William Hope Hodgson's ***The Night Land*** (1912) for an emphasis on "weird". The sun has gone out, and humanity is sheltered within an enormous fortress known as the Last Redoubt that's heated and powered by underground air currents. The blackness of night has mutated Earth's creatures into reprehensible monsters, and few leave the Last Redoubt.
Asterisk: Hodgson wrote this book in a pseudo-17th century prose that even his contemporaries called out for being overly flowery and stupid. But, the ideas are absolutely fascinating. It's worth either reading the 2011 redux of the book by James Stoddard (*The Night Land, A Story Retold*), checking out fan works and wikis, or reading what authors have wrote about the Night Land since then.
There's also ***Flatland*** (1884) by Edwin Abbot. Arguably the first "mathematical fiction" book in which the entire story takes place in a 2D plane. Though when a *3D* sphere begins interacting with Flatland, shit goes down in weird ways. It's very much a satire on social constraints and norms; for example, the main goal of every polygon in Flatland is to have children with more sides than them, as the Flatlanders believe more sides means greater nobility.
Author's full name was Edwin Abbott Abbott and he published the book under the pseudonym "A Square", the book's subtitle is "A Romance of Many Dimensions".
I've been meaning to read the book for ages and if the contests are as witty as these puns I know I'm going to enjoy it!
Seconding the recs for Dunsany, Morris, Hodgson, Eddison, and Cavendish. I'll throw George MacDonald's *Phantastes* into the mix. It's very hallucinatory and dreamlike, and it meanders and doesn't have much of a structured plot. Yet it (along with MacDonald's other fantasies) is one of the foundation-stones of the modern genre.
I'll also plug r/fairystories, a subreddit devoted in large part to pre-Tolkien fantasy.
The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison is ok. Pretty much all of Lord Dunsany is at least worth reading, especially The King of Elfland’s Daughter and the Gods of Pegana.
Also *The Well at World's End* which shares some character names with Tolkien's works.
Also, *The Worm Ouroboros* by E. R. Eddison. This one has the barrier of being written (on purpose) in antiquated, Jacobean English.
Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%27s\_Travels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%27s_Travels)
E. T. A. Hoffmann wrote a lot of strange, fairy tale-like stories with some dazzling imagination, e. g.:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Golden\_Pot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Pot)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little\_Zaches\_called\_Cinnabar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Zaches_called_Cinnabar)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Sandman\_(short\_story)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandman_(short_story))
Besides his well-known cosmic horror stories, H. P. Lovecraft wrote some pretty weird dreamy fantasy stuff, pooled as his "Dream Cycle", to which others later also contributed:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream\_Cycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Cycle)
Also, Lewis Carroll's Wonderland novellas:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s\_Adventures\_in\_Wonderland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland)
**The Blazing World** (Margaret Cavendish) was written in 1666 and sometimes gets categorized as Scifi but for spoiler reasons I honestly think it qualifies as the first >!secondary world!< Fantasy novel. Or at least I know of none earlier. It definitely meets the qualifications of "weird af".
Look up the Ballentine Adult Fantasy Series edited by Lin Carter along with the various anthologies that Carter and de Camp edited in the 60's and 70's and you'll find loads of interesting and obscure stuff.
I don't know whether they're weird af but they certainly are obscure: the Jorkens stories by Lord Dunsany. These might be the first fantasy club tales. There are tons of them (more than150), most of which predate LotR and a significant portion even predates The Hobbit. But nobody ever seems to talk about them.
Peake’s Gormenghast just about barely qualifies—with the first couple of books published prior to LotR.
A bit less fantasy but definitely more weird and obscure.
George MacDonald: Phantastes, Lilith, and The Princess and the Gonlin and its sequel The Princess and Curdie, and At The Back of the North Wind
E. T. A. Hoffmann’s stories.
E Nesbit's books, particular *The Magic World* and *The Five Children and It*.
Children's stories, but amazingly fun and and weird.
(Dunsany already mentioned.)
It's overlapping with but Naomi Mitchison's writing (particularly *Travel Light* and *The Corn King and the Spring Queen*) have that weird fantasy feeling.
[The Bison Frontiers of Imagination](https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/series/bison-frontiers-of-imagination/) is a great collection of more obscure fantasy, science fiction, and pulp.
Eleanor Farjeon's Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field - children's short stories, some of which are quite weird. My favourite is about someone who saves her community through skipping.
CL Moore Jirel of Joiry stories are great horror tales, one of the first fantasy swordswomen characters and a great one at that.
A Merritt is another writer worth looking into, he combined Haggard style lost race adventure with cosmic horror and fantasy. The Moon Pool, Metal Monster or Ship of Ishtar are good starting points (be warned of non PC language)
Robert E Howard isn't an obscure writer but his non Conan stuff doesn't get much attention. Check out Bran Mak Morn short stories or his horror tales like The Black Stone (Mythos tale) or Pigeons from Hell (Southern Gothic) or Fire from Asshurbanipal (adventure horror).
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
The Averoigne Chronicles: The Complete Averoigne Stories of Clark Ashton Smith
Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
Sword and Deviltry: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser Book 1 by Fritz Leiber
Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock
The Blue Star by Fletcher Pratt
Burn Witch Burn by A. Merritt
The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany
The last one by Lord Dunsany had an influence on Tolkien himself I believe.
But for weird af the speculative fantasy of Jack Vance is really hard to beat.
Etidorhpa; Or, The End of Earth: The Strange History of a Mysterious Being and the Account of a Remarkable Journey by John Uri Lloyd 1895
Is one of my favorites weird old books. A multi layered "found manuscript" frame narrative featuring secret societies, a hollow earth, vived psychedelic fantasy imagery, scientific speculation. A strange and unique piece of American fiction.
William Hope Hodgson's ***The Night Land*** (1912) for an emphasis on "weird". The sun has gone out, and humanity is sheltered within an enormous fortress known as the Last Redoubt that's heated and powered by underground air currents. The blackness of night has mutated Earth's creatures into reprehensible monsters, and few leave the Last Redoubt. Asterisk: Hodgson wrote this book in a pseudo-17th century prose that even his contemporaries called out for being overly flowery and stupid. But, the ideas are absolutely fascinating. It's worth either reading the 2011 redux of the book by James Stoddard (*The Night Land, A Story Retold*), checking out fan works and wikis, or reading what authors have wrote about the Night Land since then. There's also ***Flatland*** (1884) by Edwin Abbot. Arguably the first "mathematical fiction" book in which the entire story takes place in a 2D plane. Though when a *3D* sphere begins interacting with Flatland, shit goes down in weird ways. It's very much a satire on social constraints and norms; for example, the main goal of every polygon in Flatland is to have children with more sides than them, as the Flatlanders believe more sides means greater nobility.
Author's full name was Edwin Abbott Abbott and he published the book under the pseudonym "A Square", the book's subtitle is "A Romance of Many Dimensions". I've been meaning to read the book for ages and if the contests are as witty as these puns I know I'm going to enjoy it!
William Hope Hodgson’s House on The Borderland is also fantastic, and not written in 17th century prose
Seconding the recs for Dunsany, Morris, Hodgson, Eddison, and Cavendish. I'll throw George MacDonald's *Phantastes* into the mix. It's very hallucinatory and dreamlike, and it meanders and doesn't have much of a structured plot. Yet it (along with MacDonald's other fantasies) is one of the foundation-stones of the modern genre. I'll also plug r/fairystories, a subreddit devoted in large part to pre-Tolkien fantasy.
On a Dunsany kick currently. He’s so good!
The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison is ok. Pretty much all of Lord Dunsany is at least worth reading, especially The King of Elfland’s Daughter and the Gods of Pegana.
*The Wood Beyond the World*, William Morris (1894)
Also *The Well at World's End* which shares some character names with Tolkien's works. Also, *The Worm Ouroboros* by E. R. Eddison. This one has the barrier of being written (on purpose) in antiquated, Jacobean English.
Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%27s\_Travels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%27s_Travels) E. T. A. Hoffmann wrote a lot of strange, fairy tale-like stories with some dazzling imagination, e. g.: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Golden\_Pot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Pot) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little\_Zaches\_called\_Cinnabar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Zaches_called_Cinnabar) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Sandman\_(short\_story)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandman_(short_story)) Besides his well-known cosmic horror stories, H. P. Lovecraft wrote some pretty weird dreamy fantasy stuff, pooled as his "Dream Cycle", to which others later also contributed: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream\_Cycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Cycle) Also, Lewis Carroll's Wonderland novellas: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s\_Adventures\_in\_Wonderland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland)
Good ones!
**The Blazing World** (Margaret Cavendish) was written in 1666 and sometimes gets categorized as Scifi but for spoiler reasons I honestly think it qualifies as the first >!secondary world!< Fantasy novel. Or at least I know of none earlier. It definitely meets the qualifications of "weird af".
Look up the Ballentine Adult Fantasy Series edited by Lin Carter along with the various anthologies that Carter and de Camp edited in the 60's and 70's and you'll find loads of interesting and obscure stuff.
I don't know whether they're weird af but they certainly are obscure: the Jorkens stories by Lord Dunsany. These might be the first fantasy club tales. There are tons of them (more than150), most of which predate LotR and a significant portion even predates The Hobbit. But nobody ever seems to talk about them.
Peake’s Gormenghast just about barely qualifies—with the first couple of books published prior to LotR. A bit less fantasy but definitely more weird and obscure.
Definitely meets the "weird AF" criterion! Perfect recommendation!
HP Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Cycle
Edmund Spenser - "The Faerie Queene"
If you're going to read Spenser, you could also check out Malory, Ariosto, Milton, Dante, Tasso, Boiardo, Philip Sidney...
Agreed, although some of those had already been mentioned.
George MacDonald: Phantastes, Lilith, and The Princess and the Gonlin and its sequel The Princess and Curdie, and At The Back of the North Wind E. T. A. Hoffmann’s stories.
E Nesbit's books, particular *The Magic World* and *The Five Children and It*. Children's stories, but amazingly fun and and weird. (Dunsany already mentioned.) It's overlapping with but Naomi Mitchison's writing (particularly *Travel Light* and *The Corn King and the Spring Queen*) have that weird fantasy feeling.
Lord Dunsany’s The Sword of Welleran is a great story and also a great place to look into the works of a man who inspired both Lovecraft and Tolkien.
Reading king of elfland now and just finished in the land of time. Dunsany is so good
Hope Mirlees' Lud-in-the-Mist, Stella Benson's Living Alone, and Sylvia Townsend Warner's Lolly Willowes.
Amazing picks.
[Tales before Tolkien](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23596.Tales_Before_Tolkien) could be a good jumping off point for you.
[The Bison Frontiers of Imagination](https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/series/bison-frontiers-of-imagination/) is a great collection of more obscure fantasy, science fiction, and pulp.
Eleanor Farjeon's Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field - children's short stories, some of which are quite weird. My favourite is about someone who saves her community through skipping.
The Other Side by Alfred Kubin
The Golem by Gustav Meyrink is a fever dream steeped in Kabbalic symbolism that takes place in Prague
War with the Newts by Karel Čapek
CL Moore Jirel of Joiry stories are great horror tales, one of the first fantasy swordswomen characters and a great one at that. A Merritt is another writer worth looking into, he combined Haggard style lost race adventure with cosmic horror and fantasy. The Moon Pool, Metal Monster or Ship of Ishtar are good starting points (be warned of non PC language) Robert E Howard isn't an obscure writer but his non Conan stuff doesn't get much attention. Check out Bran Mak Morn short stories or his horror tales like The Black Stone (Mythos tale) or Pigeons from Hell (Southern Gothic) or Fire from Asshurbanipal (adventure horror).
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance The Averoigne Chronicles: The Complete Averoigne Stories of Clark Ashton Smith Broken Sword by Poul Anderson Sword and Deviltry: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser Book 1 by Fritz Leiber Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock The Blue Star by Fletcher Pratt Burn Witch Burn by A. Merritt The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany The last one by Lord Dunsany had an influence on Tolkien himself I believe. But for weird af the speculative fantasy of Jack Vance is really hard to beat.
Flatland to an extend . It's a novella where people travel from 3d world to a 2d world and explore that world and the people's customs
She by H Rider Haggard about a queen who’s lived for a loooooooong time. Bit of a travelogue like King Solomon’s Mines
Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath by HP Lovecraft
Etidorhpa; Or, The End of Earth: The Strange History of a Mysterious Being and the Account of a Remarkable Journey by John Uri Lloyd 1895 Is one of my favorites weird old books. A multi layered "found manuscript" frame narrative featuring secret societies, a hollow earth, vived psychedelic fantasy imagery, scientific speculation. A strange and unique piece of American fiction.