Nevada Gothic

Battleborn (Riverhead), the astonishingly wise début story collection by Claire Vaye Watkins (nella foto), takes its title from the tattoo-worthy nickname of her home state, Nevada; the stories are set in the beautiful, treacherous territory of the desert, and are populated by characters drawn to its dry washes, their psychotic delusions or lucky-strike fantasies hazily glimmering before them. Raw, fearless, and often very funny, these are stories remarkable for the risky dynamism of their language, the scope of their field of vision. newyorker.