Rec
Compilation of short stories by Kathryn Harlan. They are all queer and varying levels of fantasy. My favorite of the stories is fiddler, fool pair where the narrator infiltrates a fairy gambling ring. Overall very whimsical, occasionally dark, and an amazingly fun read.
Mar 18, 2025
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Rec
I’ve loved a good weird, creepy, and/or magical story ever since I first read The Bloody Chamber. Here’s a few I recommend:
Stranger things happen - Kelly link white cat, black dog - Kelly Link her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories - Angela Carter the Dangers of Smoking in Bed - Mariana Enríquez When Things get dark - Edited by Ellen Datlow The Frangipani Hotel - Violet Kupersmith
Stranger things happen - Kelly link white cat, black dog - Kelly Link her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories - Angela Carter the Dangers of Smoking in Bed - Mariana Enríquez When Things get dark - Edited by Ellen Datlow The Frangipani Hotel - Violet Kupersmith
Rec
📚the doll's alphabet by camilla grudova - strange, fabulous, surreal short stories that play around with the grotesque, gothic and uncanny
fen by daisy johnson - short story collection set in the same setting, reads as if fables or myths
drive your plow over the bones of the dead by olga tokarczuk - less overtly weird but hypnotic, concerned with astrology, william blake and morals. eccentric and delightful and one of the very very very best books ever written
the fish by lloyd jones - oh i love this one.. told through the point of view a young boy whose sister gives birth to a fish. devastating and compelling and strange
swanfolk by kristin ómarsdóttir - a young spy is entranced by a group of swan women. very dreamy and whimsical but also investigating ideas of power / sanity / violence
lament for julia by susan taubes - novella + short stories, one of the best books i've ever read. the novella is disturbing and strange, told through the POV of a demon who lives inside julia's i and wickedly controls / recounts her life
agree w the pisces by melissa broder - romance with a merman that is fabulous and fun and weird
audition by pip adam - a scifi novel about prison abolishment that plays with a really unique, experimental writing style. i loved it even though i traditionally don't like scifi/fantasy
pale fire by vladimir nabokov - poem, fictional poet, forward, index; such a weird, strange, experimental, confident and unusual structure with a plot that is as equally as strange by the time you're finished
any kafka too...obviously
hope this helps, i love weird lit ♡
fen by daisy johnson - short story collection set in the same setting, reads as if fables or myths
drive your plow over the bones of the dead by olga tokarczuk - less overtly weird but hypnotic, concerned with astrology, william blake and morals. eccentric and delightful and one of the very very very best books ever written
the fish by lloyd jones - oh i love this one.. told through the point of view a young boy whose sister gives birth to a fish. devastating and compelling and strange
swanfolk by kristin ómarsdóttir - a young spy is entranced by a group of swan women. very dreamy and whimsical but also investigating ideas of power / sanity / violence
lament for julia by susan taubes - novella + short stories, one of the best books i've ever read. the novella is disturbing and strange, told through the POV of a demon who lives inside julia's i and wickedly controls / recounts her life
agree w the pisces by melissa broder - romance with a merman that is fabulous and fun and weird
audition by pip adam - a scifi novel about prison abolishment that plays with a really unique, experimental writing style. i loved it even though i traditionally don't like scifi/fantasy
pale fire by vladimir nabokov - poem, fictional poet, forward, index; such a weird, strange, experimental, confident and unusual structure with a plot that is as equally as strange by the time you're finished
any kafka too...obviously
hope this helps, i love weird lit ♡
Jun 1, 2024
Rec
A grotesque and brilliant collection of short stories. a good mix of sci-fi, spec fic, body horror and comedy. Clarke’s writing feels so visceral, she manages to make such surreal worlds feel very real.
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🫂I had just taken a volleyball straight to the nose. My glasses had flown off and I was disoriented. The game paused and my team gathered around me asking if I was ok.
It hurt, but less than I had thought it would. I was more concerned with making sure my glasses didn't break.
While I was inspecting them, one of my teammates noticed that I had a small cut on the bridge of my nose and it was bleeding. I couldn't even tell.
Because I couldn't see where the cut was, I asked one of my teammates to put the bandaid on me. It shocked me just how intimate it was to be cared for. I doubt my teammate remembers it as clearly as I do (if at all), but I think this won't be something I forget
It hurt, but less than I had thought it would. I was more concerned with making sure my glasses didn't break.
While I was inspecting them, one of my teammates noticed that I had a small cut on the bridge of my nose and it was bleeding. I couldn't even tell.
Because I couldn't see where the cut was, I asked one of my teammates to put the bandaid on me. It shocked me just how intimate it was to be cared for. I doubt my teammate remembers it as clearly as I do (if at all), but I think this won't be something I forget