Title: Road to Woop Woop Author: Eugen Bacon Genre: Collection / Speculative Fiction / Dark Fantasy My rating:4 of 5 stars
The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories is a collection of 24 of Eugen Bacon’s tales that run the gambit of warm and witty to chillingly sinister. The thread that pulls these stories together is relationships within storytelling, whether it is a father and daughter or an author and his story; Eugen Bacon builds you a world where the bond between the two is the crux.
These narratives are compelling and provoking, and this book is impossible to put down. Vignette after vignette pulls you further along the line until you are well hooked. And although some stories are short, the compendium allows the reader to nosh at will what they may and leave more for another bite later.
Sometimes, when I read things written by British or Aussie writers, I feel the story suffers from my lack of knowledge of slang and terminology. It made The Attic Tragedy more beautiful and served its sucker-punches more viciously.
George is dealing with all the things that make adolescence hell: school, the primary devil, and a budding crush with a fellow outcast, Sylvie, a particular demon. Sylvie makes it all worth it though with her gentle whimsy and accepting soul–it doesn’t hurt that Sylvie is magical. It’s not just that she’s beyond a dream, she says she sees ghosts. George can’t help but fall hopelessly for the ethereal beauty. But life doesn’t end at high school; neither does George’s story.
“Don’t be sorry,” she said. “Don’t ever be sorry. You’re beautiful, George. You’re tree roots and fresh mown grass and the smell of rocks and apples. What’s inside you is so real, so alive. It’s burning you up.”
The Attic Tragedy by J. Ashley-Smith
J. Ashley-Smith weaves a tale of trials, failures, and successes centered around protagonist George and her struggle with self-acceptance and inner squabbles with self-loathing. Centering around vignettes of heartbreak as she watches Sylvie grow up, and away, from the girlhood qualities that made her so unique to become a wife and mother to a smarmy prig.
This book is quite magical. Highly recommendable.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary advance copy of this book.
