Based on real events surrounding a cult in rural Quebec, Hetherington's debut novel Mooncalves weaves a tale of present-day crime and a strange, dystopian future.
"The arrival of Hetherington’s unique narrative voice may announce the coming of a new genre. Call it Post Singularity Toronto Gothic, if you will. You may be tempted, if you are as impressed by this debut as this reviewer is, to see Hetherington as the millennial generation’s persuasive answer to Atwood."
- The Vancouver Sun
"Word started to spread in literary circles earlier this spring about a startling literary debut, a first novel called Mooncalves by Victoria Hetherington, published by a very small press in Vancouver. Such presses have no money for publicity, so the only way for a novel such as that to create some word of mouth is to be really, really good. Here is evidence, for the skeptical, that it sometimes does happen. Mooncalves is a stunning debut."
- The Globe and Mail
"With family resemblances to other Canadians, specifically the novels of Lynn Crosbie and the body-horror films of early David Cronenberg...Mooncalves forges its own path. A stylish puzzle of a story, Victoria Hetherington’s debut novel is prickly and demanding and a bit feral but both singular and absorbing."
- The Toronto Star
"From Netflix’s Wild Wild Country to a slew of books – including Claudia Dey’s Heartbreaker, Victoria Hetherington’s Mooncalves, and Emma Cline’s The Girls...explorations of cults are filling a particular, and dark, societal need."
- Quill and Quire
"A work of great thematic depth...[the central relationship] I completely loved and have had to restrain myself from writing paragraph after paragraph."
- The Puritan
"Mooncalves is capable of becoming The Handmaid’s Tale of our time not only because of how relevant it is to current discussions about climate change and patriarchy but also for some of the ways it goes further in its discussion of feminism... It is a book that is, in many ways, unlike anything that I have read before, and it is hard to imagine I will encounter anything quite like it again."
- The Town Crier
"Mooncalves is startling...A truly harrowing read that strips all of the glamor from the genre within which it operates."
- Broken Pencil Magazine
"Set against a backdrop of impending environmental catastrophe, Hetherington’s fresh and unconventional story is composed of deeply complex characters including cult devotees, time travellers, synthetic companions, and ghosts. Hetherington offers us a biting social critique in this stunning debut."
- Kathryn Mockler, author of Onion Man
" Hetherington is a beautiful writer. In the depraved and terrifying future she creates, her sentences dance nimbly, brightly across the page, like the palest of flowers left on decomposing bodies."
- Diana Wagman, author of Extraordinary October
" Anchored by survivalist women’s voices, this dystopic story catapults the Millennial perspective into the visionary position. In this cultish, futuristic landscape, I was reassured by this mysterious talent women have, to absorb ancestrally, survivalist tricks fit for any era.”
- Alisha Piercy, author of Bunny and Shark
"Hetherington holds nothing back, whether it’s sexual, violent, or emotionally toxic.You will have trouble putting Mooncalves down, because as protagonist Erica says, “transgression can be unbearably sexy.”
- Myna Wallin, author of Confessions of a Reluctant Cougar
"A ganglion of masterfully structured insights and anxieties reminiscent of Jean Rhys and Renata Adler. Mooncalves speaks closer than most to our contemporary moment."
- Michael Turner, author of Hard Core Logo
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The Workshop
I scour the entire writing galaxy to find the most exciting and illuminating prompts, which I give out on a weekly basis. These prompts are like a little warm fire, lit under your derriere, to get you writing. My commentary and the class discussion of your completed prompts will elevate, expand and refine your writing capabilities, and hopefully fill your head with new, useful ideas about how to write, and what to write. Each prompt also teaches something very concrete about the craft of writing.
As for the spirit of the thing, any creative writing class I teach would have to be a lot like any class I wanted to attend–an experience to look forward to; an occasion to get fired up, laugh, and learn something substantial. Entertaining, but serious; respectful, but honest.
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What You'll Learn
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How to get started writing–where to find ideas, how to use material from your life, overcoming the fear of the blank page, techniques and tricks for launching stories and memoirs, writing prompts from the instructor
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What makes for great writing? The seven magic ingredients of great writing (this part comes after you sign up) Examples of great writing, contemporary and classic, are read and discussed.
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“Authenticating Details” How the choice of the perfect details brings the page to life in the reader’s mind, and can transform mediocre writing into potent and memorable prose. But what are the perfect details?
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Cliches: Why You Should Avoid Them (“Like the Plague”)
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Two big choices every writer faces: P.O.V. and tense
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Discussion of fiction vs. nonfiction–stories or memoirs, what really distinguishes the two, and which would best suit your aims and abilities as a writer.
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