Strange, beautiful, poetical, enticing stories.
The stories are not very easy to read.
Part of the problem is, that I am not a native speaker of English. Normally that does not matter very much.
But now I did not understand the first story, partly due to the fact that I do not know anything about cars and that I am not a good map reader. I was also mistaken about the sex of the 'you' (quite interesting by the way, this happened more often). When I read the story a second time, it was still a strange story, but at least I understood what I was reading.
The second story (no, I am not going to tell you about all those stories) was sweet. This sentence stands in my mind: 'Does grief take a holiday?' Beautiful.
The writer lives in Australia, I live in Europe. The entire setting of the stories is strange to me.
Some stories made less impression, some of them made me sad. I loved the story ‘Mahuika’, I had to laugh aloud. But most of the time the stories made me wonder. Wonder about the story, wonder about the way the story was written.
Eugen Bacon is just a very good writer. ( )

I read several of these stories, but they just aren't my style. A little too much fantasy for me, and I'm not fond of the abundance of one word sentences. The stories I read seem to be a splash of one moment without forward action. ( )

I'm not entirely sure how to rate this collection of short stories, because for me some of the stories worked exceedingly well and I could have read a whole novel based on them, but others left me utterly confused and feeling like I was missing the point entirely. These stories each certainly take some unexpected turns, but it felt like some of them were written so sparingly and were so short that I couldn't quite grasp what was even happening before the story was over. I found myself re-reading some of the especially short ones and feeling like I was missing something that should have been obvious (i.e. what exactly the story was). Other stories were wonderful, so rich and with fascinating characters that I thoroughly enjoyed and wanted to be able to live with awhile longer. As I said, there are several stories in this collection that I quite loved and would have enjoyed a full novel about. It's a mixed bag of a collection, at least for my taste, but I think the stories that really work make the read well worth it. ( )

Having obtained a free Eearly Reviewers copy of "The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories", I was looking forward to opening its distinct cover and become drawn in by its promise of lyrical language and genre-defying stories of mystery, fantasy and surrealism.

Unfortunately i only made it through 5 of the 24 stories before giving up. I can't quite pinpoint why this didn't work for me: perhaps the jarring jumps between styles between and even within stories, the fact that I couldn't relate to the characters or the plots that had my mind drifting off after a few minutes?

A lot of people seem to be enjoying this collection, but I'm afraid it's not for me. ( )

Woop Woop is Australian slang for nowhere or a distant little town, which lays out of the way. I'm going to guess the author was going for the later, since these stories take one in unexpected directions.

There are 20 short stories in this collection, each one ranging in length and style. Some are lyrical, some traditional, and other exploratory. The author loves to march to her own beat and reach beyond the usual borders, and these tales do just that, while incorporating bits and pieces (or sometimes more) of Australian lore, myths and the like. Some are magical. Some are simply provocative, but every single one is original and leads down unexpected paths in strange directions...like a road to woop woop.

Like with all collections, there were some tales I enjoyed and some which simply weren't my thing. There is an underling thought to each of these, making them anything but light, quick reads. Whether they are worth the time to contemplate or not is something the reader will have to figure out for themselves. The author definitely stretches in various directions and lays more on the darker side of things. A few themes head toward being harsh and seductive, while others simply surprise and teeter toward odd. The author definitely gets kudos for letting her words fly in whatever way she sees best to get across certain emotions and ideas. And I can respect that even if I'm not a fan of every turn she takes.

It's well written and does provoke thought. The tales definitely steer clear of the usual market and add some fresh air to the reading pile. Fans of short stories which tend to the darker side, and those ready to stomp down a new direction will enjoy traveling these various paths and end up somewhere or even nowhere at all.

I received an ARC through Meerkat Press and found the collection packed with surprises. ( )