Stoop City
Biblioasis
ISBN: 1771963867/978-1771963862 and ASIN: B085TS2R2L
Price: $22.95 CAD $16.95 USD
Purchase: http://biblioasis.com/shop/fiction/stoop-city/
Winner of the 2021 ReLit Award for short fiction
Welcome to Stoop City, where your neighbours include a condo-destroying cat, a teen queen ravaged by Catholic guilt, and an emergency clinic staffed by lovelorn skeptics. Couples counselling for Marzana and her girlfriend’s ghost might not resolve past indiscretions; she needs a death goddess ritual. Plus, Hoofy’s not sure if his 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
“I want to give comparisons: the underdog understanding of Charles Bukowski; 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.”
Cherie Dimaline, Internationally best-selling author of Governor General Award and Kirkus Prize winning — The Marrow Thieves and Empire of Wild
“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, Giller Prize-nominated and Lambda Literary Award winning author of A Safe Girl to Love and A Dream of a Woman
“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