PRAISE

“In Spearwood, OR, John Carr Walker has created a town that exists outside of time, where everyone knows their neighbors' histories and every street corner harbors a secret. In stories that are funny, heartbreaking, and occasionally chilling, Walker immerses the reader in atmospheric noir that alternately calls to mind William Faulkner, David Lynch, and Paul Thomas Anderson, a world where the strange and the ordinary are inextricably linked.” —Christine Sneed, author of Please Be Advised: A Novel in Memoirs and The Virginity of Famous Men

“The polyphonic voices in John Carr Walker’s Spearwood, OR trace the lifespan of a decaying small town, telling meddlesome gossip that’s at once ordinary and legendary, parochial and expansive, black-humored and warm-hearted. Taken as a whole, the story told is profound, wise, and stubbornly hopeful, like a bright shoot sprouting from ashes. I absolutely loved this book.”  —Karleigh Frisbie Brogan, author of Holding: A Memoir About Mothers, Drugs, and Other Comforts

“In Spearwood, OR, John Carr Walker captures the tangled, sometimes troubling, often poignant complexity of a small town community. He honors people’s dignity without romanticizing anyone and writes some of the strongest, leanest, most vivid sentences you’ll find. But what I admired even more than Walker’s attention to language and detail? He doesn’t look away from any aspect of human life. His writing brings more empathy to a world in serious need of more empathy.” —Mark Pomeroy, The Tigers of Lents

AUTHOR

John Carr Walker is the author of Repairable Men: Stories and a recipient of a Sumer Fishtrap Fellowship. His essays and short fiction have been appearing in literary journals for two decades. Since 2022, he’s written the substack John Carr Walker Sitting In His Little Room. He lives in St. Johns and teaches fiction at The University of Portland.