Prompt: Discuss what is "weird". Use specific examples from what you read this week. What do you think it is so compelling about the "weird?"
Response:
For this week I read Clive Barker's novella "Cabal". Interestingly enough this story can almost be divided into two separate plots and two separate genres. The story starts out with the main character, Boone, being gas lighted by his own therapist into believing that he was a serial killer. This part of the story goes on to reveal that Decker, the therapist, was the true serial killer and was using his patients as scapegoats. While certainly macabre (and more than a little messed up) this part of the novel lacks a lot of key supernatural and spectacular characteristics that weird fiction generally possesses. In fact, its gritty realism seems to be more fitting of the crime and psychological thriller genres.
This being said, the rest of the book after getting into secret city of Midian and meeting the nightbreed is certainly a prime example of weird fiction. When examining the nightbreed it is difficult to put a finger on what exactly they are, the physical and supernatural attributes are just an amalgamation of legends all blended into a nondescript entity that the reader can never truly know as well as an iconic vampire or zombie. In true weird fiction fashion, this sense of unknown, that defies the laws of nature without any sort of explanation, uses the reader's curiosity to compel them to read more.
(Key Take away: Boone's lover Lori was like the original 'ride or die' girl in the beginning there...)
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