Earlier this week I was in a meeting and we were sharing our love of Chlorine by Jade Song. Someone mentioned she had a collection of stories coming early next year, so after the meeting I immediately headed on over to Edelweiss excited to learn more. There I found this description for Ox Ghost Snake Demon: Stories--
From Jade Song, the master of weird girl lit, comes a provocative and surreal collection of twelve short stories, each inspired by a Chinese zodiac animal.
In this stunning collection, Jade Song masterfully blends realism with the surreal, crafting tales that explore identity, belonging, and the complexities of relationships. From a tattoo artist who reveals a hidden world of dragons (Dragon) to a suburban wife who transforms her neighborhood into a woodland sanctuary (Horse); from a girl who devours those who hurt her (Pig) to two young men whose love transcends time (Rabbit), these stories are as imaginative as they are unforgettable.
With their signature sharp and evocative voice, Song delves into themes of cultural expectations, queer identity, and the burden of history, offering a bold and unflinching perspective on contemporary life. Each story is a journey—sometimes darkly humorous, often melancholic, and always thought-provoking.
The highlight is mine. Weird Girl Lit is a new thing, newer than Song's first or second books, and yet, she is being market as a master of it. Now some of that sentence is facetious. I understand that trends pop up and then authors who write that way and or are singled out by the online book people who create these trends, get grouped together under the trend.
But, it is when the traditional publishing world begins to embrace a trend that we really need to pay attention to it. Also a trend like this is one of my favorites because it is not bound by genre in any way.
After last week's post about larger trends of all of the Fall titles, I was going to write a longer post about the smaller but definitely catching fire Weird Girl Lit trend, but my colleague Lila Denning already did on her blog Passively Recommending Books. You can find that post and its links and resources below.
You should be able to get together a nice display, online lists, social media engagement, and Libby reading lists all from her post. You could do all of this in less than a day. The result, you look like you are on the cusp of the biggest trend. And this is trend that spans age ranges from teens to adults to seniors.
Give it a try. And remember, this is an example of how to use resources to not only stay on top of trends, but get access to easy ways to highlight them for your patrons quickly and easily.
Unshelve Your Weird Girl Fiction
According to BookRiot, there is a new book trend which has developed on TikTok - Weird Girl Fiction. They describe it as:
In fact, there’s a new one that has recently emerged on TikTok, no less: weird girl fiction, or weird girl lit. Weird girl fiction is commonly defined as books that elicit “unhinged female rage” and “transgress social norms.”
While the terms can be problematic, these novels exhibit an unconventional, unhinged, or dark tone. In My Year of Rest and Relaxation, isolation and self-destruction are the central themes.
There are some books listed in their article but I will include some more below. Because it crosses and blends genres, it also is part of the greater trend of genre blending.
Reddit has a entire subreddit about it - https://www.reddit.com/r/weirdgirlliterature/ The image at the top of the subreddit can give you inspiration for your signage.
Here are some other lists to help get you started:
Daniel Boone Regional Library: Weird Girl Fiction
The Spinoff: What is ‘weird girl lit’ – and why is it trending right now?
Instagram: The Definitive Weird Girl Lit Reading Guide
Henrico County Public Library: Weird Girl Fiction
Crime Reads: Weird Girl Lit Galore: 10 Novels
Denver Public Library : Weird Girl Fiction
Goodreads: Weird Woman Fiction
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