https://dimshores.bigcartel.com/product/suffering-the-other-anthology

"A new benefit anthology of dark weird fiction based on the concept of othering -- the process of perceiving or portraying someone or something as fundamentally different or alien, often leading to discrimination and persecution. Othering and dehumanization have long been tools of oppressors, but I don’t recall seeing these tactics so openly embraced, and with such zeal and gusto, here in my lifetime.

While all marginalized groups are under increased attack, two communities seem to have been singled out for especially harsh treatment -- all migrants regardless of legal status, and transgender folks. As such, this book will be a benefit for two organizations doing boots-on-the-ground work: National Immigration Project, and Transgender Law Center. All proceeds after production costs will be split between these two crucial orgs. Folks involved are taking small token payments for their work so we can raise as much money as possible.

SUFFERING THE OTHER features an excellent line-up of 16 original stories and 8 reprints (indicated with **):

Kurt Fawver - The KnowQuest AI Chatbot Answers All Your Questions About Britemol C

A. J. Sharpe - Sore Thumb

Marigold Rowell - Salt Blossoms

A.C. Wise - Sea Wives

Cheyenne Shaffer - Ursula the Powerful **

Bitter Karella - The Divine Feminine

Clint Smith - "January Sick"

David Peak - Crawling Out of Black Sun

Erica Ruppert - Nor Stone, Nor Earth, Nor Boundless Sea

Gwendolyn Kiste - My Sister, The Abyss

Matthew Cheney - Queer Horror, and Other Stories

Jeffrey Thomas - Song of the Loved

J. J. Steinfeld - The Suicide Inspector **

Alexander Hay - LEAD **

Pamela Weis - An Abomination

Jonathan Lees - To Those That Have Lost Hope

Laura Mauro - Ptichka **

Bogi Takács - A Technical Term, Like Privilege **

Lee Thomas - Kisses from the Pain Chamber

Lisa Cai - The Eighth Cigarette **

Robin Rose Graves - Her True Face

Nadia Bulkin - Infested **

Wen Wen Yang - Ghost Festival in the Desert **

Jennifer DeLeskie - You Shall Love Your Crooked Neighbor with Your Crooked Heart

Lead editor: Justin Steele (Looming Low Volumes I and II, The Children of Old Leech, Strange Aeons)

Co-editor: Sam Cowan

Cover art and design: Rew X

380 pages

This pre-order is for the limited, hand-numbered paperback edition available here only (printed on cream paper, comes with cover art sticker). A mass-market paperback edition will soon be available through Bookshop.org and most other online booksellers. An e-book edition will also be forthcoming soon after print publication."

This is so rucking weird and will be loved or hated especially in the current climate

Good God, what did I just read.

I went into this book expecting a certain level of odd and off experience , but I could never imagine how much. And to put all of this, so much of this, in such a short page count, and with so vivid and engrossing and defined prose, has got to be a feat.

The beginning was difficult. The prose was odd, not difficult, but sort of literary, but that was not an issue. The difficulty arose from having my mind wrap around the setting, which took me a while to appreciate, and I’m glad I stuck with it. I’m not big on the Southern gothic horror, it doesn’t hold much appeal to me, but this book did a fantastic job in my opinion. Especially with all that was happening in the story, it did a great job of keeping all elements and characters, as well as all places relevant, memorable, and connected to a common setting.

The events were intriguing, almost as much as the characters themselves, each with their own individuality, while maintaining the bleak and occult essence of the society. There was also a good balance of revealing an oddity and giving us space to get settled with them, before adding another layer to the cauldron.

I will admit I did lose track of things here and there, mostly because there was so much to think on, none fitting into a simple mould of character design or event that I’m used to, which is of course appreciated, but requires attention. No complaints though. The pacing was good, the prose vivid but never forced, the characters unique, the events disturbing, bleak, and yet always carrying a thread of hope through it all. The end was good enough to justify closing off this tale at that note, so no quarrel there either.

A good unexpected read for Horror Halloween October.

4/5 ⭐️

- "Healing Self-harm"...

I read "Piercing" by the famous Japanese author Ryu Murakami (rest in peace)... I started reading it because of Nicolas Pesce’s movie—which, by the way, I didn’t like... Sure, it has its own visual style and that neon aesthetic, but after watching it, I didn’t understand a thing...

And speaking of the book, it’s better! (Surprising, isn’t it?) Overall, I like the dynamic between the characters and, of course, the powerful monologues mixed with dark humor

The story itself is presented in an interesting way through two characters, each with their own traumas. Murakami shows that traumatized people instantly sense each other’s inner brokenness, forming a deep empathetic bond that strips them of their usual cruelty.

The author himself shows that even in a metropolis like Tokyo, there is a form of existential loneliness. The novel emphasizes that behind the prosperous walls of these apartments, dark human deviances may be hidden—deviances that society doesn’t care about until someone sees a corpse or some other tragedy…

And the novel’s title is the central metaphor. For Tiaki, piercings and self-harm—just like Kawashima’s desire to pierce flesh—serve an important therapeutic (albeit destructive) function… they both survived the horror of childhood abuse. A piercing is pain that a person chooses for themselves.

It’s a way of declaring: “My body belongs to me, and only I decide when and how I will feel pain.”… and for Tiaki, cuts and piercings are a way to escape a state (where it feels as though she doesn’t exist).

That very pain brings her back to reality. Naturally, the book doesn’t try to justify them or their deviant behavior. It’s a ruthless psychological diagnosis of a society that ignores childhood trauma.

The author shows that child abuse never goes unnoticed; it remains inside a person like a time bomb that will go off sooner or later But of course, there are some downsides I should mention: The novel’s ending leaves a sense of incompleteness, in my opinion; it cuts off at a climactic moment, offering no resolution or answers to the questions raised. The story is certainly short and intimate, and the downside is that I felt it lacked further exploration; but on the other hand, the open ending is just as it is.

In my view, the ending shows that they do not become “normal” in that sense. However, the author offers hope: they cease to be alone in their madness. Ryū Murakami shows that salvation from inner demons lies not in therapy, but in absolute, frightening sincerity and acceptance of one’s partner’s dark sides. Kawashima abandons the idea of killing his daughter, as his destructive impulse has found an outlet and understanding in Tiaki..

Recommend for reading

If I like Root Rot by Saskia Nislow and Christopher Slatsky's The Immeasurable Corpse of Nature, what else should I be looking for?

I'm searching for horror (and adjacent) weird fic that is very earthy/materialist, more uncanny and sensual and hallucinatory, more dread than gore, concerns decay and dissolution and dirt. Short stories and novellas are my preferred format for this kind of thing but I'm open to anything.

Doesnt have to be a novel or single author collection, I love anthologies.

does need to be super recent!

To get a sense of what I mean by the creepier side, I’d say more the “annihilation” side of Vandermere than the “dead astronauts” type of weird (I loved southern reach but pretty much everything else he’s written is just sort of not very interesting to me. I can’t get any handle on it at all. don’t kill me, I admit I’m kind of dumb.)

I’m thinking like, Mark Samuels, Caitlin Kiernan as opposed to China Mieville. if that helps.

Something in the vein of a detatched, omnipotent narrator telling the reader a tale, where the characters slowly become aware of the fact that they are in a story/are part of an already-established series of events. Perhaps with a bit of fourth-wall breaking?

I'm having some difficulty articulating the tone/vibe/whatever 😅 similar to the trope of an AI gaining self-awareness but in book form. Characters vs. Narrator, I guess.

Thank you!

Russel Hoban (1925-2011) was a writer whose works spanned fantasy, sci-fi, magical realism, and more. I've been on a bit of a book-buying binge and snagged several of his works and have wishlisted several more for myself. I'm thinking about reading something by him soon but I'm not sure where to begin. Any fans who have a particular recommendation? Some of his novels include: Riddley Walker, Pilgermann, The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz, The Medusa Frequency, Turtle Diary, Fremder, Kleinzeit, and more. The plots tends to be very surreal and he seems highly intriguing.

Marcel Schwob was a French symbolist writer that was an influence on Borges and Bolaño. I read the titular story from this collection a few years ago and have been meaning to at some point get back to it and read the others. I wouldn't say I was blown away, it's fuzzy in my memory—something about a king in a mask that he couldn't take off—but I do recall it being very interesting, and certainly very weird. Any fans? Any other stories or books/collections you recommend seeking out by Schwob? Thanks!

(Apologies if this isn't sufficiently a book question to be allowed)

Hi! I'm looking for recommendations for video games that feel like weird fiction books. Some books I have enjoyed - Lots of China Mieville - Piranesi - Annihilation - Metal from Heaven - House of Leaves - There Is No Antimemetics Division - Saint of Bright Doors

I have already played Control and am aware of the other Remedy games.

I like cosmic horror (though it's not a requirement, eg I wouldn't consider Piranesi in this genre) but I don't like jumpscare style horror or "you have three bullets and a guy is chasing you" style horror games.

edit: y'all are amazing, I hadn't heard of most of these

She was a surrealist painter, but her writing is equally fascinating. She wrote the novel The Hearing Trumpet among others and a series of fascinating short stories. I've read the Complete Stories, Down Below, and I'm looking forward to The Hearing Trumpet in the near future, which is waiting on my shelf. I read the first couple dozen pages or so in the bookstore and was absolutely fascinated. She has an amazing style that reminds me somewhat of Kafka, but through a more female lens. Her paintings are wonderful too (I recently started a community dedicated just to her work). Would love to hear from any fans, she seems underappreciated (though her paintings sell for tens of millions).

Looking for weirdly specific recommendations that feature any two or more of the following symbolisms and themes together:

- Fruits and seeds

- Guilt and trauma

- Dreams and nightmares

- Sickness and illness

Reading everything with these themes and symbols from Homeric Hymns to 19th c. German Poetry to Southern Gothic novels, though things with darker or more spiritual tone are particularly welcome.

What a weird and wonderful (in the old sense as well as the new) book. Some parts of it fell flat for me but I’d still recommend it if you’re looking for a good time.

Please tell me someone else has read it too, I need someone to talk about it with.

My elevator pitch: our MC, Vera, is a survivor of the Low-Probability Event, a short-lived (series of) extremely improbable disasters. Flying pigs, plane crashes, unusual workplace accidents, they all come crashing down on the world all at once.

And then she runs away and hides from the world, unable to cope with what she’s seen, her rigid worldview shattered.

Four years later, a government agent knocks on her door. The day of the LPE, she’d had a book published about a particular casino, which shouldn’t be turning a profit, but it is. It’s screwing tourists out of their hard-earned money, even worse than casinos normally do. Agent Jonah Layne thinks that this casino and the LPE might be connected. So he drags a reluctant, vehemently nihilistic Vera along to help suss out what’s happening.

Because- minor spoiler alert!- the LPEs haven’t stopped.

I thought this was a very fun read with some knockout horror and weirdness. A particular scene in a pool really shook me, and I’m pretty inured to literary gore. It’s wonderfully surreal and at times eldritch. A scene near the end, in the desert, really turns it up to 11 for a super super fun and scary and satisfying fight scene. I really grew to love Vera and believe her story and her growth back to someone who can live in the world and make connections after the horrific events she lived through. And Agent Lane was genuinely endearing, despite Vera thinking of him as super annoying.

Certain plot beats and character moments really fell flat for me though. Tingle is queer, as am I, but the emphasis on Vera’s struggle with bisexuality erasure felt extremely on the nose, and instead of giving her a chance to talk it out with either character who brings it up to her, both times, Tingle drops a disaster in their lap and it’s never resolved. Not that everything has to be resolved, it’s horror, but it felt particularly shoehorned in.

Vera’s narration also started to draaaaag as the book went on. I felt like I was being treated like a child with how much she explained her feelings and the themes of the book in basic terms over and over again. And the finale, which was of a format that I love, felt far too long. The psychoscape confrontation with a manifestation of the villain in the form of her estranged mother is something I eat up every time. But she still had about a half dozen crises to resolve. So it just took FOREVER. And the denouement, while I see what Tingle was going for with the buildup, still didn’t avoid a sudden pull to left field.

Ultimately, though, WHO is doing it like this?? I haven’t seen a book in ages that takes this many swings. Who cares if a few of them don’t connect? It 100% lives up to the cover art as well, which is gorgeous. 4/5 stars for a genre bending surreal novel that I devoured in 2 days.

I'm trying to find a good book/book series that gives a feeling that something in the world isn't quite right, whether it's an entity that causes chaos or the world around the main characters is off for some reason.

i've not read many from lovecraft, thomas ligotti. actually first i wanted any story recommendations from them, but could be also any horror stories maybe even novellas which are quite weird and eerie

H. P. Lovecraft: When the Stars Are Right

Looks like this documentary featuring people from the Lovecraft Circle is finally hitting the funding levels it needs to be finished.

Expectation is that it will be doing the festival/convention circuit in 2028