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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.
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"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."
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- The Vancouver Sun
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"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."
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- The Globe and Mail
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"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."
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- The Toronto Star
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"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
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"A work of great thematic depth...[the central relationship] I completely loved and have had to restrain myself from writing paragraph after paragraph."
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- The Puritan
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"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."
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- The Town Crier
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"Mooncalves is startling...A truly harrowing read that strips all of the glamor from the genre within which it operates."
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- Broken Pencil Magazine
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"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."
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- Michael Turner, author of Hard Core Logo
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APPEARANCES
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Toronto, ON. Emerging Writers Reading Series. Spring 2013.
Toronto, ON. Draft Reading Series (Draft 9.1). Fall 2013.
The Puritan's Town Crier. Author Notes: Victoria Hetherington's I Have To Tell You Inspired by Edie Sedgwick. 2014.
0s&1s. Writers on Mental Health: Victoria Hetherington. 2015
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London, ON. Couplets Reading Series. .Englert + Okun-Hill + O'Neill + Hetherington. August 2018
Toronto ON. Farside Studio Fiction. Fall 2018.
Toronto, ON. Frostbite: A Literary Icebreaker of an Evening. Winter 2019
Toronto, ON. In Her Voice: Victoria Hetherington. Official Toronto Launch for novel Mooncalves. March 27 2019
Hamilton, ON. Mooncalves Launch. Spring 2019
Kingston, ON. Amy Spurway, Victoria Hetherington Co-Launch. April 22 2019
Guelph, ON. Victoria Hetherington, Amy Spurway, Tim Connelly Spring Launch. April 23 2019.
Vancouver, BC. Massy Books, 229 E Georgia St, 7pm April 24th 2019
Courtenay, BC. Courtenay Public Library, April 25th 2019
Victoria, BC. Cafe Victoria 965 Kings Road, April 26th 2019
Nanaimo BC. 4 Poets and a Debut Novelist Walk into a Bookstore. April 27th 2019
Toronto, ON. Meet Victoria Hetherington, Toronto Public Library, Leaside Location. May 8, 2019
Toronto, ON. Bright Lit, Big City. Hirute Cafe. May 9 2019
Toronto, ON. Junction Reads, Spring 2019. May 26 2019
Ottawa, ON. The Ottawa Small Press Book Fair, Room 203 Jack Purcell Community Centre, June 22 2019
Ottawa, ON. Factory Reading Series, Carlton Tavern. June 21 2019
Toronto, ON. Summer Book Fair. Queen Books. June 26 2019
Hamilton, ON. Hamilton Lit Live Series. Sept 1 2019
Toronto, ON. Taddle Creek Issue 44 Launch, Famous Last Words, January 15 2020
Toronto, ON. Rowers Reading Series, Glad Day Books, February 4 2020
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Virtual Space: Q&A with Joe Borgiono, via Broken Pencil IGTV @brokenpencilmag
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Virtual Space: Q&A with Maria Cichosz, via Broken Pencil IGTV @brokenpencilmag
The Fussy Librarian. Author Q&A: Victoria Hetherington (Interview.) 2019
My (Small Press) Writer's Day. A Writing Day Near the End of Mooncalves. 2019
Writer's Block: All Lit Up. Victoria Hetherington. 2019
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CIUT 89.5 FM 'The Howl.' Interview with Nancy Bullis. Download here. Spring 2019
The Commentary, 'On the Line,' with Joseph Planta. Listen here. Spring 2019
CFRC 101.9FM 'Finding A Voice' live show of Kingston Launch with Amy Spurway, Scott Fotheringham, Victoria Hetherington. Listen here. Spring 2019
Taddle Creek Podcast. Episode 61: Victoria Hetherington, J.R. McConvey, Sarah Gilbert Live at the 44th Taddle Creek Happening. Listen Here. Fall 2020
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Toronto, ON: Word on the Street Festival. Summer 2022
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Saskatoon, SK: Into The Mist Launch. Summer 2022
Saskatoon, SK: Interview with John Gormley, 650 CKM. Listen here. Summer 2022
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Toronto, ON: Toronto International Festival of Authors. Fall 2022
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Calgary, AB: Wordfest. Fictioneering: The Art of Darkness. With Zsuzi Gartner & Eugene O'Neal. Fall 2022
Calgary, AB: Question Everything with Sarah Polley, Joshua Knelman and Leslie Kern. Fall 2022
Ontario Librarian Association. Introducing Rare Machines. Winter 202
Select Publications
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The Ex-Puritan. Tom, Jennifer, Maureen. 2010
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Burner Magazine. Smash Princess. 2011
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This Recording. Nearly A Woman. 2012
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This Recording. Ready for Me. 2012
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This Recording. I Have To Tell You. 2012
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This Recording. Get Up, Go Home. 2012
This Recording. Getting Away With It. 2012
This Recording. Do It Over The Birdbath. 2012
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This Recording. Get Up, Go Home. 2012
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This Recording. In Which We Are Slumped on the Couch By Ourselves. 2013
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Joyland Magazine. The Somewhere Else. 2014
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The Ex-Puritan. Grace, August. 2014
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EVENT Magazine. Since You Are Ours Now. 2019
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The Town Crier. Excerpt from Mooncalves. 2019
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Hazlitt. You Shouldn't Be Here. 2020
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Taddle Creek. What They Came For. 2020
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Illustration by Glen Harvey for You Shouldn't Be Here. Hazlitt Magazine, Jan 2020.