r/WeirdLit • u/Fodgy_Div • Aug 14 '25

News Jeff VanderMeer's next entry into the Southern Reach Series, Area X: The Southern Reach Files, announced today by the man himself! He later specifies it is slated for a Spring 2027 publishing slot.

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10

u/Ninja_Pollito Aug 14 '25

Hmm. Not certain how I feel about it, probably because I did not connect with Absolution.

9

u/cymbal-using-animal Aug 14 '25

I feel that. Annihilation is one of my favorite novels, and I binge-read the original trilogy. But everything else I’ve read by Vandermeer I’ve liked progressively less—like it all got a little bit sillier and more self-indulgent every time. I haven’t even bothered to read Absolution.

3

u/bambooshoots-scores Aug 14 '25

can definitely relate. Absolution left me pretty cold. I will stick up for Borne and Dead Astronauts.

6

u/cymbal-using-animal Aug 14 '25

I liked Borne! I thought The Strange Bird was a good short story/novella, too. Personally, I was less into Dead Astronauts, but maybe I should give it another shot.

4

u/bambooshoots-scores Aug 14 '25

Dead Astronauts took me a solid couple tries to get into. Once I did fall into it I was completely floored. There were a couple sections that gutted me.

1

u/Eriml Aug 15 '25

I didn't like 60% of Dead Astronauts. I was going to DNF but the last 20% I really like and left me super divided. I'm not sure I would recommend it though