The Canterbury Tales is actually much funnier than Hyperion, which still gives me the heebie-jeebies thirty years after reading it because of the Shrike. No Shrike in The Canterbury Tales, though the Bubonic Plague is alluded to, and that’s kind of terrifying too. Thank you for all the weirdness, Brian! I mean in the books, of course . . . 😁
First of all, really loving your intros recently, Brian! I love how you always keep innovating and refreshing 🤩 Thanks for all of these recs, I looooove me a good weird book. I think Library at Mount Char is most up my alley, but I also really need to get back to the Dark Tower someday. Some of my favourite weird books are Vita Nostra by Sergei & Marina Dyachenko (characters & plot weird), Asunder by Kerstin Hall and The Storm Beneath the World by Michael R. Fletcher (worldbuilding weird), and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (atmospheric weird, BIG Piransi vibes!!) ☺
Great video Brian. Made a note of everything I haven’t read to add to the TBR. Wasn’t able to catch the livestream for your 1 year but going to watch it back now!
Hahah! I was waiting for some Gene Wolfe on this list!!!! Some of the elements in BOTNS are simply bizarre, and Urth of the New Sun is even more bonkers!!!
Hi Brian! We want..., no, we demand a second part to this video! Your best one so far baby!!! I've read every one of the books you have mentioned and I agree on the level of weirness of every one of them! Me best to you from Argentina!!!
good selection, sir! and you look very dashing in purple, especially when you are out to get batman :) hyperion, cloud atlas and the dark tower are for sure on my tbr; also, childhood's end might be the one book that sticks with you for a long long time, after you've read it
Very cool video. Piranesi is already in my TBR and I definitely want to get to it soon. I’m also in the middle of reading my first King in Pet Sematary and absolutely loving it so far. So I’m thinking The Dark Tower should totally be on my TBR as well. Along with some of these other books! Bring on the weird!
Great idea for a vid Brian! Although now I don’t know what to do, because the first time you talked about Cloud Atlas, I removed it from my TBR, but you made it sound so intriguing here I want to add it back LOL. Love your One for the Road. I appreciate how they often tell me something I need to hear at the time.
Structurally, I'll mention Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar", which is mostly told in news stories. When I first read it, I restarted it immediately after I finished it. World design/plot, Zelazny's "Chronicles of Amber", which is surrealist, modern. mixed with high fantasy, and really memorable characters.
Suggestions: Richard Robert (anything) but especially Quite Contrary- not your typical re-imagined fairy tale. Dark and weird journey. Also, a book I completely stumbled upon on Audible when I didn’t have so many series and authors to keep up on- The Hike by Drew Magary. Surreal and twisting story of a man on a journey. Lighter but weird is “Hard Luck Hank” series- endlessly funny, best narrator, so weird! 😂
This is a great introduction to weird fiction, Brian, but also only casually dips a toe into the rabbit hole. I could outline some next steps. The New Weird movement of authors like Mieville, Vandermeer and M. John Harrison. Then older SF like Philip K Dick, R.A. Lafferty and Philip Jose Farmer. After that the real niche weird fiction authors like Michael Cisco, comedic weird fiction like Lee Martinez and bizarro fiction. After that come the really obscure novels like Zod Wallop and The Hearing Trumpet.
Thanks, Jeroen! Yeah, this list is really intended for people that are interesting in expanding horizons without getting entirely in the weeds of it :)
Thank you, you reminded me of a few books I forgot that I had on my TBR. It makes me question if I should not lean more into that in the current series I am writing but at the same time, maybe the next series for the truly weird stuff right? Thanks for this amazing video, you were awesome in D&D the other day and keep reading and having fun.
@@BrianBell7 Your one shot adventures reminded me of all the fun I had running games back in the day. Try not to get too sucked into it because some of the newest writers are pulling in adventures like you had into their latest works.
Some great suggestions on this list! I'm desperate to read Piranesi again! Such an excellent book. One of my weirdest books I've read recently is the Fifth Season by NK Jemisin, from the world to the characters, it's bizarre, but phenomenal.
In Britain , many of us who did English literature olevel or a level had to study one at least of the Canterbury tales. So you may find many of your followers from across the pond are familiar with it. My favourite weird book [in fact one of my favourite books ever] is China Mieville 's Perdito Street Station. Have you tried that one ? It's amazing.
I love me some weird! I’m currently in the middle of Piranesi! I’ve been reading sections before bed this past few days despite the fact that when I am reading it I go through it kind of fast. I knew I didn’t want to rush through this book so I’ve intentionally paced myself. I wonder if The Books of Babel will make it to your weird list whenever you get to it. Many readers have used that adjective to describe the series.
When you said Simon Jimenez, I thought you were going to say The Spear Cuts Through Water. Have you read it? I think you'll like it more than VB. (Manifesting my inner Evie, here. 😂) But yeah, Vanished Birds had a weird structure too. Thanks for the list. ❤ Childhood's End is added to the tbr and maybe I'm finally going try Hyperion.
Both Atlas and Birds are on my TBL 🙌🏻 I was wondering if David would get a mention 😈🖤🤪 Took a break from Hyperion to watch this video 🤭😜 Childhood's End is on the list too 🙌🏻 Reading large print Piranesi slowly...🤓 Bumping New Sun up the list 🙌🏻 Dark Tower ❤❤❤ Hitchhiker's Guide is at the top of my fun list. Have you read The Majestic 311? Fun video and I'm weird by nature and that's just fine 😜🎉🙌🏻
Just watched a video by Rammel Broadcasting about five books that are unadaptable and Dark Tower and Book of the New Sun were at the top of the list. It just tickled me seeing them back to back like that.
The Dark Tower can definitely be adapted for a tv show by a top notch show runner! You can get all unknown actors and with CGI all is possible. I would just adapt Dark Towers Beginnings comic books and end it with Wizard & Glass and forget about all the rest! They probably can shoot the whole series in the California desert too.
LOL I've read The Canterbury Tales. I mean, it was a long time ago. I also liked Hyperion (though I did not in fact name my character after the Dan Simmons book). Still think China Mieville should have more entries on this list!
Excellent list my man! Childhood's End is a wonderful book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in a thought provoking tale. My list might include off the top of my head..... Lord of the World Animal Farm anything by James Joyce really he's so bloody weird If on a Winter's Night a Traveler Wicked Xenocide (Ender's Game book #3) Have a great day friends and happy reading!
I am reading Electric Forest by Tanitha Lee! It is deliciously weird, a dystopian society with a Frankenstein/Pygmalion mash up. I am absolutely loving it! Childhood’s End is the bomb! I think it’s theme is ironically, the foundation for most fantasy novels!!
@ I know and after Niko Book Reviews loved it too I picked it up, I knew you both could not be wrong. This book brought me in from the first scene, old school dystopian with a “ strong voice” female protagonist.❤️❤️❤️
Lol. I read the Caterbury Tales when I was in High School. I had this one woman say that a lot of my work is like Flannery O'Conner mixed with Geoffrey Chaucer. Having read about every Mad Magazine that came out when I was younger, and also getting into the box of my father's National Lampoons magazines in the attic, I was primed at an early age to gravitate to the weird and crude and offensive humor. "Weird" is one of those words I don't like to use anymore because it has been used to attack me. It is a cool sounding word, though. Normal is too boring and I never conformed anyhow. At my age, I have completely abandoned trying to look and act normal. Sometimes, I can be offputting. Maybe that's some sort of defense mechanism to ensure my status as a weird loner. Stay weird, Brian! Satire!
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. So weird it can't be properly read via ebook or audiobook. This is the second time one of your videos compelled me to mention it. If it happens a third time, the book will magically appear and haunt you until it's been read.
Greetings from Brussels, Brian! 🇧🇪 I think you maybe mentioned, but «Weird» do come from «Wyrd», approx. «one’s fate»: As such it points to something outside of your own will, Deus Ex Machina’s outside of rational thought and calculation, where God, gods or the Universe DO seem to playing dice (to paraphrase Einstein) with us humble mortals, but also rising to become something greater, something worth to be remembered, that is as you say, outside of rutine and the ordinary. Can definitely vouch for the weirdness of «Cloud Atlas» and «Childhood’s End» (man, it is really good, but also so so heartbreakingly bleak, not gonna lie!), and hope to get to «Hyperion» and «Book of the New Sun» in my not to distant future! I am myself about to read «Lord of Light» by Roger Zelazny after my Belgian Holiday! As always good food for thought before we hit the road Brian! Cheers!
Hey, enjoy! 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ "Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind’s journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul’s fate revealed. In time, all points converge, hope’s strength resteeled. But to earn final peace at the universe’s endless refrain, we must see all in nothingness... before we start again." 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ --Diamond Dragons (series)
Exactly. Besides, only the wealthiest can market their work. No exceptions. But that doesn't mean it holds much in the way of dramatic structure, character arcs, literary techniques, thematic underpinnings, relevant world-building, etc. 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ "Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind’s journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul’s fate revealed. In time, all points converge, hope’s strength resteeled. But to earn final peace at the universe’s endless refrain, we must see all in nothingness... before we start again." 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ --Diamond Dragons (series)
The Canterbury Tales is actually much funnier than Hyperion, which still gives me the heebie-jeebies thirty years after reading it because of the Shrike. No Shrike in The Canterbury Tales, though the Bubonic Plague is alluded to, and that’s kind of terrifying too. Thank you for all the weirdness, Brian! I mean in the books, of course . . . 😁
ha! of course :)
Love the purple!!
Adding Cloud Atlas to my future TBR.
I have Piranesi and Book of the New Sun on my list already. 😊
Thanks, Maeve! Btw, loving your AMA. Only halfway through it but it’s great so far!
@ Thank you so much!!
Love this format and the books you mentioned. Please make more!
Absolutely! Thank you!
First of all, really loving your intros recently, Brian! I love how you always keep innovating and refreshing 🤩
Thanks for all of these recs, I looooove me a good weird book. I think Library at Mount Char is most up my alley, but I also really need to get back to the Dark Tower someday.
Some of my favourite weird books are Vita Nostra by Sergei & Marina Dyachenko (characters & plot weird), Asunder by Kerstin Hall and The Storm Beneath the World by Michael R. Fletcher (worldbuilding weird), and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (atmospheric weird, BIG Piransi vibes!!) ☺
Thanks, Esmay! I'm glad you notice the intros! They certainly do take more work than just filming thoughts. I'll check out The Starless Sea!
Great video! These are all on my TBR except Piranesi which I loved!
Thanks! I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!
Great video Brian. Made a note of everything I haven’t read to add to the TBR. Wasn’t able to catch the livestream for your 1 year but going to watch it back now!
Awesome, thank you!
Library at Mount Char sounds so interesting. And Piranesi is incredible!
Glad you agree!!
That’s the one I think I’ll be looking for as well. 😊
You had me at the intro…so good. 💜
Glad you liked it!!
Hahah! I was waiting for some Gene Wolfe on this list!!!! Some of the elements in BOTNS are simply bizarre, and Urth of the New Sun is even more bonkers!!!
Hahaha, Thanks, Sam! Yep, you knew it would make this list 100%
Fun fact Mr Rogers and I were born in the same town in PA. Great video with some really solid picks!
No way! That’s so cool. Thanks, Tom! There will be a part 2!
Hi Brian! We want..., no, we demand a second part to this video! Your best one so far baby!!! I've read every one of the books you have mentioned and I agree on the level of weirness of every one of them! Me best to you from Argentina!!!
Argentina representing!!! OK - I'll do a part 2!
@@BrianBell7 That's the spirit!
Can't believe you didn't change into your sweater jacket at the end there ;)
Won't you be mine?
Great suggestions! I want to read The Dark Tower, but want to read some of his other books first for the tie-ins.
I "think" the only ones that might give you the tie-ins are "It", "Salem's Lot", and "The Stand". Maybe "Insomnia"
Great video Brian! Glad to see the Dark Tower series on this list. It’s definitely a weird one lol.
It sure is, Chas! And I love it!!
@ me too! 😁
good selection, sir! and you look very dashing in purple, especially when you are out to get batman :) hyperion, cloud atlas and the dark tower are for sure on my tbr; also, childhood's end might be the one book that sticks with you for a long long time, after you've read it
Haha! Batman... wait'll he gets a load of me!
Very cool video. Piranesi is already in my TBR and I definitely want to get to it soon. I’m also in the middle of reading my first King in Pet Sematary and absolutely loving it so far. So I’m thinking The Dark Tower should totally be on my TBR as well. Along with some of these other books! Bring on the weird!
Thanks, N.A. - Bring it!
Love the weird list! So excited to read Cloud Atlas at some point. I also love the purple jacket and Mr. Rogers quote! 💜😊
Thanks! I was in a purple mood! I think you'll like that book :)
Great idea for a vid Brian! Although now I don’t know what to do, because the first time you talked about Cloud Atlas, I removed it from my TBR, but you made it sound so intriguing here I want to add it back LOL. Love your One for the Road. I appreciate how they often tell me something I need to hear at the time.
Haha I’m a mystery! Thanks Dark-O. Sometimes we get lucky and hear what we need to hear at the right time.
Structurally, I'll mention Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar", which is mostly told in news stories. When I first read it, I restarted it immediately after I finished it.
World design/plot, Zelazny's "Chronicles of Amber", which is surrealist, modern. mixed with high fantasy, and really memorable characters.
Thanks, Doug! Amber is on my 2025 list!
Suggestions:
Richard Robert (anything) but especially Quite Contrary- not your typical re-imagined fairy tale. Dark and weird journey.
Also, a book I completely stumbled upon on Audible when I didn’t have so many series and authors to keep up on- The Hike by Drew Magary. Surreal and twisting story of a man on a journey.
Lighter but weird is “Hard Luck Hank” series- endlessly funny, best narrator, so weird! 😂
Awesome! Thank you so much. I'll look them up and add them to TBR Mountain! I like "lighter but weird!"
This is a great introduction to weird fiction, Brian, but also only casually dips a toe into the rabbit hole. I could outline some next steps. The New Weird movement of authors like Mieville, Vandermeer and M. John Harrison. Then older SF like Philip K Dick, R.A. Lafferty and Philip Jose Farmer. After that the real niche weird fiction authors like Michael Cisco, comedic weird fiction like Lee Martinez and bizarro fiction. After that come the really obscure novels like Zod Wallop and The Hearing Trumpet.
Thanks, Jeroen! Yeah, this list is really intended for people that are interesting in expanding horizons without getting entirely in the weeds of it :)
I love all A. Lee Martinez’s stuff!
All hail the readers of The Canterbury Tales.
SO funny. Literally, off the top of my head.
Thank you, you reminded me of a few books I forgot that I had on my TBR. It makes me question if I should not lean more into that in the current series I am writing but at the same time, maybe the next series for the truly weird stuff right? Thanks for this amazing video, you were awesome in D&D the other day and keep reading and having fun.
Thank you so much! I guess go with your gut when it comes to your creativity! D&D was too fun!
@@BrianBell7 Your one shot adventures reminded me of all the fun I had running games back in the day. Try not to get too sucked into it because some of the newest writers are pulling in adventures like you had into their latest works.
Some great suggestions on this list! I'm desperate to read Piranesi again! Such an excellent book. One of my weirdest books I've read recently is the Fifth Season by NK Jemisin, from the world to the characters, it's bizarre, but phenomenal.
I didn't love that book, but I have tons of friends who did, and still do!
@@BrianBell7 I get that, I think just structurally and thematically it's not going to be for everyone.
In Britain , many of us who did English literature olevel or a level had to study one at least of the Canterbury tales. So you may find many of your followers from across the pond are familiar with it. My favourite weird book [in fact one of my favourite books ever] is China Mieville 's Perdito Street Station. Have you tried that one ? It's amazing.
That's really cool! I have Perdito Street Station scheduled for 2025!
I LOVED that intro 😂🔥🔥
Excellent! Thank you for noticing!
I love me some weird! I’m currently in the middle of Piranesi! I’ve been reading sections before bed this past few days despite the fact that when I am reading it I go through it kind of fast. I knew I didn’t want to rush through this book so I’ve intentionally paced myself.
I wonder if The Books of Babel will make it to your weird list whenever you get to it. Many readers have used that adjective to describe the series.
Tori just read Senlin Ascends and we were just chatting that it's coming up on my TBR! (thanks to you!)
@BrianBell7 Oh boy oh boy! Very excited to see what you make of it!
When you said Simon Jimenez, I thought you were going to say The Spear Cuts Through Water. Have you read it? I think you'll like it more than VB. (Manifesting my inner Evie, here. 😂) But yeah, Vanished Birds had a weird structure too.
Thanks for the list. ❤ Childhood's End is added to the tbr and maybe I'm finally going try Hyperion.
Please keep me posted what you think of those two books! I haven't read Spear yet. Probably in 2025!
I have yet to meet anyone who was prepared for the ending of Childhood's End. Great list!
Thank you!!
Phenomenal book....the ending is spectacular!
May I suggest you try House of Leaves?
adding to TBR Mountain now! :)
Both Atlas and Birds are on my TBL 🙌🏻
I was wondering if David would get a mention 😈🖤🤪
Took a break from Hyperion to watch this video 🤭😜
Childhood's End is on the list too 🙌🏻
Reading large print Piranesi slowly...🤓
Bumping New Sun up the list 🙌🏻
Dark Tower ❤❤❤
Hitchhiker's Guide is at the top of my fun list.
Have you read The Majestic 311?
Fun video and I'm weird by nature and that's just fine 😜🎉🙌🏻
Thanks Sinna! I really am happy with the small, but potent, list of books here!
@BrianBell7 Good stuff 😜
Wooohoo, I love weirdness! ❤ 💪🏻
Life would be SO boring without a taste of the weird!
Just watched a video by Rammel Broadcasting about five books that are unadaptable and Dark Tower and Book of the New Sun were at the top of the list. It just tickled me seeing them back to back like that.
The Dark Tower can definitely be adapted for a tv show by a top notch show runner! You can get all unknown actors and with CGI all is possible. I would just adapt Dark Towers Beginnings comic books and end it with Wizard & Glass and forget about all the rest! They probably can shoot the whole series in the California desert too.
Wow, what a coincidence! Cool!
LOL I've read The Canterbury Tales. I mean, it was a long time ago. I also liked Hyperion (though I did not in fact name my character after the Dan Simmons book). Still think China Mieville should have more entries on this list!
I haven't read any... yet!
@@BrianBell7 they will redefine what you think 'weird' means.
Loved Canterbury tales. Is Hyperion similar?? Never read Dan Simmons but would if it true.
In structure, yes. Not in content as this is a a very epic, galaxy-sprawling sci fi story.
Excellent list my man! Childhood's End is a wonderful book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in a thought provoking tale.
My list might include off the top of my head.....
Lord of the World
Animal Farm
anything by James Joyce really he's so bloody weird
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Wicked
Xenocide (Ender's Game book #3)
Have a great day friends and happy reading!
Thank you! Happy reading back atcha!
WEIRD. I guess I like weird books as many of these are favorites - the Dark Tower, Hyperion... and I really need to reread Cloud Atlas!
You like them and you can't deny!!
I thought for sure you'd mention The Worm Ouroboros on your weird list. 😂
Oh, you haven't heard the last of that book still this year!! Stay Tuned!
I am reading Electric Forest by Tanitha Lee! It is deliciously weird, a dystopian society with a Frankenstein/Pygmalion mash up. I am absolutely loving it!
Childhood’s End is the bomb! I think it’s theme is ironically, the foundation for most fantasy novels!!
Cool! Adding to TBR Mountain!
@@BrianBell7
Look up the Don Maitz cover art, it’s superb!
Heidi! Electric Forest!!! I love that book! 💜
@
I know and after Niko Book Reviews loved it too I picked it up, I knew you both could not be wrong. This book brought me in from the first scene, old school dystopian with a “ strong voice” female protagonist.❤️❤️❤️
Lol. I read the Caterbury Tales when I was in High School. I had this one woman say that a lot of my work is like Flannery O'Conner mixed with Geoffrey Chaucer. Having read about every Mad Magazine that came out when I was younger, and also getting into the box of my father's National Lampoons magazines in the attic, I was primed at an early age to gravitate to the weird and crude and offensive humor. "Weird" is one of those words I don't like to use anymore because it has been used to attack me. It is a cool sounding word, though. Normal is too boring and I never conformed anyhow. At my age, I have completely abandoned trying to look and act normal. Sometimes, I can be offputting. Maybe that's some sort of defense mechanism to ensure my status as a weird loner.
Stay weird, Brian! Satire!
Interesting list. The werdiest book I've ever read is "The Long Afternoon of Earth" by Brian W Aldiss, wich I suggest. Tank you.
Cool, thank you! I'll check it out!
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. So weird it can't be properly read via ebook or audiobook. This is the second time one of your videos compelled me to mention it. If it happens a third time, the book will magically appear and haunt you until it's been read.
YES! I have several ghosts that moved in with me from the nightclub so that would be par for the course over here at stately Bell Manor!
Greetings from Brussels, Brian! 🇧🇪
I think you maybe mentioned, but «Weird» do come from «Wyrd», approx. «one’s fate»: As such it points to something outside of your own will, Deus Ex Machina’s outside of rational thought and calculation, where God, gods or the Universe DO seem to playing dice (to paraphrase Einstein) with us humble mortals, but also rising to become something greater, something worth to be remembered, that is as you say, outside of rutine and the ordinary.
Can definitely vouch for the weirdness of «Cloud Atlas» and «Childhood’s End» (man, it is really good, but also so so heartbreakingly bleak, not gonna lie!), and hope to get to «Hyperion» and «Book of the New Sun» in my not to distant future! I am myself about to read «Lord of Light» by Roger Zelazny after my Belgian Holiday!
As always good food for thought before we hit the road Brian! Cheers!
Thanks, Mac! Roger Zelazny is coming up on my TBR! That's an interesting thought you put in the first part of your comment.
If Snacky Jason recommends cloud atlas-I will submit
haha, your mileage may vary! but bring snacks.
Hey, enjoy!
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
"Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind’s journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul’s fate revealed. In time, all points converge, hope’s strength resteeled. But to earn final peace at the universe’s endless refrain, we must see all in nothingness... before we start again."
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
--Diamond Dragons (series)
Weird? House of leaves. Book structure and format is out of this world
That title has come up quite often recently! Adding it to TBR Mountain!
Ok you put out a weird list and I have read all but 2. What does that say about me?
Hahaha it means you have two new books for your TBR
@ 1 is coming up in 25 in a buddy read. So that only leaves 1.
@@Talking_Story I wish I had the time to reread it. I NEVER reread, but I would reread that.
Piranesi is terrible, the characters were so unlikable. Couldnt finish it
well, not every book is for everyone!
Exactly. Besides, only the wealthiest can market their work. No exceptions. But that doesn't mean it holds much in the way of dramatic structure, character arcs, literary techniques, thematic underpinnings, relevant world-building, etc.
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
"Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind’s journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul’s fate revealed. In time, all points converge, hope’s strength resteeled. But to earn final peace at the universe’s endless refrain, we must see all in nothingness... before we start again."
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
--Diamond Dragons (series)