Many thanks to Netgally for the eARC. Apologies for the delay.

The circus has come into town! Jackson's Unreal Circus and Mobile Marmalade has pulled right up, courtesy of its ancient steam engine. Here, you'll find a very diverse array of characters, complete with their own stories that may give you a rush in your veins or chill you to your very core!

This one was a bit rough for me and I'm not sure why, besides a chronic illness that popped up for me during the time that I was trying to read it. Honestly, I am a big anthology reader, as I love reading an eclectic collection of stories that introduce me to some of my favorite writers. I was sold on the premise of this being a collection of stories about a traveling circus, and to that end, it definitely is! However, some of the stories didn't quite stick the landing for me and I felt that was detrimental to the anthology. The first story and the last story should be representative of the author's vision of the anthology and well, I felt a little "ehhh" about the first story. I felt that the pacing was off and I finished the story with a lot of questions that I felt the author should have answered, or at least the editor should have picked out and asked the author to answer for the reader.

That being said, I think it's still one that you should pick up because there are a few authors included that I've grown to love and the theme is cool.

3 stars out of 5.

DNF 70%
The book wasn`t for me. I couldn`t connect with the stories and was more or less confused 80% of the time. The stories was just meh? I didn`t feel the magic that i was promised.

i really enjoyed reading this book, the stories were great and I really had spooky vibe when reading this. I hope the author has more books like this as I enjoyed this one.

A literary circus tour of the strange and the unusual, with destinations as frightening as they are fascinating, The Grand Tour offers a ticket to . . . elsewhere.

E. Catherine Tobler has a mythical, surreal sort of style here that reminds me of equal parts Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, and Richard Matheson. The stories are deceptively folksy, dreamlike in the telling. Some dip into the realm of nightmares while others immerse themselves in it. There are those that wear their weirdness proudly on their sleeve, putting it front and center, and others that hold it in reserve, waiting for the right moment to pull back the curtain.

For instance, Vanishing Act takes place in 1940s’ Roswell, New Mexico, which should give you a clue as to what it entails . . . but it’s not the way in which you expect. There is a girl from beyond, riding the rails yet never getting any closer to home, but it’s the journey that holds the magic here.

Artificial Nocturne was a story of ‘freaks’ both born and made. It’s a story that wanders from strange to beautiful, to horrifying, and back to strange. The next story, We, As One, Trailing Embers, is the first true horror story in the collection, a story of conjoined twins with a dark hunger that has echoes of Clive Barker beneath it.

Ebb Stung by the Flow was the most visually and imaginatively stunning story in the collection, one that seized me from the opening paragraph. It’s a story I had to read twice, just to appreciate the language and the imagery, and I swear it was a different story each time. Every Season then switches things up again, telling a more contemporary tale with erotic flavors and a wonderful scene exploring excess and the haunting, wonderful question of “Who decides normal?”

Some stories are about the characters, others about themes or plots, but what lingered with me following The Grand Tour was the telling. These are stories to be savored, read slowly, with care, and with a sense of wonder.

Do you want to run away to the circus?

Are you sure?

This was a train ride of magic, mystery, and pure imagination. Do not ride this ride unless you are tall enough to manage the twists of the story. Keep all limbs and sanities away from the edge for the duration of the ride. Enjoy the show and don’t forget to keep your mind open to fully experience a spooky, interesting, and unique ride through these story destinations.

I love all things circus, so I was drawn to this collection like... well like a dreamer to the circus. I did dream of running away with circus when I was younger, and older, though my role changed and I won't get into that. Much like you might imagine a circus, this collection had an eclectic mix of stories spanning a long history, but all connected by one theme, one particular circus, Jackson's Unreal Circus and Mobile Marmalade.

Characters wind through the tales, growing on you as they do each other, some like flowers others like weeds, all in the same moving garden, rolling across the landscape. The style is poetic and dreamy, surreal and yet also real. There is a dark side to the dream, alluring and cruel, raw and beautiful.

Every Season gets my biggest step right up, with this mix I'm sure everyone with a taste for the magic of the circus will find their own main attraction.

The Grand Tour: A Jackson’s Unreal Circus and Mobile Marmalade Collection by E. Catherine Tobler is a short story collection that will punch you right in the feels.

The nine stories contained within this book like memories trapped in marmalade jars include ringmasters, bearded ladies, dog-men, bird-women, beauties, beasts, demons, nuns, Fates, and loners. Step right up to a world of unreal fascination and delicious pastries smothered in sugary citrus that tastes like the summer you were fifteen. Meet the man who can make anything – or anyone – vanish entirely. Roam through the memories of a woman who cannot die. Run through the woods with a quartet of girls on the cusp of adulthood, on their way to the circus and the truth that is life.

The world of this carnival is colorful, flashy, exciting. There are delicious things to eat and tricks of all kinds. But underneath the thrill, in the quiet after the audience goes home, the truth of the circus people is often dark and mysterious. These stories are haunting and sad, shot through with a loneliness and a yearning that leave a hollow ache inside you, but they are also stories of sacrifice, acceptance, kindness, and love. These stories tell of “the heart of the circus, dark and wet and cold and pounding.”

With stories reminiscent of Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury), The Body (Stephen King), and The Life She Was Given (Ellen Marie Wiseman), this is one circus performance you won’t want to miss.

I received a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This review was posted to NetGalley, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram, and my personal blog.

#netgalley #thegrandtour

I had a hard time reading this book, and couldn't finish it. I will give it some time and then come back to it.

Oh, my! This was yummy. A traveling carnival of the supernatural, I could not ask for more. The magician that can make things disappear, for real. The beautiful enchantress who makes the delicious marmalade. One jar is never enough. The young girl snatched from the streets finding freedom from her captors on the train, where macabre is the normal. She is home. They all are. Until the end of time.

They are expecting you. They already know you. They have been waiting for you. To find yourself again amongst those of your kind. Dont keep them waiting. It will be the ride of your life.

A completely different and whimsical book. I was truly curious about the storyline because it promised magic with a cost and unexplainable situations. The story had a sparkling and fascinating feeling with all the mystery and all but it fell a little short on keeping the pace throughout the book. I loved the beginning, the narration was amazing as well.

Yes, I am the first to review this book, it is a distinct privilege. But here’s the thing…if you just told me to read a dreamily poetic set of stories of strange beings with feminist/queer angle and now reviews anywhere, it wouldn’t be an instant sell. But throw in a circus theme and I’m so here. So yes, this one had me at circus. I love all things to do with circuses. So I downloaded and read this one almost immediately upon discovering it on Netgalley. And ended up liking it very much. In fact the language in all its dreamy poetry actually worked really well here, the stories didn’t just draw you in, they enveloped you like strange but irresistible dreams. A steam train is coming through…decades, states, cities. It brings a show unlike any other. Jackson’s Unreal Circus and Mobile Marmalade features miracles, oddities and magic. It also sells a dessert confection that brings back your loveliest memories. Who wouldn’t want to take that tour? This collection features stories of individuals who end up inextricably connected to the circus, either as performers or guests or sometimes even both. Written over a span of time and united by one theme (or under one giant tent) these stories can be somewhat uneven, but mostly uniformly a delight to read. My favorite might have been the third one. It’s difficult to say, the entire thing was a collective experience, more like a novel of varied chapters. The genre ranges from magic realism to something more akin to adult fairy tales, but there’s so much inbetween the two. Tragedy, drama, coming of age stories, love, darkness, loneliness, adventure and always, as a constant backbone throughout, a theme of finding oneself, because that’s what a circus offers, after all. A place to be different. There’s some sort of life metaphor there, I’m sure, but it isn’t needed. Suffice it to say the book succeeds in its mission, it takes you on a grand tour indeed. It’s lovely and magical and makes for a very enjoyable read, especially so for circus fans. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.