Hunger Moon

by Traci Skuce

Traci Skuce's Hunger Moon is a collection of stories that echo with the yearning to be replenished, to be made full. Here are characters at cusp-points in their lives, attempting to shift their trajectories: to cease wrapping up heart's desire in a pink bubble by launching it into the universe. Some turn to ESP, some to a belief in ghosts, some to the future caught inside a glass bottle, each character taking the hackneyed adage "Follow Your Bliss" too literally to blissfully follow their own storyline.

Emotional charged, evocative, and lush, Hunger Moon's thirteen short stories each set out on profound quests to satisfy an emotional hunger.

Genres: Short Stories

240 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2020

Reviews

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an incredibly well-written collection of short stories. Like Alice Munro, Skuce describes the thoughts of her characters that often go unsaid. She articulates the unarticulated. Things you've felt, but never had words for or even thought to name.
This is an impressive first collection that resonated whether through childhood references, young love, motherhood angsts, or internal tensions as relationships were navigated. Hope to see more in the future from this author.

[C (one.chapteratatime) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and then you read a book that stands out. Not because there is a mystery to be solved. Not because there is a leading man you long for. Not because the pages scare you. The book stands out because the book is true literature. Yes. That kind. The written words manage to articulate thoughts you couldn’t describe. Your brain chews each sentence without being spoon-fed and contemplates conclusions, character intentions, and emotions. The author has a MFA, mountains of experience, and it shows.

Hunger Moon by Traci Skuce is this type of rare book. It is a collection of 13 short stories, each one it’s own masterpiece. For me, they were particularly poignant because of the Canadian references - the west coast, canoeing, tree planting, an other memories of my own past. Hunger Moon was released at the beginning of the shut down and book events were canceled for this talented author. Find out what she is doing at The book deserves the spotlight and I highly recommend. 🤍

[August Foulds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every so often a novel stops you in your tracks. It shifts your trajectory so hastily that against the world’s expected orbit, you submit, and follow its words to where they intend to take you instead. Towards the depths of the amygdala where the unarticulated feelings bury, Skuce extracts those emotions and eloquently applies them to situations seemingly unexplainable. Hunger Moon is honest in a manner that forces you to sit uncomfortably in its unrestrained depiction of life’s most precarious events. The narration invites you in and reads as a journal may— quizzical and frank. Prose animated by contemplation, uncertainty, and perhaps even existentialism— to a degree— challenges readers to confront the strenuous choices present in their own lives. Perhaps raising questions regarding the nature of fate, Hunger Moon emphasizes the cravings aroused within each of us to satisfy the gaps in our lives, making them full once more. A novel that can reach you at any place in your life. Read it, fear it, appreciate it.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Page turner. Each short story is SO well written. Impressive collection.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book could be placed in a time capsule to give future earthlings a true and varied picture of Gen Xers, teenagers in the 80s, treeplanters, spiritual seekers, backpackers, suburban kids, slackers and so much more (or all of these the same things!?). Traci's stories resonate with such a cross-range of readers and her rich descriptions of places in BC, Toronto, Australia bring each of her characters alive. Angst, agency, unwanted pregnancies, love lost, love gone wrong and big snakes. This collection of short stories has it all.

[Visnja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read a finer collection of short stories. Touched a special place inside, one of longing and aliveness...a kind of beauty mired by the weight of existence yet it still floats. Thank you, Traci Skuce for writing this book, for the inner child inside me, the girl, the woman.

[Jane Cawthorne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful writing. She had me hooked from the first story. Troubling, troubled, troublesome characters, so human, and written so humanely.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories in Hunger Moon, the first collection of short fiction by Traci Skuce, are tales of yearning, of people longing to expand their horizons, take some chances and see what life has to offer. Skuce’s characters are often struggling to understand and come to terms with their own urges, needs and desires. They feel hemmed in and want to break the rules. In “Promontory” Zoe, backpacking around the world, has landed in Australia and teamed up with another backpacker, named Drew, who is older and more experienced. Drew, a carefree risk-taker, likes having sex with Zoe but has no wish to be burdened with her naivety and neediness for any longer than necessary, and Zoe often finds herself in the position of following in Drew’s steps, wanting to please him, trying not to be left behind. But when on an impulse and without preparation Drew takes her into a wilderness area far from human settlement, and then suffers an injury, she must draw on every ounce of strength she can muster, though there’s no guarantee it will be enough to save them. In “To the Ravine,” Beth dreams about classmate Toby Forbes, her lustful fantasies fueled by romantic visions straight out of Romeo and Juliet. But when he proposes an assignation with her and she follows him out to the ravine, it turns out his motive is not what she’d expected or hoped and has nothing to do with romance. A few of the stories focus on the travails of marriage and motherhood. In “Elephant Shoe” Tess, saddled with a newborn baby, has tied herself to an irresponsible dopehead whose promises, she discovers, mean nothing. And in “Needs,” a young mother struggles physically and mentally to satisfy the interminable demands of her husband and her newborn. Traci Skuce digs deep into her character’s lives, examines friendships and childhood betrayals with brutal honesty. Her writing is sharp, observant and elegant. Hunger Moon is an enjoyable, provocative and often surprising debut collection of short fiction that deserves praise and admiration.

[SteWin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read relentlessly from front to back, not skipping to different points in the book. Mostly, I found the stories to be pessimistic, ending without hope, or redemption, or hope of redemption. This is perfectly legitimate, if somewhat depressing. Now, don't get me wrong--it is a well-crafted set of short stories--I just wish some of the outcomes were a bit happier. In fact, most made a good read, and they were well told. Recommended.