“I Want To Do My Part To Add To the Canon”: Kait Heacock on Short Fiction, Raymond Carver, and the Pacific Northwest

Siblings and Other Disappointments, the debut collection from Kait Heacock, abounds with memorably flawed characters making their way through life in a series of towns in the Pacific Northwest. Some are still reeling after the effects of trauma; others find that their quotidian routines have been challenged, or that they must rethink a relationship that had been central to their lives. (Also of note: her story “Upstairs” was first published here in 2013; she’s also contributed several essays to the […]

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What We Talk About When We Talk About Titles

I chose this title for a reason. For non-Raymond Carver fans, the “What We Talk About” likely sounds familiar. It is an oft-copied phrase, from Nathan Englander’s 2012 short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank to the number of recent headlines covering everything from gun control to GMOs. For readers of Carver’s 1981 story collection, this article’s title has hopefully provoked a response, even if it’s ire over another turn of this well-worn phrase. […]

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