Readers wrote us in record numbers when we asked you who, in your book, are the weirdest of the weird: the most influentially strange authors and artists and talespinners of all kinds to work their magic on the world in the 85 years since 1923, when Weird Tales was born. We asked that you not limit your suggestions to just fiction writers, and you responded enthusiastically, naming hordes of filmmakers, songwriters, cartoonists, and more. We took your ideas, added a few of our own, called some top fantasy professionals to put in their two cents, and then dove into the long and arduous process of winnowing the list down to a mere 85 names.
Our 85th anniversary issue — featuring fiction by Michael Moorcock, Sarah Monette, and Tanith Lee, nonfiction by Cherie Priest, and Jeff VanderMeer’s interview with China Míeville, and is still available for purchase online — introduced the 85 Weirdest Storytellers individually. If one of your favorite weirdos didn’t make the list, you can share your weird and let us know! Our 90th anniversary isn’t that far away…
Meanwhile:
WEIRD TALES presents: The 85 Weirdest Storytellers 1923-2005
- DOUGLAS ADAMS
- CHARLES ADDAMS
- LAURIE ANDERSON
- J.G. BALLARD
- NICK BANTOCK
- CLIVE BARKER
- ART BELL
- BJÖRK
- DAVID BOWIE
- RAY BRADBURY
- MARGARET BRUNDAGE
- WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
- TIM BURTON
- KATE BUSH
- OCTAVIA BUTLER
- ANGELA CARTER
- NICK CAVE
- LON CHANEY SR.
- CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
- JOEL & ETHAN COEN
- ALICE COOPER
- DAVID CRONENBERG
- R. CRUMB
- ROALD DAHL
- SALVADOR DALI
- SAMUEL R. DELANY
- PHILIP K. DICK
- STEVE DITKO
- HARLAN ELLISON
- M.C. ESCHER
- VIRGIL FINLAY
- CHARLES FORT
- NEIL GAIMAN
- TERRY GILLIAM
- EDWARD GOREY
- GUNTHER VON HAGENS
- JIM HENSON
- ROBERT E. HOWARD
- SHIRLEY JACKSON
- FRANZ KAFKA
- FRIDA KAHLO
- ANDY KAUFMAN
- STEPHEN KING
- STANLEY KUBRICK
- MADELEINE L’ENGLE
- GARY LARSON
- TANITH LEE
- THOMAS LIGOTTI
- H.P. LOVECRAFT
- DAVID LYNCH
- GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
- DAVE MCKEAN
- RAND & ROBYN MILLER
- MICHAEL MOORCOCK
- ALAN MOORE
- CATHERINE L. MOORE & HENRY KUTTNER
- GRANT MORRISON
- JOYCE CAROL OATES
- MERVYN PEAKE
- PENN & TELLER
- BILL PLYMPTON
- THOMAS PYNCHON
- ANNE RICE
- ROD SERLING
- DR. SEUSS
- ALICE SHELDON, a.k.a. JAMES TIPTREE JR.
- CHUCK SHEPHERD
- CLARK ASHTON SMITH
- STEPHEN SONDHEIM
- REV. IVAN STANG
- OSAMU TEZUKA
- HUNTER S. THOMPSON
- KOOL KEITH THORNTON, a.k.a. DR. OCTAGON
- KURT VONNEGUT
- TOM WAITS
- ALICE WALKER
- KARA WALKER
- ANDY WARHOL
- SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER
- JOHN WATERS
- ROGER WATERS
- WIM WENDERS
- THORNTON WILDER
- ROBERT ANTON WILSON
- WARREN ZEVON
Kudos to them all: creative geniuses whose work, in whatever form and flavor, has shown an affinity of spirit with the brilliantly freaky storytelling that’s been the hallmark of Weird Tales since the magazine was born 85 years ago this very month.
(Don’t see one of your favorites here? Help us compile more weirdness! Go to the Share the Weird page and tell your fellow readers about the weird storytellers you love the most!)
That list is FREAKING AMAZING. So many I wouldn’t have remembered to include, but fit perfectly. Kudos to all involved.
I count 89 there.
(That’s weird.)
Well, Ray, if you’re going to be that way, you forgot to count every acrobat in Cirque du Soleil.
That is an incredible list. I love that Warren Zevon and Kate Bush both get mentions.
I was quite startled to find some of the selections here, but I can’t find myself disagreeing with many of them. I’m glad Thomas Ligotti is acknowledged. He deserves a wider readership outside of his small, but loyal cult following. “Weird Tales” has done a great deal to support his work over the years, and fortunately, it appears you will continue to do so.
Wot no China Mieville? But yeah! Michael Moorcock!
Don’t worry Uncle Des, they did give China an article. Good on you, Weird Tales, for the whole list, but especially for Michael Moorcock!
No R. A. Lafferty or Avram Davidson? For shame…
Here’s some more: Allen Ginsburg, Yoko Ono, Zbigniew Rybczynski, Bela Lugosi, The Residents, Danny Elfman, H. R. Giger, The Brothers Quay, Ken Nordine, Matt Groening, Cordwainer Smith, R. U. Sirius, and Peter Jackson.
What? No Edward Whittemore?
I appreciate the fact that you went beyond just folks that write books and included other storytellers (David Bowie).
Jack Vance? Terry Pratchett? Ian Rankin? Fritz Leiber? There are several I’d remove to make room.
I’d like to second FilmDickian’s mention of Cordwainer Smith, a name that definitely should be on the list. And even though I’m not a big fan, I was kind of surprised that Frank Zappa wasn’t included, especially since several other musicians were.
All in all, though, an interesting and far-ranging list of names. Well done.
Sorry, meant Robert Rankin as in “Armageddon the Musical.”
BTW, why 85? I’ll go along with avoiding trite numbers like 100, but why not some multiple of 13, for example?
I figured L. Ron Hubbard would be on there, since his works of fiction have taken cult status to the extreme.
What, no Dr. Dooom, Black Elvis or Analog Brothers?!?! Oh, wait a minute…
Seriously, though, great list. Obviously 85 is a low number to include all the great amateur and professional weirdos but this is stellar. I think this is the first time in a decade of scouring the internet where I’ve witnessed Kool Keith get the recognition he deserves. Thanks, Weird Tales!
Good stuff!
Robert: 85 because, as it says at the top, it’s Weird Tales’s 85th anniversary.
Fab list! It makes me want to curl up with it and do some reading, research, viewing, etc. One writer that’s not on there: Stanislaw Lem.
what about the very odd lemony snicket/daniel handler??? i think we should add him to the list!
I think Heinline is pretty weird.
Good list but I would have liked to have seen Fritz Leiber, Karl Edward Wagner, Frank Frazetta and Christopher Lee make the cut too.
Borges, Borges, Borges! Geez, how could you leave him off???
Also Italo Calvino is fantastically weird.
Maybe you should put up a second group of 85?
No Jack Kirby? No Walter Simonson? No Salman Rushdie? No Gene Wolfe? Great list, though. 85 is obviously too few to please everyone. Nice to see that people weren’t too snobbish to include Stephen King and Dr. Seuss.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
No Gene WOLFE?!!
No Borges?!
You are a joke.
Glad Ligotti made the list too–but I wouldn’t leave out his predecessors: Dino Buzzatti and Leonid Andreyev.
Great list. But of course we must add Borges, and should probably add the Brothers Quay, Guy Maddin, Henry Darger, and perhaps Bruno Schultz. Also, what about Gary Gygax?
What about Georges Bataille? The Story of the Eye.
Great list…but I can think of a few more who are definitely worth mentioning:
1) Bill Sienkiewicz
2) Tool
3) The Brothers Quay
These cats *ooze* weird like it was sweat!
I’d add Bob Dylan (‘Desolation Row’ alone should be enough to get him in). Also, is Richard Matheson missing? Dennis Wheatley and John Wyndham could be on there too. Great list, though. I like that people like Pynchon and Tom Waits make it.
I’m happy to see names like Charles Addams, David Bowie, Tim Burton, Roald Dahl, Salvador Dali, Terry Gilliam, Edward Gorey, Jim Hensen, Franz Kafka, Frida Kahlo, Stanly Kubrick, Dr. Seuss, Stephen Sondheim, and Kara Walker. I’m sure there are several others I could think of if I sat here for a bit to mull it over, but one that comes to mind that I’m kind of surprised isn’t here is Marilyn Manson, what with his three album arching rock-operas (“Holy Wood”, “Mechanical Animals”, “Antichrist Superstar”).
I was amazed that Fritz Leiber was not listed.
Flann O’ Brien, James Joyce, Slick Rick, Captain Beefheart, Lil Wayne, Patrick McCabe, Bob Shaw, George Bernard Shaw, Kool G Rap…
Paul Bowles, Jane Bowles, John Cheever, Alfred Chester, Thomas M. Disch, Michael Haneke, K.W. Jeter, Francis Bacon, Colin Wilson, John Cassavetes…but, then, what is weird really? One man’s mausoleum, is another man’s living room.
That’s a lot of weird, and I love love love it all! Most of the weird artists closest to my heart have either made the list or have been mentioned by other readers. However, I think Don Hertzfeldt bears mentioning, as does Alejandro Jodorowsky. And, if a group (Cirque de Soleil) can be mentioned, then Mr. Bungle is pretty dang weird.
Caitlin R. Kiernan! We can’t forget about her!!
Where is Arthur Machen in your list? The greatest of them all…
@Roger: you’re forgetting the “of the past 85 years” part. :)
What about Algernon Blackwood?
Well, Machen’s writing was not confined solely to the late Victorian era, and he continued way beyond 1924.
Comedian and author Stewart Lee rates “The Green Round” (1933) as AM’s most enjoyable work. Machen’s fine late stories “N” and “Opening the Door” date from the 1930s; not to mention the wonderful “Islington Mystery” (1927).
And let’s not forget Machen’s late flowering collection “The Children of the Pool and Other Stories” (1936). Third-rate Machen perhaps but more impressive than much of the finest work of many another premier fantasy author. There is also Machen’s intriguing mystery “The Gift of Tongues”, written in the late 1920s. A true or fictional account? The latter, I would guess.
This has to be an oversite, because I don’t see Richard Matheson on the list, one of the greatest post Lovecraft weird writers. It doesn’t get much weirder than I am Legend or The Shrinking Man.
I would also like to toss in directors James Whale and Roger Corman, but Matheson really NEEDS to be in there.
Tim Burton has a unique style when making his movie. I love Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands.,`*
David Bowie has some really eccentric personality but i like his style of music. he is a good actor too.~**
when i hear about David Bowie, it reminds me of Vanilla Ice. ~”~
When I think of weird I think of one of a kind, people who are weird even amongst the weird. This would have to include Hans Bok and Jack Vance. There are some great writers here that I love that are not particularly weird such as C.L. Moore, Kuttner or Bradbury. Steve Ditko certainly fits the bill. I also didn’t get Octavia Butler, Anne Rice, Alice Walker, or Tanith Lee. Standouts for me are people like Lovecraft, Bjork, R. Crumb and Andy Kaufman. These people are not just different folks who march to their own drum but utterly unique.