Weird Writers

[Philip Overby]

Every so often I post something about looking for more weird writers. So I'm casting the net out again. Who are some of your favorite weird writers?

My definition of weird is any of the following (or combination of the following):

1. Off the wall
2. Goofy
3. Creepy
4. Hard to explain
5. Experimental
6. Bizarre
7. Surreal
8. Macabre

(Past or present is fine, preferably in the speculative fiction realm, but if not, that's cool)

 

[CupofJoe]

I will admit to starting [and pretty much stopping] with Philip K Dick when it comes to off the wall and weird...
I've read half a dozen of his stories and novellas [even his "long" stories are fairly short] and I've loved every one - but most of the time I have no idea what is going on, even when the story has ended and the book is back on the shelf... I'm just along for the ride.
I especially like The Man in the High Castle.

 

[deilaitha]

I will admit to starting [and pretty much stopping] with Philip K Dick when it comes to off the wall and weird...
I've read half a dozen of his stories and novellas [even his "long" stories are fairly short] and I've loved every one - but most of the time I have no idea what is going on, even when the story has ended and the book is back on the shelf... I'm just along for the ride.
I especially like The Man in the High Castle.

I really liked The Man in the High Castle, too. But you know, a lot of the wacky paranoia in his novels is attributed to his longtime methamphetamine habit. Nevertheless, for being paranoid, I feel like he is spot-on with a lot of his ideas. I have yet to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, but my dad says it's good.
Also, based on the list of criteria above, I would say that H.P. Lovecraft is a weird writer. I have yet to read something by him that I did not enjoy.

 

[Steerpike]

Well, we're reading one now for the book club. Some of Blaylock's work, like Homunculus, set I believe in Victorian England, are certainly strange (the Elfin Ship much less so). His comrades K.W. Jeter and Tim Power both wrote some weird stuff around the same time (see The Anubis Gate, by Powers; or Infernal Devices(?) by Jeter).

P.K. Dick, as mentioned above. Some stuff by Vance and Leiber probably qualifies as well.

 

[Mythopoet]

I was going to suggest Tim Powers. The Anubis Gates is one favorites that I commonly recommend. But also The Stress of Her Regard was a really interesting read and a unique take on a sort of Lamia/Vampire creature.

 

[Steerpike]

But also The Stress of Her Regard was a really interesting read and a unique take on a sort of Lamia/Vampire creature.

That one is on my list!

 

[skip.knox]

Thomas Burnett Swann always struck me as odd. Mervyn Peake. Lovecraft, of course. Barry Malzberg. Oh dear, I do believe my age is showing.

Then there are the Genuinely Weird, like Mark Danielewski (House of Leaves).