Passion And Weird Fiction

When Literary Passion Leads To Illness

Max Lawton | LitHub | 28th July 2026

"After about a hundred pages, when the pain and stabbing sensations grew more intense, I was forced to go to the nearest emergency room. At the end of the examination, the doctor told me: ‘I don’t know you, and I don’t know what you do for a living, but whatever it is — stop it immediately, for a month!’ Antonio’s blood pressure was simply too high and he had to take a break from his masterpiece" (1,200 words)

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On Weird Fiction

Robert Baskin | Cleveland Review Of Books | 28th July 2026

Weird fiction is not horror and not Gothic, although it shares qualities with both. It was "forged from Gothic materials in the smithies of the American magazine". "The primary affects are fear, disgust, and wonder. Standard Weird motifs include tentacles, eldritch horrors beyond the capacity of language, scientists discovering that which should not be discovered, and strange artefacts with world-altering auras" (3,500 words)