The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories

The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories - Jeff VanderMeer, Ann VanderMeer I heard about this book from a Q&A episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Archive 81. I started reading in January and set a goal to read 100 pages a month. Eleven months later, I've finally finished it. And what a great book to keep me company in different cycles of growth through this year! There were a lot of amazing stories in here, my favorites being:

- "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood
- "The Dissection" by Georg Heym
- "The Spider" by Hanns Heinz Ewers
- "Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin
- "Window" by Bob Leman
- "The Autopsy" by Michael Shea
- "The New Rays" by M. John Harrison
- "Bloodchild" by Octavia E. Butler
- "The Ocean and All Its Devices" by William Browning Spencer
- "The Meat Garden" by Craig Padawer
- "The Genius of Assassins: Three Dreams of Murder in the First Person" by Michael Cisco
- "The Beautiful Gelreesh" by Jeffrey Ford
- "The Brotherhood of Mutilation" by Brian Evenson - the only story in the anthology that actually physically disturbed me.
- "The White Hands" by Mark Samuels
- "Flat Diane" by Daniel Abraham