Welcome to Stoop City, where your neighbours include a condo-destroying cat, a teen queen beset by Catholic guilt, and an emergency clinic staffed entirely by lovelorn skeptics. Couples counseling with Marzana, her girlfriend’s ghost, might not be enough to resolve past indiscretions; our heroine could need a death goddess ritual or two. Plus, Hoofy’s not sure if his missing scam-artist boyfriend was picked up by the cops, or by that pretty blonde, their last mark. When Jan takes a room at Plague House, her first year of university takes an unexpected turn into anarcho-politics and direct action, gender studies and late-night shenanigans with Saffy, her captivating yet cagey housemate.
Reviews
“What really unites Stoop City is its punk ethos, the way even a well-ordered condo careens towards anarchy with the addition of one feral cat or a dead girlfriend’s ghost. These are stories about love at the margins, set in those spaces, literal or figurative, where the private meets the street.”
~ Jade Colbert for The Globe and Mail
“Kristyn Dunnion’s 13 short pieces are marvellous feats of pacing and styling bolstered by vibrant characterization and enviable turns of phrase. Dunnion compels with sharp jabs of dialogue, settings rendered in vivid colours, and plots both inventive and propulsive.”
~ Brett Josef Grubisic for Quill & Quire
“I want to give comparisons: the underdog understanding of Charles Bukwoski; the complex skill of Lydea Davis; the lush/sharp imagery of Karen Russell – I want to give comparisons but there are none. No one writes like Kristyn Dunnion, not even those of us who really, really want to. These are stories that live under your skin and force new colours into the spectrum, that rip open and fold inward at the same time. You read them and wonder about the talent that allowed them to be told. Just how many lives has Dunnion lived exactly, to be able to write like this? Because you believe every word and walk beside every character. I am a long-time fan of Kristyn’s work and now I think I may be head-over-heels in love.”
~ Cherie Dimaline, best-selling author of The Marrow Thieves and Empire of Wild
“Like her feral, tormented citizens, Dunnion swaps registers, altitudes, myths, and meanings with heartbroken elan. These stories are merciful and naked; these sentences never miss.”
~ Paige Cooper, Scotiabank Giller Prize-nominated author of Zolitude
“Stoop City is a tender snarl of an album, a glorious collection of wreckage and beauty and insight. Dunnion’s care shines through each carefully crafted page.”
~ Casey Plett, award winning author of Little Fish and A Safe Girl to Love