| Title | : | Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume 1 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9798985992328 |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | Published February 6, 2023 |
In the event of cosmic fallout, it is vital that you adhere to the following:
Secure your own persona, and a backup if available. A neighbor’s is acceptable.
Your skin may attempt to abscond. This is normal in these situations. Do not panic.
Ignore all notifications from your mobile devices. They are not to be trusted.
Pay no mind to the details of that photograph. Yes, that one.
Should your body accrue any additional limbs, please keep proper inventory; they will need to be accounted for.
Avoid celebrity advice.
Do not feed the bears.
You will feel dizzy.
You will feel nausea.
Do not panic. This will pass.
Do not panic.
This will not pass.
Step bravely.
Do not panic.
BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume One, encompasses the finest Weird fiction previously published in 2022. Edited by Alex Woodroe.
Table of Contents:
Banhus—M.E. Bronstein
User Warning—Charlotte Ariel Finn
The Bear Across the Way—Emily Rigole
En el Patio de la Casa del Callejón—Tania Chen
In Haskins—Carson Winter
The Imperfection—Mae Murray
Blame—Warren Bennedetto
Low Tide Jenny—Bitter Karella
Machine (r)Evolution—Colleen Anderson
Skin—Isha Karki
Paradise—Sloane Leong
There is No Easy Way Towards Earth—jonah wu
Blood Calumny—Joe Koch
Lemmings—Kirstyn McDermott
Water Goes, Sand Remains—Jolie Toomajan
The Mules—Jennifer Jeanne McArdle
Stage Five Clinger—Nikki R. Leigh
Notes on the Forum of the Simulacra—Cadwell Turnbull
The Day When the Last War is Over—Sergey Gerasimov
Eat Your Colors—Sonora Taylor
Mother; Microbes—H.V. Patterson
The Mythologization of Tymber Prescott in Five Selected Photos—Luciano Marano
Cover Art: Matt Blairstone
Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume 1 Reviews
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I almost never read anthologies. Not even ones that have stories of mine in them. They're always just too uneven for my tastes. Too many different flavors. it just don't jive with me. That said, I took a chance on Brave New Weird and I'm glad I did because this was packed with way more hits than misses. In fact, I wouldn't say any of them were misses, though on a personal level, some spoke to me more than others. I guess for the sake of posterity, lemme list out my Top Five:
Banhus by M.E Bronstein
In Haskins by Carson Winter
Blame by Warren Bennedetto
Notes on the Forum of the Simulacra by Cadwell Turnbull
Lemmings by Kristin McDermott -
Excellent horror-leaning speculative fiction anthology. I was impressed by how strong all the stories were. Some certainly shine brighter than others, but there weren’t any distractingly weak stories. Bravo to Tenebrous for assembling this collection. I’m excited for volume two and to delve deeper into the works of many of the featured authors.
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I enjoy anthologies that bring together previously published work. It can be a great opportunity to sample the best of the best and discover new writers and different voices. This expertly edited collection from Tenebrous Press does just that in the genre of weird horror. As warned about in the foreword, these tales are not for the faint of heart, but if you enjoy the darker side of horror, there is a lot to love here.
A few favorites:
"Banhus" by M.E. Bronstein somehow weaves the love of languages and learning into a very twisted relationship and a uniquely haunted house. As a fan of etymology and a good ghost tale, this one thrilled me on many different levels.
"The Bear Across the Way" by Emily Rigole is an absurdist tale of an unusual suburban neighbor with a chilling morality play at its center. The last line killed me.
"In Haskins" by Carson Winter is a mind-bending examination of personality as townspeople undergo a regular ritual of exchanging lives. Loved this thoughtful take on identity and what makes us "us".
"The Imperfection" by Mae Murray is an excruciating look at the nightmare of being at war with your own body through the lens of dermatillomania and a lupus diagnosis that sends the protagonist over the edge. Deeply emotional body horror.
"Blame" by Warren Benedetto is a fun mashup of epistolary writing and ghost tale told through emails, direct messages, software code, and other digital documents of our online age. Like watching a murder mystery unfold in real time.
"The Day When the Last War is Over" by Sergey Gerasimov is a chilling portrait of a world left with nothing but barely-animate skeletons by an apocalyptic war. A boy and a girl exchange perhaps some of the last text messages on earth amidst unforgettably poignant imagery.
I'll leave it at that though this list could be much longer as there isn't a stinker in the whole anthology. Also appreciated the outstanding LGBTQIA+ rep and the diverse backgrounds of the authors. Definitely a must-have for lovers of weird, macabre, thoughtful, and ultimately transcendent horror. -
Ah, this is the exact kinda collection a guy like me is looking for. There's a nice variety of stories here with some good concepts and deliveries. They're all kinda horror, but in that way where the horror is just the scenario, the condition of the world. I'm hoping to see Brave New Weird have plenty more volumes after this baby.
My favorites:
The Bear Across the Way by Emily Rigole
In Haskins by Carson Winter
Blame by Warren Benedetto
Paradise by Sloane Leong
The Mules by Jennifer Jeanne McArdle
Stage Five Clinger by Nikki R. Leigh
The Mythologiza of Tymber Prescott in Five Selected Photos by Luciano Marano -
I rarely ever do half stars, but here's one at 3.5 rounded up to a 4 for the review.
I'm not sure what I was expecting...maybe more Lovecraft, Blackwood, Hodgson, LaValle type stories. More Weird than what turned out to be another basic modern horror antho. Half the stories were bland, cliched, ridden with tropes, and painfully mediocre.
Most of the stories deal with identity (race/gender/personality/sexuality) and were heavily focused on LGBTQIA+ which was great, but again, not what I was expecting with a self-titled "Weird" antho that also claims to be "the best". About half the stories were from BIPOC, also great.
The other half were excellent and this is where the 3.5 stars comes from. My favorite stories:
The Bear Across the Way by Rigole
In Haskins by Winter
The Imperfection by Murray
Low Tide Jenny by Karella
Skin by Isha Karki
Paradise by Leong (my #1 fave)
Blood Calumny by Koch
Water Goes, Sand Remains by Toomajan
The Mules by McArdle
Stage Five Clinger by Leigh -
Tenebrous Press wants us to get weird. As a new and important voice in weird horror, led by
Matt Blairstone and
Alex Woodroe, it seems only natural to provide a “Best of” collection, celebrating weird horror all throughout the independent horror publishing scene. 22 stories by some of the best veteran and new names in the genre are featured in Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume One, an expertly curated anthology.
You can read
Zachary Rosenberg's full review at Horror DNA by
clicking here. -
Exactly what it says on the cover, my friends. On Tenebrous Press’ website they define weird horror as “the Progressive Metal of the literary world,” which is a solid description of what you’ll find in this anthology. A small town festival where the citizens swap not only masks, but lives. The internet at its worst. Ghosts in bikinis. My favorite stories were by Charlotte Ariel Finn, Carson Winter, Kirstyn McDermott, Sloane Leong, Jolie Toomajan, and Sergey Gerasimov.
This review was originally published on my blog. -
An excellent collection of the New Weird Horror that was published in 2022. Here is a heady mix of the strange and the beautiful, by known and (to myself at least) unknown writers.
All of the stories are strikingly different as well, ranging from bizarre body horror to strange science fiction.
Pieces that particularly stood out for me included In Haskins by Carson Winter, Blame by Warren Bennedetto and The Day When the Last War is Over by Sergey Gerasimov. -
An incredibly innovative, diverse, and varied collection of stories from all over the world bending toward weird horror. I'm very impressed with the depth and breadth of stories represented here. Looking forward to seeing what Tenebrous does next.
