***SHORTLISTED FOR THE MIRAMICHI READER'S 'THE VERY BEST!' SHORT FICTION AWARD***
***2020 RELIT AWARDS: SHORT FICTION WINNER***
With birth, death, contemplation, and close calls, Send More Tourists… the Last Ones Were Delicious explores how we respond to the weight of social expectations. From the hidden pressures of wall paint and tarot card predictions, to the burden of phone numbers and the dismembering of saints, Waddleton takes us on a surrealist road trip through the missteps of her vivid characters with honesty and compassion. These are stories of survival. Unafraid, dreamy, and downright weird, these stories cross boundaries of geography, gender, and generation with an eye to the transient nature of human life
"...a sense of being trapped – by gender, mental illness, duty, class, or indeed, a town so small that everyone knows you – is palpable in many of the stories in Send More Tourists… the Last Ones Were Delicious, her debut fiction collection... Waddleton often uses humour and a business-as-usual tone to undercut her characters’ desperation. The book’s cheeky title is a prime example."
“If you like your literature commanding and sharp, unadorned, defiant, startling, at times even shocking, with just the right touch of the absurd—stories whose characters often twist and wreathe hilariously in their all-too-human shells as they cling with tragic conviction to the ghostly, bygone ideals they were born into—then you’ll devour this inspiring debut. This is simply a fantastic collection, rendered with such fiery, passionate authority, a reader can only assume it marks the beginning of a rich and colourful literary career.”
"The book’s title is a great tell, both of Waddleton’s wicked sense of humour, and that reading these stories takes you on a trip."
“I love the sharp originality of this collection! I’m going to dub it kickboxer grit lit – and make no mistake, this is lit – very fine lit – lit that will scour your sensibilities and tickle your funny bone at the same time. There’s joy as the upper cut of the stories catches you off guard and you fall to the mat laughing so hard that you wouldn’t have it any other way. The sheer energy is marvelous and there’s so much poignancy too. Yep, I love these stories!”
“Savage, inventive and very, very funny, Tracey Waddleton’s Send More Tourists… the Last Ones Were Delicious are stories of murder, monsters and chicken nuggets; of cats, infidelity and bank heists; of sex, love and loneliness. They’re stories about what happens when you get what you want—and what happens when you don’t. Showcasing whip-smart dialogue, artful storytelling, and fresh, melodic prose, they reveal a writer with a stunning depth of talent. A moving, ferocious, confident debut that’ll stay with you.”