Euan’s Reviews > The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories > Status Update

In the Hills, the Cities by Clive Barker (1984)- Reread. I remember only thinking this was okay when I first read it several years ago, but I didn't that was the case at all this time. This was great and horrific. Doesn't perhaps fit "the weirdest thing I've ever read" which I feel I've heard about it, but excellent.

Tainaron by Leena Krohn (1985)- Skipped, because I read this last year. It's a favourite though.

Bloodchild by Octavia Butler (1984)- Butler wrote this as a way of overcoming her fear of botflies? I mean it was great. But it was horrific.

The New Rays by M. John Harrison (1982)- A story about a woman undergoing an unspecified, experimental treatment by being irradiated by New Rays in a shoddy, sketchy clinic, which also seems to create or involve blue homunculi of the patients, and this strange treatment's effect on her

Egnaro by M. John Harrison (1981)- This was a strange one. It seems to be almost about an antimeme, an idea of a secret that everyone knows but you, infecting a used bookstore owner and his accountant's lives. Slipper and hard to grasp.

The Dirty Little Girl by Joanna Russ- A story of a woman who encounters an oddly intelligent little girl, who she begins to take care of in small ways, who may be a ghost, or herself

The Autopsy by Michael Shea (1980)- A story about a doctor called to autopsy of men killed in a mine explosion, one of whom may be a cannibal, and finds something sinister when one of the corpses isn't quite as dead as it should be. Really good.

The Belonging Kind by William Gibson/John Shirley (1981)- A man finds a fluid human mimic at a bar and become obsessed with them and their transformations.

Window by Bob Leman (1980)- A story about an experiment that appears to open a window into the past, but turns out to be something more sinister.

The Brood by Ramsey Campbell (1980)- A story about a man who observes a strange old woman lurking on his street at night, who appears to be constantly taking animals in which are never see again, which he feels compelled to rescue.

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.