Meet the WEIRDos: BRAVE NEW WEIRD Award Winner Tiffany Michelle Brown

Tiffany Michelle Brown is a Los Angeles-based writer who once had a conversation with a ghost over a pumpkin beer. She is the author of How Lovely to Be a Woman: Stories and Poems and co-host of the Horror in the Margins podcast. Her stories and poetry have been featured in publications by Ominous Thrill, Tenebrous Press, Black Spot Books, Death Knell Press, and the NoSleep Podcast. To learn more about her work, visit www.tmbwrites.com. 

Her BNW-winning story “Full Immersion” originally appeared in Tales of Sley House 2024 (Sley House Publishing).

BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.

You can preorder it here.

***

Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-winning story.

“Full Immersion” literally answers the question, "Would you still love me if I was a worm?"

I mean, that really depends; are you a flatworm, or like, one of the ones with rings and segments? Flatworms kinna freak me out, ngl.

This world is friggin' Weird in a lot of ways right now, and many of those ways are not the fun kind. What secret tips can you share to help others navigate this mess on a daily basis?

Find refuge in little joys. Feed your neighborhood squirrels. Surround yourself with good people. Make art. Celebrate little victories. Make a positive impact in your community. Move your body.

I’m dead serious, in my head I read that sentence as “Feed your neighborhood squirrels [to the worms]”. 

Do you take naps?

Naps are delicious, but they mess up my nighttime sleeping patterns, so I don't take them as often as I'd like. However, I do have special blankets in every room of our apartment, so if a nap happens, I am ready for optimal comfort.

On the Tenebrous Discord board, we ask everyone to introduce themselves as a Film-meets-Music Artist (Citizen Kane x Metallica, f’rinstance). It doesn’t have to be your favorite, and don’t spend too much time overthinking it; now GO.

The Descent x Prince

What's the capital-W Weirdest thing that's ever happened to you (that you're comfortable sharing)?

Apparently, I have many doppelgangers. When I was a kid, I was regularly mistaken for the child actor in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. As an adult, people have approached me thinking I'm a neurosurgeon, TikTok creator, actress, or that friend-of-a-friend you always see at parties but never introduce yourself to...

***

BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.

You can preorder it here.

Meet the WEIRDos: BRAVE NEW WEIRD Award Winner Emmett Nahil

Hailing from a haunted seaside town in Massachusetts, Emmett Nahil is the author of novel FROM THE BELLY (Tenebrous Press, 2024) and graphic novel LET ME OUT (Oni Press, 2023). His obsession with horror and speculative fiction has taken his writing to Nightmare Magazine, The Molotov Cocktail, and elsewhere. In his other life, Emmett is the Narrative Director and co-founder of Perfect Garbage Studios. He can be found most places online as @_emnays.

Emmet’s BNW-winning story “Vining” originally appeared in The Book of Queer Saints, Volume 2 (Medusa Haus Press).

BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.

You can preorder it here.

***

Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-winning story.

A grad student strives to summon an eldritch god using plant infestation within his own body. Things go either very badly, or very well, depending on your perspective.

We’re going with the latter, because plant infestation sounds like only upside.

This world is friggin' Weird in a lot of ways right now, and many of those ways are not the fun kind. What secret tips can you share to help others navigate this mess on a daily basis?

Step offline at any possible opportunity. Listen to angry music, and get used to taking in things that will enrich you that are made my real humans, whether that's art, books, or film.

Do you take naps?

Nope! I'm an early riser, so I do go to bed very early, though.

On the Tenebrous Discord board, we ask everyone to introduce themselves as a Film-meets-Music Artist (Citizen Kane x Metallica, f’rinstance). It doesn’t have to be your favorite, and don’t spend too much time overthinking it; now GO.

Mandy x Green Lung

What's the capital-W Weirdest thing that's ever happened to you (that you're comfortable sharing)?

I frequently get premonitory dreams. I wish I'd seen Mothman or something, that would probably be cooler.

You still have your youth, and Mothman is eternal. It’ll happen.

***

BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.

You can preorder it here.

Meet the WEIRDos: BRAVE NEW WEIRD Award Winner Plangdi Neple

Plangdi Neple is a Nigerian writer and editor whose dark and fantastical tales have appeared in magazines such as Anathema and Omenana. A lover of the Weird and unnatural, his works draw inspiration from Nigerian myth, folklore and tradition. He is a co-recipient of the Milford 2024 Bursary and a Voodoonauts 2024 Fellow. Find him on Twitter and Bluesky and his website.

His BNW-winning story “Not All Your Bones Are Yours” originally appeared in FIYAH Literary Magazine.

BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.

You can preorder it here.

***

Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-winning story.

A distraught man with a devastating secret steals a bone from a merman so he can have a second chance with his dead boyfriend.

This world is friggin' Weird in a lot of ways right now, and many of those ways are not the fun kind. What secret tips can you share to help others navigate this mess on a daily basis?

Focus on the things you CAN impact, not just the things that annoy you and make you want to gouge your eyes out (or anyone’s eyes really). It’ll save you a lot of head banging and 2am screaming-into-the-void.

But without eye-gouging I’m just not really sure what makes life worth living.

Do you take naps?

God yes! During work hours, when I probably should be writing, or when it’s raining. I’d be a perpetual grump otherwise. Then again, I'm told I sulk for about an hour whenever I wake...

On the Tenebrous Discord board, we ask everyone to introduce themselves as a Film-meets-Music Artist (Citizen Kane x Metallica, f’rinstance). It doesn’t have to be your favorite, and don’t spend too much time overthinking it; now GO.

Roman Holiday x Lady Gaga

Like a boss, Plangdi refused to answer what the Weirdest thing that’s ever happened to him was. But I did receive a package in the mail from him this afternoon. Inside it was a nondescript velvet box containing an unidentifiable bone. I’m sure it’s…fine, it’s fine, really, I’m just gonna put that over…there. Yeah, way over there. At my neighbor’s. Pretty sure it was meant for them.

***

BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.

You can preorder it here.

Meet the WEIRDos: BRAVE NEW WEIRD Award Winner Azure Arther

When she's not bumbling through a mystical realm, Azure Arther is a playwright, an author, a poet, and, occasionally, a dryad. Her short stories and poems have appeared in over two dozen publications, including midnight & indigo, Small Wonders, and Rogue Agent. She is an editor for Augur Literary Society and has been a resident artist or scholarship recipient for numerous organizations. You can keep up with her at azurearther.com.

Her BNW-winning story, “Reciprocity,” originally appeared in Aurealis Magazine.

BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.

You can preorder it here.

***

Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-winning story.

If you've ever wondered if trees have feelings, Reciprocity shows you that yes, they do, and they're not nice and cuddly. In fact, trees are pretty pissed off and they aren't getting ready to take over the world...they already have. That wood house? Tear it down. Those wood pencils? Give them back. And don't ever, ever, ever make a tree mad, because you might not survive their wrath.

This world is friggin' Weird in a lot of ways right now, and many of those ways are not the fun kind. What secret tips can you share to help others navigate this mess on a daily basis?

Compliment people. Often. At least five times a day. You feel good. They feel good. And honestly, joy, one second at a time, can eventually become a minute and those few minutes of joy in the hours of drudgery can make all the difference. Be a light.

Do you take naps?

Naps are a necessary part of life. Rest is resistance. Come off the cog.

I don’t know the phrase “come off the cog” but I like it and I’m gonna work it into my daily lexicon. Along with complimenting people often. Alex! You look like you’ve really come off the cog today, it’s incredible, is that a new fabric softener? Am I doing this right?!

On the Tenebrous Discord board, we ask everyone to introduce themselves as a Film-meets-Music Artist (Citizen Kane x Metallica, f’rinstance). It doesn’t have to be your favorite, and don’t spend too much time overthinking it; now GO.

Lilo and Stitch x Rihanna.

What's the capital-W Weirdest thing that's ever happened to you (that you're comfortable sharing)?

I'm neurodivergent and I think a lot of things are weird but this question gives me anxiety because what if the thing I think was weird was just neurotypical?

Tenebrous Press: spreading anxiety coming off the cog since 2020. 

***

BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.

You can preorder it here.