OLGA BOGDAN
Olga Bogdan writes novels, screenplays and short stories.She is the creator of the Backwater Gothic series—a collection of ‘final girl’ survival tales exploring the grit, grime and hilarity that’s life in provincial wastelands.The series includes: Helena, a coming-of-age novel with elements of magic realism, Igor, a violent, female-led homage to the Spaghetti Western, and A Psychopath's Guide to Girls, a contemporary thriller about a good deed gone bad.Olga is based in London.
HELENA
(Backwater Gothic series)
A bored, lonely teenager drifts across a stifling provincial landscape on the brink of civil war.Fleeing the scene of the night before, Helena ricochets around her hometown: taming feral children, getting high with Bukowski’s smallest fan, hitchhiking through Pannonian Plain in a blackout, trading riddles with a mysterious old crone.She tells herself it doesn’t matter. That none of it has anything to do with her. That she’ll be off soon, anyway. But as the ghosts of a forgotten war begin to stir and angels sent look the other way, Helena’s too busy falling for the lead singer of a band she despises to notice the flashing exit sign.
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*My second book by Olga Bogdan is equally entertaining and thought provoking – especially in today’s political climate, and especially here in the U.S.Cleverly and relatably told, it describes the most reluctant rites-of-passage that takes place under the ever-darkening shadow of the 90s civil war in the former Yugoslavia. The first-person narrative sparks off the page and is as honest as can be, funny and moving, and never preachy (Gen X don’t preach).The magic realism elements work well in adding depth to this narrative by bringing some historical and spiritual context to the madness that’s Helena’s “so-called” life.”REMY DUBOIS, Goodreads review
IGOR
(Backwater Gothic series)
A mute girl and pregnant hooker on the run from a king pimp with a broken heart and a weakness for cobra venom.After accidentally saving Boss’s life, she becomes Igor. As his reluctant mascot and confidante, she no longer needs to fear for her life—until a request from an undercover detective sends her on a suicidal trek across the scorched wasteland.Set in the frontier where everything goes, Igor flips the Spaghetti Western script into a violent, female-led reckoning.
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"Just finished this book and—OMG. What a read. I consider myself well-read, but I can honestly say this novel is unlike anything I’ve come across in six decades of literary exploration. The story, which follows a being who evolves – from creature, to person, to fully human – evokes echoes of Pinocchio, The Vegetarian, and the wild, allegorical inventiveness of Borne."MAY H, Goodreads review
A PSYCHOPATH’S GUIDE TO GIRLS
(Backwater Gothic series)
A Gen Z film student discovers that channelling Gen X isn't half as fun as the big screen would have her believe.Life in a coastal town where things wash ashore to rot is about as fun as watching the closing credits of an art house movie. So when a friend comes up with an idea for a post-ironic vigilante mission, Astrid jumps at the chance.What starts as a harmless intervention soon goes off-script and spirals into full-blown horror. As the body count rises and the blood on her hands refuses to wash clean, it’s up to Astrid to finish the job.But how do you kill the thing you love?
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"Smart, funny, and original, A Psychopath’s Guide to Girls is a crime novel set in England and the South of France. I’m primarily a film person, and to me it reads like a cross between Heathers, The End of the Fing World, and Donnie Darko – but with a fresh "Gen Z thinks it’s Gen X" twist.Since the main characters all attend film school, there’s a clever playlist at the back featuring all the movies and TV shows referenced throughout. It’s easy to imagine A Psychopath’s Guide to Girls as a Netflix or an HBO show. Better still, as a film directed by Emerald Fennell or Julia Ducournau (or maybe Jennifer Reeder could bring it stateside?)."HELENSKI, Amazon review
All novels are widely available in ebook and paperback formats.
