Blackout Odyssey

by Victoria Feistner

Overview

All Mallory needs to do to get home is travel across Toronto in a straight line-how hard could it be?

But in this genderbent retelling of Homer's Odyssey set in the 2003 Northeastern Blackout, nothing so simple can ever go according to plan.

Before even boarding the shuttle bus in the east end, she manages to piss off the supernatural, getting a mystical bounty placed on her head. Before long, she's navigating a haunted department store that exists out of time and space, giving dating advice to the lord of the underworld, dodging Russian mobsters and Toronto raccoons, and staging acoustic battles of the bands. All while in a broken pair of heels, just trying to hail a ride--or even find a working pay phone--before the hussy across the hall makes a play for her boyfriend Dylan's affections (and home-cooked meal).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781928011538
Publisher:	Brain Lag
Publication date:	08/13/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	198
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Victoria Feistner is a writer, a graphic designer, and an artisan in equal parts, although some of those parts are more equal than others. Writing speculative fiction for over twenty years, and finishing her first novel at age 18, she has been published in Salt&Syntax, Speculative North, and GigaNotoSaurus, among other magazines and anthologies. Victoria spent the '03 blackout cooking pork dumplings on a propane barbeque and wandering North York in search of a cool breeze. She still lives in Toronto with her partner and two /jerks/ cats; more of her work can be found at victoriafeistner.com.

Editorial Reviews

06/28/2021

A gender-bent retelling of The Odyssey, Feistner’s enjoyable sophomore novel (after Creampuffs) opens as heroine Mallory leaves her job in the east end of Toronto on a hot and sticky summer day. All Mallory wants is to get home to her boyfriend, Dylan. This would usually be an easy feat, but tonight is different: it’s the start of the Northeast Blackout of 2003. After the lights go out and Mallory loses her wallet in the chaos, she must make a perilous trek across the city, relying on the kindness of strangers and her own wits to get by. Along the way, she encounters many strange sights, among them an underground supernatural world in the depths of Honest Ed’s Discount Store, a pot farm in the Queens Quay streetcar station, and a rock battle—which she joins in on—outside of Lee’s Palace concert hall. Mallory’s stubborn defiance in the face of the weirdness she stumbles on is endlessly entertaining, and her adventures double as a travelogue through famous Toronto sights. Feistner captures beauty, strangeness, and distinct Torontonian flair in her humorous, energetic prose. Fans of fresh takes on classics and quirky quests will find much to love. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Mallory's stubborn defiance in the face of the weirdness she stumbles on is endlessly entertaining, and her adventures double as a travelogue through famous Toronto sights. Feistner captures beauty, strangeness, and distinct Torontonian flair in her humorous, energetic prose. Fans of fresh takes on classics and quirky quests will find much to love." -- Publishers Weekly

"Mallory is an engaging and charmingly stubborn protagonist who is easy to root for. This is a quick, fun read for fans of reimagined mythology, though still relatable for readers that prefer more realistic settings." - Booklist

"Blackout Odyssey, a gender-bent urban take on Homer's classic, sees a harried woman trying to get home-on foot-to her sexually besieged boyfriend in the midst of the 2003 blackout. In Feistner's Toronto, every shadowed corner hides a temptation or a trap; and a pissed off pantheon of tricksters runs the city like a magical mafia. This delightful, imaginative, insider view is the worst walking tour you were ever glad you went on."

-- Jadie Jang, author of Monkey Around

"Blackout Odyssey whisked me away on a magical journey to a fantastical world and at the same time gave me a chance to revisit dearly missed iconic Toronto spaces. Feistner transforms streets I've walked down thousands of times into a hidden Narnia."

Erin Rodgers, StarGaze

From the Publisher