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stephbookshine's review against another edition
4.0
*I received a free ARC of this book, with thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
This collection comprises twenty stories that range in style and content – some crime, some sci-fi/fantasy, some family/relationship drama – but carry an overriding impression of lyrical poetic prose, striking imagery and a resounding flavour of Australian cultural landscapes.
Some of the stories are written in second person narrative form, which worked some of the time but was jarring on occasion. For the most part, though, the prose was lyrical and flowed rhythmically through a series of unusual and expressive word pictures, that captured not only the surface content of the story – a literally disappearing boyfriend, a memory of family love and loss – but hinted a deeper, more connected picture beneath. I was reminded very much of my childhood impressions of the Aboriginal Dreamtime and its stories of ‘how and why’ about the world; impressions which have carried with me into adulthood due to the rich, bold beauty of word and picture.
To borrow a phrase from Sir Terry Pratchett: this is not what a story looks like, it is what a story is.
These are stories to read again and again, to mine for hidden gems and deeper meanings. Not every story will work for everyone, but there is something for everyone – funny, touching, serious or strange.
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2021/08/08/catch-up-quickies-4/
This collection comprises twenty stories that range in style and content – some crime, some sci-fi/fantasy, some family/relationship drama – but carry an overriding impression of lyrical poetic prose, striking imagery and a resounding flavour of Australian cultural landscapes.
Some of the stories are written in second person narrative form, which worked some of the time but was jarring on occasion. For the most part, though, the prose was lyrical and flowed rhythmically through a series of unusual and expressive word pictures, that captured not only the surface content of the story – a literally disappearing boyfriend, a memory of family love and loss – but hinted a deeper, more connected picture beneath. I was reminded very much of my childhood impressions of the Aboriginal Dreamtime and its stories of ‘how and why’ about the world; impressions which have carried with me into adulthood due to the rich, bold beauty of word and picture.
To borrow a phrase from Sir Terry Pratchett: this is not what a story looks like, it is what a story is.
These are stories to read again and again, to mine for hidden gems and deeper meanings. Not every story will work for everyone, but there is something for everyone – funny, touching, serious or strange.
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2021/08/08/catch-up-quickies-4/
curiosityboughtthebook's review against another edition
3.0
The Road to Woop Woop is a very unique collection of short stories by Eugen Bacon. I had never had the pleasure of reading her works before, so I was quick to accept an early review copy from the publisher. The book contains over 20 stories, some have been published before, and some were new.
What I found within the pages of this book were thought provoking and enchanting stories. They all flowed like poetry and varied greatly in genre. Like most short story collections there were some stories I didn't particularly like, which in this case might come down to the fact that I didn't understand them. I might have missed the underlying point of them, I'm not entirely sure to be honest.
I do think that the author has a way of pulling you into a story and describing the scenery in an almost mythical way.
Thanks to Meerkat Press for the review copy!
What I found within the pages of this book were thought provoking and enchanting stories. They all flowed like poetry and varied greatly in genre. Like most short story collections there were some stories I didn't particularly like, which in this case might come down to the fact that I didn't understand them. I might have missed the underlying point of them, I'm not entirely sure to be honest.
I do think that the author has a way of pulling you into a story and describing the scenery in an almost mythical way.
Thanks to Meerkat Press for the review copy!
ariel_reads's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of the most unique anthologies I've ever read! Each story I went in having no idea what to expect, and I really enjoyed that kind of a surprise. This ultimately was a really cool introduction to Eugen Bacon's writing and I'd love to continue to read her work.
see_sadie_read's review against another edition
3.0
Whenever I review short stories I often preface it with the fact that short form isn't really my jam. I read it on occasion for various reasons, but it isn't my first love. I tell people this so that they can take it into account when deciding how much credence to give my particular review.
Having said all that, I think Bacon's stories were interesting and the writing was lyrical. I thought the collection thought-provoking and emotionally charged. There were times I wasn't entirely certain what was happening or if I'd wholly grokked the underlying meaning of the piece, but I enjoyed most of them.
Having said all that, I think Bacon's stories were interesting and the writing was lyrical. I thought the collection thought-provoking and emotionally charged. There were times I wasn't entirely certain what was happening or if I'd wholly grokked the underlying meaning of the piece, but I enjoyed most of them.
traceythompson's review against another edition
3.0
Eugen Bacon's collection, The Road to Woop Woop, contains such a variety of genres, it is hard to believe the stories are all written by the same author. But given Bacon is an established, multi award-winning author, it is no surprise she switches between fantasy worlds with ease.
The second story in this collection, Swimming with Daddy, absolutely floored me. What a beautiful portrayal of grief, and how the loved ones we lose remain as voices in our heads. Gorgeous. This is then followed by A Nursery Rhyme, a fable about parenting, and how dealing with children can sometimes be literally deadly.
There is so much to love in these stories, from the fantastic time-traveling lessons of A Maji Maji Chronicle, to how glimpses of our future can be devastating in unexpected ways in The Five Second Button, to deeply engrossing crime fiction in A Case of Seeing.
I read a lot of short stories, so my preferences are pretty well-established. I would have loved some of these stories to be a little longer, so I could selfishly spend more time with Bacon's creations. This collection consists of over 20 stories, but I feel the collection may have been stronger had this been whittled down a little.
I would recommend this book to everyone, as the variety ensure that there is a lot to enjoy. Bacon is an incredibly exciting writer, and I will absolutely continue to read her work.
The second story in this collection, Swimming with Daddy, absolutely floored me. What a beautiful portrayal of grief, and how the loved ones we lose remain as voices in our heads. Gorgeous. This is then followed by A Nursery Rhyme, a fable about parenting, and how dealing with children can sometimes be literally deadly.
There is so much to love in these stories, from the fantastic time-traveling lessons of A Maji Maji Chronicle, to how glimpses of our future can be devastating in unexpected ways in The Five Second Button, to deeply engrossing crime fiction in A Case of Seeing.
I read a lot of short stories, so my preferences are pretty well-established. I would have loved some of these stories to be a little longer, so I could selfishly spend more time with Bacon's creations. This collection consists of over 20 stories, but I feel the collection may have been stronger had this been whittled down a little.
I would recommend this book to everyone, as the variety ensure that there is a lot to enjoy. Bacon is an incredibly exciting writer, and I will absolutely continue to read her work.
novelbloglover's review
4.0
Book Review
Title: The Road to Woop Woop, and Other Stories
Author: Eugen Bacon
Genre: Literary Fiction/Speculative/Short Stories
Rating: ****
Review: A little while ago, I read and reviewed The Invisible from the same publisher and was offered the chance to read this collection and jumped at it. As I do with all the short story collections I read, I will be discussing each story individually and then summing up my thoughts on the collection at the end of this review. The forward to this collection was written by Seb Doubinsky who wrote The Invisible which I loved, so I could wait to jump into these stories.
The Road to Woop Woop
This story obviously gives its name to the title and it was a strange, mind-bending story that took me a minute to grasp fully. It follows an unnamed protagonist and their relationship with the beautiful young man called River as they embark on a road trip, but the protagonist is questioning their connection and relationship with River. As the protagonist doubts River parts of him begin to disappear in quite gory fashion until only his eyes and a ghostly body remain. The story ends with the ghostly River embracing the protagonist as they realise, they feel a lot more and wondering whether River will return to his former self at the beginning of the story. The Road to Woop Woop started the collection off with a bang and I can’t wait to see what the rest has in store for me.
Swimming With Daddy
Swimming with Daddy actually made me tear up a little as it is about a girl reflecting on how her father taught her to swim, coached her even though he didn’t swim himself and nurtured the talent in her with stories. However, we soon learn that her father died and her mother joined him not long after and when her grief is at its strongest, she swims and her father is always there at her side, telling her stories and giving her advice when she needs it most.
A Nursery Rhyme
A Nursey Rhyme was another dark story that I really enjoyed as it follows Venus, her father Mage and her daughter, Dee. In the wake of the death of Dee’s babysitter, Cora, Venus’ father has come to offer his support and help but he seems to have trouble connecting with his granddaughter and keeps his distance from her. We see that Dee herself is quite strange and doesn’t see the world the same way as other people and we begin questioning why. By the time Mage confesses that Venus was kidnapped by a cult as a young teenager and was gone for months until her father hired a being to rescue his daughter from Lawless to get her back and she eventually fell in love with Lawless’ brother Triton who didn’t have the gift his brother did. However, Dee isn’t Triton’s daughter, and her father knows that she isn’t human and refuses to see her as anything more than a thing. In the end, Lawless comes to Venus in her dreams and in the wake of that moment, Dee kills her grandfather the same way she has done with others, but Venus won’t abandon her child and vows to protect her. I really liked the paranormal/demonic elements of this story especially the relationship between Venus and Lawless as even when she learns what he really is it doesn’t change her feelings about him and their daughter.
The One Who Sees
The One Who Sees was a really interesting story that you really had to think about to understand. For me I saw it as life through the eyes of young boy who sees a lot more than his parents believe and he attributes animal forms to people in order to express their personalities. His father is an antelope, his mother a lion and he is a leopard. As he prepares to enter a boarding school in the city he reflects on the things he loves about home and the things he saw in a way that is creative, unique and yet heart-breaking when you realise that it is the imagination of a child trying to cope with the harsh realities of life.
Beatitudes
Beatitudes is another slightly dark story about a family. It starts with the love between a boy and girl, him ordinary while she is beautiful and that gradually turns into hate and anger when she begins to change into someone he doesn’t recognise. The girl, now woman is hateful towards her beautiful daughter, but the man endures until one night the woman transforms the pair of them into a siren and a toad who end up finding something in each that they didn’t get from her. The imagery in this story is outstanding as I feel it is a story about being brave and embracing your true self no matter what it might be and not bending to the pressures other people put upon you.
Snow Metal
Snow Metal took a more sci-fi turn compared to the more fantastical stories we have seen so far as Torvill meets the woman called Snow Metal while working at the Enclave. She seems to be an android or something like an AI and he is tasked with decoded her memory but when he tries she fights back and manages to escape and he is told by something or someone to win her to their side, making me think that she might be an important part of a war or something like that taking place. I would have like a bit more context in this story as it did leave me a little confused, but it was interesting to read.
A Maji Maji Chronicle
A Maji Maji Chronicle was one of the more interesting stories in this collection in terms of its fantasy elements. It follows a father and son who are magicians and travel through time, the father is teaching his son the vital lessons he will need for when he becomes a true magician himself and they have entered the year 1905 AD. There they meet the Chief of a village who tells them that the neighbouring villages are being attacked and destroyed by the white men, but they have no way to fight back. The father, Zhorr gives them the ability to turn invisible at will despite the protests of his son, Pickle and they watch the consequences of this decision unfold. Slowly, the Chief morphs into the very thing he claimed to hate before seeing the error of his way. Zhorr takes them back to the moment before he gave them the gift so history plays out in the correct way before explaining to his son the lesson was for him to learn to not alter history unless he has a rule to prevent outcomes like the one they saw before they head back to their own time where Zhorr is going to die, leaving his will with his son.
A Good Ball
A Good Ball was the first story in this collection that I didn’t really understand and therefore I can’t really comment on it, but I did understand that it looks at humanity and what it means to be human in some sense.
A Case of Seeing
A Case of Seeing was one of my favourite stories so far as it follows, Detective Chief Inspector Lawfer McDaniel who has the gift of seeing things that have happened when she comes into contact with certain objects which is certainly useful when trying to solve murders. When she is called to the apparent suicide of a Noble Prize candidate, she immediately knows that this wasn’t suicide but murder, but many questions remain. As Lawfer uses her gift to uncover the killer she also begins to piece together the kind of man the victim was. By the end of the story we completely sympathise with the killer as the victim wasn’t a nice man and used people including his wives and lovers to only further himself without a care for their feelings. This is the first story that I would definitely read if it were developed into a novella or even a full-length novel.
The Enduring
The Enduring was an amazing story that follows Vision and K. It is clear from the beginning that Vision isn’t human or if she is, she is a very extraordinary human. K is her husband but his jealousy and need to possess her is driving a wedge between them. Eventually K becomes so jealous and so driven to possess Vision that he kills her and cuts out her heart, but she doesn’t die. Her human form dies, and she is transferred into another form that stays with K even as he disposes of her previous body and she continue to endure him. This is another story I would love to see expanded on as it has a very interesting premise.
Five-Second Button
This was yet another story I would like to see expanding with its interesting premise. We follow Abella who is given a special button by her mother and tells her that this button when pushes will do her future down to five seconds so she can experiencing it in advance of it happening. While Abella doesn’t believe at first, she eventually gives into her curiosity and experiences the loves, losses, and tragedies of her future but she still hasn’t seen her soulmate. After a few pushes of the button she eventually meets Beau and knows he is the love of her life, however, she soon discovers that he was told his mother and sister died in childbirth but the picture he shows her is of her own mother meaning they are brother and sister. When she returns to present, she is heartbroken but continue to travel forward to Beau and continues to love him despite knowing the secret they share.
Diminy: Conception, Articulation and Subsequent Development
Diminy was an interesting story to begin with the ending left me a little confused. We are introduced to Professor John Bates in Londinium. 1905 AD who has been astounding the scientific community with his theories on human behaviour until his theory is disproven by a young man named Freudo. After witnessing Freudo’s experiments in person, Bates knows he has been beaten and contemplates jumping into the future and into a different career as a fashion designer when he is involved in a car accident. The story ends with Bates in hospital with injuries that affect his speech as he tries to explain to the doctors who he is and he must realise in this moment he can recreate himself but I am not sure what the ending was trying to do.
Mahuika
This was another interesting story as we are introduced to the daughter of the sun and the many lives she has lived, and we join her as she is reborn as a human known as Scorcher. Scorcher ends up meeting a man who loves her dearly but her dual nature and the volatile nature she possesses drive him off at time but they always drift back together until one day it is too much for him to handle and tries to leave but finding himself being drawn back to the sun and burned to ashes in her wake.
Being Marcus
Being Marcus was one of my favourite stories so far as Marcus is actually Brutus, one of the men that betrayed Caesar and helped murder him. However, it suicide only to be confronted by Julius and handed the sentence of eternal life. He travelled under the name Marcus and wanders for a long time before settling as a fitness instructor in a modern day gym as he reflects on the fact he had to leave behind the love of his life Portia because he couldn’t bear to watch her grow old and die when he couldn’t. However, during this reflection he speaks with Jade who reminds him so much of his wife and brings upon him and desire to be with a woman again, something he has abstained from for a long time and decides this time he is going to give into it as he asks her out for dinner. I would love to see Being Marcus expanded on as it would span timelines between Ancient Rome and the present day as well as combining elements of betrayal, punishment, grief, love and forgiveness into a compelling narrative.
Scars of Grief
Scars of Grief had a very interesting premise as we are introduced to a nameless author is writing a novel about families of murdered children whose lives where turned upside down by tabloids hacking their phones. However, it jumps back and forth between the author and the fictional story but it seems to blur together making me think that the author and one character in particular are the same person and what we are reading as fictional is actually happening in the reality of the author.
The Animal I Am
This story was extremely amusing and gave me serious Bridget Jones vibes. We follow two friends, Nisa and Freya as they discuss the breakdown of Freya’s daughter’s relationship. K, the daughter and her partner, C should have been an amazing couple as their zodiac signs are very compatible. However, Nisa explains to Freya that their Chinese Zodiac signs and elements are completely incompatible and dives into her diary detailing all of her key relationship and how compatible they were in terms of the Chinese Zodiac sign which was interesting and quite funny to read.
Ace Zone
Ace Zone seemed interesting, but it was a little difficult to follow. We follow Ace after Ur killed her husband and she is moving through world looking for men to be made into soldiers that will obey at her command and we witness her seduce and mark one of these prospective soldiers but that’s about it. I would have a like this story to be expanded a little more, but it was still good overall.
A Pining
A Pining was a great story for me personally, we follow a nameless male protagonist who is pining for his dead sister, Rocket and trying to find her replacement or reincarnation in others and he comes close in Ellie but in the meantime he falls for a woman named Pepper only to be betrayed by her which leave him pining for her too. Eventually this pining grows to great for him to stand and he takes his own life but even right at the end he wonders about the little girl in the park and what she will turn into as she grows.
Dying
Dying was a dark and hilarious story as we follow Bluey who is living groundhog day but dying in some hilarious fashions every day. However, the second he decides that he does want to die something stops him every time and it is beginning to drive him made until he proves it to his friend Coles. Bluey believes that there is something or someone controlling them and watching them every single moment of every single day which happens to be proven right but it was very funny to read.
Wolfmother
The title of this story intrigued me, but it was a bit of a let down as it turned out to be a vampire story. We are introduced to characters like Dragon who have animal attributes when a mysterious woman arrives in the bar one day and everyone is drawn to her until one night she is introduced as a vampire called Wolfmother and the story ends. For this story to have been effective it should have been told from the traveller’s point of view as he is seduced and presumably killed by Wolfmother and that would have been far more interesting to read.
read more at forthenovellovers.wordpress.com
Title: The Road to Woop Woop, and Other Stories
Author: Eugen Bacon
Genre: Literary Fiction/Speculative/Short Stories
Rating: ****
Review: A little while ago, I read and reviewed The Invisible from the same publisher and was offered the chance to read this collection and jumped at it. As I do with all the short story collections I read, I will be discussing each story individually and then summing up my thoughts on the collection at the end of this review. The forward to this collection was written by Seb Doubinsky who wrote The Invisible which I loved, so I could wait to jump into these stories.
The Road to Woop Woop
This story obviously gives its name to the title and it was a strange, mind-bending story that took me a minute to grasp fully. It follows an unnamed protagonist and their relationship with the beautiful young man called River as they embark on a road trip, but the protagonist is questioning their connection and relationship with River. As the protagonist doubts River parts of him begin to disappear in quite gory fashion until only his eyes and a ghostly body remain. The story ends with the ghostly River embracing the protagonist as they realise, they feel a lot more and wondering whether River will return to his former self at the beginning of the story. The Road to Woop Woop started the collection off with a bang and I can’t wait to see what the rest has in store for me.
Swimming With Daddy
Swimming with Daddy actually made me tear up a little as it is about a girl reflecting on how her father taught her to swim, coached her even though he didn’t swim himself and nurtured the talent in her with stories. However, we soon learn that her father died and her mother joined him not long after and when her grief is at its strongest, she swims and her father is always there at her side, telling her stories and giving her advice when she needs it most.
A Nursery Rhyme
A Nursey Rhyme was another dark story that I really enjoyed as it follows Venus, her father Mage and her daughter, Dee. In the wake of the death of Dee’s babysitter, Cora, Venus’ father has come to offer his support and help but he seems to have trouble connecting with his granddaughter and keeps his distance from her. We see that Dee herself is quite strange and doesn’t see the world the same way as other people and we begin questioning why. By the time Mage confesses that Venus was kidnapped by a cult as a young teenager and was gone for months until her father hired a being to rescue his daughter from Lawless to get her back and she eventually fell in love with Lawless’ brother Triton who didn’t have the gift his brother did. However, Dee isn’t Triton’s daughter, and her father knows that she isn’t human and refuses to see her as anything more than a thing. In the end, Lawless comes to Venus in her dreams and in the wake of that moment, Dee kills her grandfather the same way she has done with others, but Venus won’t abandon her child and vows to protect her. I really liked the paranormal/demonic elements of this story especially the relationship between Venus and Lawless as even when she learns what he really is it doesn’t change her feelings about him and their daughter.
The One Who Sees
The One Who Sees was a really interesting story that you really had to think about to understand. For me I saw it as life through the eyes of young boy who sees a lot more than his parents believe and he attributes animal forms to people in order to express their personalities. His father is an antelope, his mother a lion and he is a leopard. As he prepares to enter a boarding school in the city he reflects on the things he loves about home and the things he saw in a way that is creative, unique and yet heart-breaking when you realise that it is the imagination of a child trying to cope with the harsh realities of life.
Beatitudes
Beatitudes is another slightly dark story about a family. It starts with the love between a boy and girl, him ordinary while she is beautiful and that gradually turns into hate and anger when she begins to change into someone he doesn’t recognise. The girl, now woman is hateful towards her beautiful daughter, but the man endures until one night the woman transforms the pair of them into a siren and a toad who end up finding something in each that they didn’t get from her. The imagery in this story is outstanding as I feel it is a story about being brave and embracing your true self no matter what it might be and not bending to the pressures other people put upon you.
Snow Metal
Snow Metal took a more sci-fi turn compared to the more fantastical stories we have seen so far as Torvill meets the woman called Snow Metal while working at the Enclave. She seems to be an android or something like an AI and he is tasked with decoded her memory but when he tries she fights back and manages to escape and he is told by something or someone to win her to their side, making me think that she might be an important part of a war or something like that taking place. I would have like a bit more context in this story as it did leave me a little confused, but it was interesting to read.
A Maji Maji Chronicle
A Maji Maji Chronicle was one of the more interesting stories in this collection in terms of its fantasy elements. It follows a father and son who are magicians and travel through time, the father is teaching his son the vital lessons he will need for when he becomes a true magician himself and they have entered the year 1905 AD. There they meet the Chief of a village who tells them that the neighbouring villages are being attacked and destroyed by the white men, but they have no way to fight back. The father, Zhorr gives them the ability to turn invisible at will despite the protests of his son, Pickle and they watch the consequences of this decision unfold. Slowly, the Chief morphs into the very thing he claimed to hate before seeing the error of his way. Zhorr takes them back to the moment before he gave them the gift so history plays out in the correct way before explaining to his son the lesson was for him to learn to not alter history unless he has a rule to prevent outcomes like the one they saw before they head back to their own time where Zhorr is going to die, leaving his will with his son.
A Good Ball
A Good Ball was the first story in this collection that I didn’t really understand and therefore I can’t really comment on it, but I did understand that it looks at humanity and what it means to be human in some sense.
A Case of Seeing
A Case of Seeing was one of my favourite stories so far as it follows, Detective Chief Inspector Lawfer McDaniel who has the gift of seeing things that have happened when she comes into contact with certain objects which is certainly useful when trying to solve murders. When she is called to the apparent suicide of a Noble Prize candidate, she immediately knows that this wasn’t suicide but murder, but many questions remain. As Lawfer uses her gift to uncover the killer she also begins to piece together the kind of man the victim was. By the end of the story we completely sympathise with the killer as the victim wasn’t a nice man and used people including his wives and lovers to only further himself without a care for their feelings. This is the first story that I would definitely read if it were developed into a novella or even a full-length novel.
The Enduring
The Enduring was an amazing story that follows Vision and K. It is clear from the beginning that Vision isn’t human or if she is, she is a very extraordinary human. K is her husband but his jealousy and need to possess her is driving a wedge between them. Eventually K becomes so jealous and so driven to possess Vision that he kills her and cuts out her heart, but she doesn’t die. Her human form dies, and she is transferred into another form that stays with K even as he disposes of her previous body and she continue to endure him. This is another story I would love to see expanded on as it has a very interesting premise.
Five-Second Button
This was yet another story I would like to see expanding with its interesting premise. We follow Abella who is given a special button by her mother and tells her that this button when pushes will do her future down to five seconds so she can experiencing it in advance of it happening. While Abella doesn’t believe at first, she eventually gives into her curiosity and experiences the loves, losses, and tragedies of her future but she still hasn’t seen her soulmate. After a few pushes of the button she eventually meets Beau and knows he is the love of her life, however, she soon discovers that he was told his mother and sister died in childbirth but the picture he shows her is of her own mother meaning they are brother and sister. When she returns to present, she is heartbroken but continue to travel forward to Beau and continues to love him despite knowing the secret they share.
Diminy: Conception, Articulation and Subsequent Development
Diminy was an interesting story to begin with the ending left me a little confused. We are introduced to Professor John Bates in Londinium. 1905 AD who has been astounding the scientific community with his theories on human behaviour until his theory is disproven by a young man named Freudo. After witnessing Freudo’s experiments in person, Bates knows he has been beaten and contemplates jumping into the future and into a different career as a fashion designer when he is involved in a car accident. The story ends with Bates in hospital with injuries that affect his speech as he tries to explain to the doctors who he is and he must realise in this moment he can recreate himself but I am not sure what the ending was trying to do.
Mahuika
This was another interesting story as we are introduced to the daughter of the sun and the many lives she has lived, and we join her as she is reborn as a human known as Scorcher. Scorcher ends up meeting a man who loves her dearly but her dual nature and the volatile nature she possesses drive him off at time but they always drift back together until one day it is too much for him to handle and tries to leave but finding himself being drawn back to the sun and burned to ashes in her wake.
Being Marcus
Being Marcus was one of my favourite stories so far as Marcus is actually Brutus, one of the men that betrayed Caesar and helped murder him. However, it suicide only to be confronted by Julius and handed the sentence of eternal life. He travelled under the name Marcus and wanders for a long time before settling as a fitness instructor in a modern day gym as he reflects on the fact he had to leave behind the love of his life Portia because he couldn’t bear to watch her grow old and die when he couldn’t. However, during this reflection he speaks with Jade who reminds him so much of his wife and brings upon him and desire to be with a woman again, something he has abstained from for a long time and decides this time he is going to give into it as he asks her out for dinner. I would love to see Being Marcus expanded on as it would span timelines between Ancient Rome and the present day as well as combining elements of betrayal, punishment, grief, love and forgiveness into a compelling narrative.
Scars of Grief
Scars of Grief had a very interesting premise as we are introduced to a nameless author is writing a novel about families of murdered children whose lives where turned upside down by tabloids hacking their phones. However, it jumps back and forth between the author and the fictional story but it seems to blur together making me think that the author and one character in particular are the same person and what we are reading as fictional is actually happening in the reality of the author.
The Animal I Am
This story was extremely amusing and gave me serious Bridget Jones vibes. We follow two friends, Nisa and Freya as they discuss the breakdown of Freya’s daughter’s relationship. K, the daughter and her partner, C should have been an amazing couple as their zodiac signs are very compatible. However, Nisa explains to Freya that their Chinese Zodiac signs and elements are completely incompatible and dives into her diary detailing all of her key relationship and how compatible they were in terms of the Chinese Zodiac sign which was interesting and quite funny to read.
Ace Zone
Ace Zone seemed interesting, but it was a little difficult to follow. We follow Ace after Ur killed her husband and she is moving through world looking for men to be made into soldiers that will obey at her command and we witness her seduce and mark one of these prospective soldiers but that’s about it. I would have a like this story to be expanded a little more, but it was still good overall.
A Pining
A Pining was a great story for me personally, we follow a nameless male protagonist who is pining for his dead sister, Rocket and trying to find her replacement or reincarnation in others and he comes close in Ellie but in the meantime he falls for a woman named Pepper only to be betrayed by her which leave him pining for her too. Eventually this pining grows to great for him to stand and he takes his own life but even right at the end he wonders about the little girl in the park and what she will turn into as she grows.
Dying
Dying was a dark and hilarious story as we follow Bluey who is living groundhog day but dying in some hilarious fashions every day. However, the second he decides that he does want to die something stops him every time and it is beginning to drive him made until he proves it to his friend Coles. Bluey believes that there is something or someone controlling them and watching them every single moment of every single day which happens to be proven right but it was very funny to read.
Wolfmother
The title of this story intrigued me, but it was a bit of a let down as it turned out to be a vampire story. We are introduced to characters like Dragon who have animal attributes when a mysterious woman arrives in the bar one day and everyone is drawn to her until one night she is introduced as a vampire called Wolfmother and the story ends. For this story to have been effective it should have been told from the traveller’s point of view as he is seduced and presumably killed by Wolfmother and that would have been far more interesting to read.
read more at forthenovellovers.wordpress.com
abetterjulie's review
3.0
A collection with a unique voice and wide-ranging styles and themes. This would be a good pick for someone looking for unusual and evocative stories to read between times. The whole book feels liminal. If you read these before bed, you'd have weird dreams. If you read them on the commute, you'd spin tales about the people around you and their relationships and secrets. There's a slant-wise syntax happening, but you get used to it and it become its own rhythm.
Thank you to NetGalley and Meerkat Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Meerkat Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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