I was going to add this as a comment to my review of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, but thought I’d post a quick update instead.

Annihilation beat critic fave Dept. of Speculation in the Tournament of Books yesterday, which has me chanting “Go, Annihilation, GO!” even as I know so many of my favorite other books are still in the mix. I think it is going to be hard for anything to beat Station Eleven.

I suspected Annihilation would fare well with Victor LaValle, as the only novel of his I’ve read, The Devil In Silver (his most recent), was full of the type of wild, fresh thinking that Annihilation fully embraces. But his reasoning behind his decision seemed justified, not just like an alliance with all things bizarre, and his discussion of Dept. of Speculation made me want to check it out soon.

So here’s to celebrating the new school of weird, and looking forward to the epic battles to come!