Claire Vaye Watkins just published her first book. "Battleborn" is a story collection that sizzles like the weather in the Death Valley region where Claire grew up.
She earned her MFA at OSU and began writing these stories while she was living in Ohio. Most of them are set in the West in places like Reno and Las Vegas. These stories are absolute page turners. They will haunt you and leave you wanting more.
In this interview I asked "is this fiction? What is this?"
She replied: "Yes, well I think that's just the kind of questions the story wants you to be asking. I think probably every really good story that I love leaves you with some version of that feeling: did this really happen? What's true here? It feels so real. That's probably the best compliment I could get: it feels so real."
"I never want to give up the game but its definitely a story that's not being subtle about playing with the line between truth and fact. Or art, and truth."
