Valery the Great

Fiction. 15 Finest Book Covers in Spring Fiction This Year selection (Something Daily blog). VALERY THE GREAT is a crackling, electric collection of dark humor that follows the bizarre and beautiful lives of its protagonists. Sometimes sweet and gentle, sometimes sharply sarcastic, the unique narrative voices in this collection are always powerfully touching. Throughout VALERY THE GREAT we find characters who need to escape their lives and, in the attempt, find alternate ways of living. They float outside of the harsh, unromantic everyday existence and into an alternate reality that allows them dreams of solace and fulfilled potential. McCluskey expertly mixes the dramatic with the deadpan to create a very readable and exciting collection, filled with characters who are connected by their longing to be heard.

By turns comic, pathetic, and tenderly tragic, VALERY THE GREAT is a charming collection.--Quill & Quire

Her voice is scathing, very funny, her stories twisting at the end to leave me a bit stunned....I loved this book, a short story collections whose curation had as much thought put into it as the stories themselves, a fantastic package with a gorgeous design. In addition to considerable talent, there is furious energy at work here, McCluskey giving it her all, and as a result, reading was a pleasure.--Pickle Me This (blog)

McCluskey is at her finest when she uses sharp humour and skillful, economic description to communicate her fatalistic worldview.--The Globe and Mail