I have to confess that I am not a fan of horror fiction. I have a stack of unread H.P. Lovecrafts sent to me by enthusiasts. M.R. James scares me silly. Even Elizabeth Bowen’s ghost stories remain neglected among her other much-loved books. I have, however, been impressed over the years by writers usually identified as belonging to the movement described in the late 1990s by M. John Harrison as the New Weird, which marries chiefly supernatural themes to realism or naturalism. As a stylist, Harrison remains the greatest of these writers. They included Angela Carter, China Miéville and Jeffrey Ford. The movement is naturally associated with the science fiction New Wave, whose best known practitioner was J.G. Ballard; followers had little interest in weird or supernatural fiction but were often readers of Lovecraft and co.
In the footsteps of Harrison, Jeff VanderMeer wrote books full of exotic characters and baroque cities such as his Ambergris series, but gradually he began producing the realistic characters and surreal landscapes associated with the New Weird. With the publication of his Southern Reach trilogy his prestige grew rapidly. The first of these, Annihilation, was filmed. He became a bestselling author with a wide audience. The work has been compared to Lovecraft, which meant ‘unreadable’ to me. However, when I eventually overcame my prejudice, I did not for a moment think of Cthulhu or even Arkham town but realised I was in the hands of a remarkably good writer. Comparison could be made to later Harrison or Miéville, but the material was original and came from the author’s own unconscious.
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