shipwreck turned travelogue through a surreal and dangerous landscape.

The Howling Man by Charles Beaumont (1959)- An excellent story about a man who falls ill and is taken to an abbey with a creepy secret.

Same Time, Same Place by Mervyn Peake (1963)- Very well written, being Peake, but I thought this one was just sad. :(

Mister Taylor by Augusto Monterroso (1952)- A tale about a man who establishes a shrunken head sales business in Latin America. Nicely satirical.

Axolotl by Julio Cortazar (1956)- A nice surreal story about a man meditating on Axolotls, and the changes they invoke in him.

A Woman Seldom Found by William Sansom (1956)- A short but sweet one about a man who finds a woman who's too perfect.

The Hungry House by Robert Bloch (1951)- An excellent ghost story about a couple unwittingly moving into a haunted house.

The Complete Gentleman by Amos Tutuola (1952)- A very weird one about a man saving a woman kidnapped by a skull that built its own body.

"It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby (1953)- An excellent story of a town subject to the whims of a terrifyingly powerful child

A Child in the Bush of Ghosts by Olympe Bhely-Quenum (1949)- A story about a child confronting his fear of death. Not sure I got this one, but also nice to have a non-Western story.

The Summer People by Shirley Jackson (1950)- Only Jackson can make what otherwise seems to be a relatively mundane series of events feel so creepy.

The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles by Margaret St. Clair (1951)- A fun satirical one