The Pump
The Pump by Sydney Hegele, published by Invisible Publishing in 2021, is a collection of interconnected stories that delve into the complexities of life in a small southern Ontario town. With 128 pages, this edition presents a unique blend of Gothic elements and magical realism, exploring themes of violence, decay, and morality through a diverse cast of characters, including lighthouse dwellers and queer church camp leaders.
Readers will encounter a vivid landscape where the town’s tainted water supply and an indifferent municipal government set the stage for a series of sacrificial games. The narratives feature a range of figures, from love-sick writers to nine-year-old hunters, each grappling with their own ethical dilemmas in a world that is both haunting and surreal. This collection invites exploration of the darker aspects of human nature and the intricate connections between its inhabitants.
Official synopsis Publisher
Winner of the 2022 ReLit Awards
Finalist for the 2022 Trillium Book Award
A Gothic collection of stories featuring carnivorous beavers,
art-eaters, and family intrigue, for fans of Alice Munro and Shirley
Jackson
The small southern Ontario town known as The Pump lies at the
crossroads of this world’s violence–a tainted water supply, an apathetic
municipal government, the Gothic decay of rural domesticity–and
another’s.
In Hegele’s interconnected stories, no one is immune to The Pump’s
sacrificial games. Lighthouse dwellers, Boy Scouts, queer church camp
leaders, love-sick and sick-sick writers, nine-year-old hunters,
art-eaters–each must navigate the swamp of their own morality while
living on land that is always slowly (and sometimes very quickly)
killing them.
“An inescapable, ferocious dream of a book. Good luck getting out.”–John Elizabeth Stintzi, author of Vanishing Monuments
“[The] writing is beautiful… Nightmarish and yet somehow fantastical.”–This Magazine
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