The Wilds

Stories

Teetering between the ridiculous and the sublime, The Wilds blends Southern gothic strangeness with dystopian absurdities, sci-fi speculations, and fairy-tale transformations.

At an obscure South Carolina nursing home, a lost world reemerges as a disabled elderly woman undergoes newfangled brain-restoration procedures and begins to explore her environment with the assistance of strap-on robot legs. At a deluxe medical spa on a nameless Caribbean island, a middle-aged woman hopes to revitalize her fading youth with grotesque rejuvenating therapies that combine cutting-edge medical technologies with holistic approaches and the pseudo-religious dogma of Zen-infused self-help. And in a rinky-dink mill town, an adolescent girl is unexpectedly inspired by the ravings and miraculous levitation of her fundamentalist friend’s weird grandmother. These are only a few of the scenarios readers encounter in Julia Elliott’s debut collection The Wilds. In her genre-bending stories, Elliott blends Southern gothic strangeness with dystopian absurdities, sci-fi speculations with fairy-tale transformations. Teetering between the ridiculous and the sublime, Elliott’s language-driven fiction uses outlandish tropes to capture poignant moments in her humble characters’ lives. Without abandoning the tenets of classic storytelling, Elliott revels in lush lyricism, dark humor, and experimental play.

©2014 Julia Elliott (P)2015 Recorded Books

Stories that stick with you...

Be it a woman coming to terms with her dementia and also her new mechanical legs, a group of young professionals literally looking to "shed" the years away, or a robot trying to understand connection, these stories will keep you thinking long after the final story wraps up. At times a scathing commentary on our current society, many left me feeling uncomfortable with how much they resonated. However, I think that is the point. AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

Weird Short Stories

Weird short stories that get weirder as you read. I enjoyed the first 1/4 but then less and less as I kept reading.