Battleborn

Claire Vaye Watkins is a Nevadan and a Presidential Fellow at Ohio State University. Her work has appeared in Hobart, the Hopkins Review, Las Vegas Weekly and Ploughshares.

"The most captivating voice to come out of the West since Annie Proulx - though it's to early Joan Didion that [Watkins] bears comparison for her arid humor and cut-to-the-chase knowingness." - Vogue "What distinguishes Watkins' work...is her command of time. Nearly all the stories are set in the present, but her characters constantly live with aftereffects of the past. They're not simply "scarred" by history; they're irradiated by it, queasily lit from within." - "Minneapolis Star-Tribune " "As if Watkins' prose embodies the desert landscape of Nevada itself, the stories are stony, unkind, and harsh, though never unattractive...Beneath these confessions runs a spiritual undertow -- that salvific beauty can arise when brutality is brought to light. ... All of her stories left me feeling purged and oddly cleansed, easily making Battleborn one of the strongest collections I've read in years." - "The Millions" "In her debut short story collection Battleborn Claire Vaye Watkins marries character to landscape as well as anyone I have read in years. These stories set in the Nevada desert are gritty and brilliant, and foretell an auspicious literary future for their author." -"Largehearted Boy" "The people in "Battleborn .".. aren't characters in stories, but human beings perpetually yearning for warmth. ... Entering the varied lives is akin to watching a tightrope walker high overhead, moving with steady confidence without a net. ... Watkins writes with precision and care, the sentences themselves as surprising as the events, the dialogue, and the spare description. ... There is a purity to the prose that is a constant pleasure to read. ... There is great originality in these narratives. ... But the generosity and personal sacrifices of the people are as universal as the stars at night." -- Chris Offutt, "Publishers Weekly ""Gloriously vivid stories about the human heart." - "Kirkus" "The book feels like a portrait of the human