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Sacred Rage: Selected Stories
"Steven Heighton had this stunning range of voice in his stories. He would go anywhere. He always surprised you."—Michael Ondaatje
Following his New Yorker Best of 2023 collection, Instructions for the Drowning, Sacred Rage selects stories spanning the range of the late Steven Heighton’s career as a fiction writer.
Following his New Yorker Best of 2023 collection, Instructions for the Drowning, Sacred Rage selects stories spanning the range of the late Steven Heighton’s career as a fiction writer.
331 pages, Paperback
First published August 19, 2025
3 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Steven Heighton
39 books74 followersSteven Heighton (born August 14, 1961) is a Canadian novelist, short story writer and poet. He is the author of ten books, including two short story collections, three novels, and five poetry collections.[1] His most recent novel, Every Lost Country, was published in 2010.
Heighton was born in Toronto, Ontario, and earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree, at Queens University.[2]
Heighton's most recent books are the novel Every Lost Country (May 2010) [3] and the poetry collection Patient Frame (April 2010).[4]
Heighton is also the author of the novel Afterlands (2006),which appeared in six countries.[5] The book has recently been optioned for film. Steven Heighton's debut novel, The Shadow Boxer (2001), a story about a young poet-boxer and his struggles growing up, also appeared in five countries.[6]
His work has been translated into ten languages and widely anthologised.[7] His books have been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Award, the Journey Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and Britain’s W.H. Smith Award (best book of the year).[8] He has received the Gerald Lampert Award, gold medals for fiction and for poetry in the National Magazine Awards, the Air Canada Award, and the 2002 Petra Kenney Prize. Flight Paths of the Emperor has been listed at Amazon.ca as one of the ten best Canadian short story collections.[9]
Heighton has been the writer-in-residence at McArthur College, Queen's University and The University of Ottawa.[10] He has also participated in several workshops including the Summer Literary Seminars, poetry work shop, in St. Petersburg, Russia (2007), and the Writing with Style, short fiction workshop, in Banff, Alberta (2007).[11]
Heighton currently lives in Kingston, Ontario with his family.[12]
Heighton was born in Toronto, Ontario, and earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree, at Queens University.[2]
Heighton's most recent books are the novel Every Lost Country (May 2010) [3] and the poetry collection Patient Frame (April 2010).[4]
Heighton is also the author of the novel Afterlands (2006),which appeared in six countries.[5] The book has recently been optioned for film. Steven Heighton's debut novel, The Shadow Boxer (2001), a story about a young poet-boxer and his struggles growing up, also appeared in five countries.[6]
His work has been translated into ten languages and widely anthologised.[7] His books have been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Award, the Journey Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and Britain’s W.H. Smith Award (best book of the year).[8] He has received the Gerald Lampert Award, gold medals for fiction and for poetry in the National Magazine Awards, the Air Canada Award, and the 2002 Petra Kenney Prize. Flight Paths of the Emperor has been listed at Amazon.ca as one of the ten best Canadian short story collections.[9]
Heighton has been the writer-in-residence at McArthur College, Queen's University and The University of Ottawa.[10] He has also participated in several workshops including the Summer Literary Seminars, poetry work shop, in St. Petersburg, Russia (2007), and the Writing with Style, short fiction workshop, in Banff, Alberta (2007).[11]
Heighton currently lives in Kingston, Ontario with his family.[12]
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 2, 2026
The assertion that Steven Heighton is one of the very best writers this country has ever produced will not meet with much resistance. His intrepid nature and astonishing versatility, not to mention his dedication to craft, made him proficient at any form of written expression to which he set his mind. He was an effective and entertaining public speaker, a generous and self-effacing teacher. He was sensitive to the power of words and vigilant in his defense of the creative act. While many writers simply write to the best of their ability and never examine, question, or even discuss their gift, Heighton was curious, opinionated and forcefully articulate about what makes good writing good and bad writing bad. He was also a capable editor. And though to be edited by Steven Heighton was a dream come true, you were surely dreaming if you thought it was going to be easy. His death on April 19, 2022, at the age of 60, was everyone’s loss.
Now, three years later, Biblioasis has published Sacred Rage, a timely collection of Heighton’s short fiction, selected and introduced by his longtime editor John Metcalf, and taken from the four volumes published during his lifetime.
The collection opens with three Japan stories from Flight Paths of the Emperor (1992), a volume that fictionalizes Heighton’s experiences teaching English in that country. The reader immediately notices the exuberance of the prose, which drives each story’s relentless forward motion. These are fictions—observant, compassionate, probing, yet lightly humorous—about cultures, not so much clashing as failing to mesh. The young Canadian narrator, striving to learn anything and everything about this enigmatic country where he’s chosen to build a temporary life, time and again emerges into the light, blinking and scratching his head, none the wiser.
A world traveler himself, Steven Heighten could and often did set his fiction in far-flung locales (a wonderful example is his novel Every Lost Country, set the remote, mountainous terrain where Nepal borders Tibet), but much of his later short fiction is set in his native Ontario, in and around the Kingston area. In these stories we often encounter people of limited means and modest prospects struggling to find a path forward. “Townsmen of a Stiller Town” comes to mind as a prime example of Heighton chronicling the exploits of a hapless protagonist to great comic effect but also reaching inward, to share with us the essence of what good fiction does best: entertain us while making us ponder what it means to be human and vulnerable. In this story, Tris Leduc has graduated from high school but, lacking both ambition and resources, finds himself delivering orders for his aunt’s “Pickin’ Chickin’” franchise while dressed in a chicken costume. The absurd outfit makes him a target of scornful amusement for some of the local louts, and Tris’s main objective throughout the story is to find reasons to not wear the costume—to, as it were, break free and become his own man—especially after a perplexing and troubling encounter while making a delivery to the local morgue.
Though Heighton’s narratives are principally mainstream in structure, he occasionally stretched himself stylistically. One such experiment is “Noughts & Crosses: An Unsent Reply,” an amusing dive into the mind of Nella, who’s received an email from her lover breaking off their relationship. Through the course of her lengthy “unsent reply,” Nella analyses her former lover’s message phrase by phrase, line by line, parsing out hidden meanings and facile justifications in her search for a truth that will assuage her broken heart and wounded pride.
In this collection of standout works, two stories deserve special mention. “Shared Room on Union” takes place on a city street. It’s past midnight and Justin and Janna, together in Justin’s Volvo, are ending their date with a moment of intimacy when a man taps on the driver’s side window. He has a gun and is intent on jacking the car. The incident proceeds, intense and fraught as one would expect, but not without several twists that display Heighton’s flare for uncovering human comedy in unexpected places. And in “The Dead Are More Visible,” middle-aged Ellen, who during the winter works nights flooding and maintaining the city park’s skating rinks, finds herself the focus of threatening behaviour from three drunken youths. Lashing out to protect herself, she causes one of the men a gruesome injury and instantly becomes the young man’s saviour as his two friends abandon him. Both stories find concise, sometimes funny, sometimes bitter, dramatic ironies in the human condition and universalize the conundrums facing their characters, to whom we are drawn in sympathy like a thirsty horse to water.
In his introduction, John Metcalf says, "Steve fought through to the ability to make writing that overwhelms us, enraptures us, that makes us see again our world as we saw it once in childhood, the world that, in [John] Cheever’s words, lies spread out around us like a bewildering and stupendous dream."
Steven Heighton sought to recreate that dream with every word he committed to paper. He was a writer of surpassing integrity, unabashedly self-critical, who never stopped setting lofty goals for himself. He was an enemy of mediocrity who could be offended by a misplaced modifier. For him, writing was nothing short of a matter of life and death. He was always striving to make his own work better and wanted the same from others. And yet he knew and freely acknowledged that perfection is impossible (In Work Book, his collection of aphorisms and advice for writers, he wrote: “Cast a spell and the small flaws don’t matter.”). In his lifetime he achieved more success than most of his colleagues but was familiar with the ritual humiliations that accompany the writing profession. He was an exceptional mentor and friend.
Sacred Rage is a fitting tribute to Steven Heighton’s legacy. The stories collected here demonstrate his remarkable range and achieve a standard that writers everywhere should aim for.
Now, three years later, Biblioasis has published Sacred Rage, a timely collection of Heighton’s short fiction, selected and introduced by his longtime editor John Metcalf, and taken from the four volumes published during his lifetime.
The collection opens with three Japan stories from Flight Paths of the Emperor (1992), a volume that fictionalizes Heighton’s experiences teaching English in that country. The reader immediately notices the exuberance of the prose, which drives each story’s relentless forward motion. These are fictions—observant, compassionate, probing, yet lightly humorous—about cultures, not so much clashing as failing to mesh. The young Canadian narrator, striving to learn anything and everything about this enigmatic country where he’s chosen to build a temporary life, time and again emerges into the light, blinking and scratching his head, none the wiser.
A world traveler himself, Steven Heighten could and often did set his fiction in far-flung locales (a wonderful example is his novel Every Lost Country, set the remote, mountainous terrain where Nepal borders Tibet), but much of his later short fiction is set in his native Ontario, in and around the Kingston area. In these stories we often encounter people of limited means and modest prospects struggling to find a path forward. “Townsmen of a Stiller Town” comes to mind as a prime example of Heighton chronicling the exploits of a hapless protagonist to great comic effect but also reaching inward, to share with us the essence of what good fiction does best: entertain us while making us ponder what it means to be human and vulnerable. In this story, Tris Leduc has graduated from high school but, lacking both ambition and resources, finds himself delivering orders for his aunt’s “Pickin’ Chickin’” franchise while dressed in a chicken costume. The absurd outfit makes him a target of scornful amusement for some of the local louts, and Tris’s main objective throughout the story is to find reasons to not wear the costume—to, as it were, break free and become his own man—especially after a perplexing and troubling encounter while making a delivery to the local morgue.
Though Heighton’s narratives are principally mainstream in structure, he occasionally stretched himself stylistically. One such experiment is “Noughts & Crosses: An Unsent Reply,” an amusing dive into the mind of Nella, who’s received an email from her lover breaking off their relationship. Through the course of her lengthy “unsent reply,” Nella analyses her former lover’s message phrase by phrase, line by line, parsing out hidden meanings and facile justifications in her search for a truth that will assuage her broken heart and wounded pride.
In this collection of standout works, two stories deserve special mention. “Shared Room on Union” takes place on a city street. It’s past midnight and Justin and Janna, together in Justin’s Volvo, are ending their date with a moment of intimacy when a man taps on the driver’s side window. He has a gun and is intent on jacking the car. The incident proceeds, intense and fraught as one would expect, but not without several twists that display Heighton’s flare for uncovering human comedy in unexpected places. And in “The Dead Are More Visible,” middle-aged Ellen, who during the winter works nights flooding and maintaining the city park’s skating rinks, finds herself the focus of threatening behaviour from three drunken youths. Lashing out to protect herself, she causes one of the men a gruesome injury and instantly becomes the young man’s saviour as his two friends abandon him. Both stories find concise, sometimes funny, sometimes bitter, dramatic ironies in the human condition and universalize the conundrums facing their characters, to whom we are drawn in sympathy like a thirsty horse to water.
In his introduction, John Metcalf says, "Steve fought through to the ability to make writing that overwhelms us, enraptures us, that makes us see again our world as we saw it once in childhood, the world that, in [John] Cheever’s words, lies spread out around us like a bewildering and stupendous dream."
Steven Heighton sought to recreate that dream with every word he committed to paper. He was a writer of surpassing integrity, unabashedly self-critical, who never stopped setting lofty goals for himself. He was an enemy of mediocrity who could be offended by a misplaced modifier. For him, writing was nothing short of a matter of life and death. He was always striving to make his own work better and wanted the same from others. And yet he knew and freely acknowledged that perfection is impossible (In Work Book, his collection of aphorisms and advice for writers, he wrote: “Cast a spell and the small flaws don’t matter.”). In his lifetime he achieved more success than most of his colleagues but was familiar with the ritual humiliations that accompany the writing profession. He was an exceptional mentor and friend.
Sacred Rage is a fitting tribute to Steven Heighton’s legacy. The stories collected here demonstrate his remarkable range and achieve a standard that writers everywhere should aim for.
April 21, 2026
I have very fond memories of the poet and writer Steven Heighton, who sadly passed away in 2022 at the age of 60. I don’t often say I have fond memories of writers, as my time organizing their schedules and whereabouts was extremely stressful when in my role at Wordfest. However, Heighton was one of those rare gems who I only recall with affection. He was kind, quiet, and dare I say, protective of me. I recall one time struggling to convince a writer that they needed to stop drinking and go to bed so they could attend their reading on time the next day – Heighton stepped in and ensured the message was received. As a taller man, he could be quite intimidating, but those who knew him personally knew how kind and gentle he truly was. It is with these sentimental memories in mind that I decided to pick up the posthumously released short story collection Sacred Rage, which are selections from his previous books.
Book Summary
Made up of 15 stories taken across 4 separate collections, Sacred Rage is a selection that spans the breadth of Heighton’s career, with an emphasis on his writing that takes place in Japan. It begins with a lengthy introduction written by one of Heighton’s editors, John Metcalf. He quotes various stages of Heighton’s writing, adding his own interpretation and interspersing his personal memories of his friend. It’s heavy on the writing analysis and light on the personal anecdotes, written like a true editor. Next up is a series of stories that take place in Japan, typically from the perspective of a young Canadian man teaching English to kids for a living. After a handful of those, the collection takes a surprising turn, incorporating a wide range of stories and perspectives that continually surprised me. “Townsmen of a Stiller Town” details a fried chicken delivery that takes an extremely dark turn. “Nearing the Sea, Superior” describes a short moment in time while a couple breaks up in an airport on their way to see relatives. One of my favourites is “Professions of Love”; an interior monologue of a plastic surgeon, confessing his reasons for working on his wife without her consent. “Noughts and Crosses” is another example of a one-sided perspective while the narrator details their planned and unset response to an email from a previous lover. The stories vary in length; most are at least a few pages, while a few others quite a bit longer.
My Thoughts
I found the stories set in Japan to be a bit tedious, simply because they all felt a bit similar to me; each basically boil down to a single Western man who struggles to connect with Japanese citizens around him, while ruminating on the differences. None of them felt particularly unique, and while many people can relate to those feelings when they travel, it’s not necessarily provocative enough to justify so many retellings. But knowing that Heighton had written much more with a wide range of topics, I pushed through and was happily rewarded with the stories I mention above, with very thoughtful characters, plots, and meanings. Many of his characters feel as though they are talking directly to the reader, when in reality, they are justifying actions to themselves. This was an effective way of including me as a reader, and enveloping me in the drama. Sometimes I sympathized with them (the jilted lover for example) while others I disdained (think, the scalp-happy surgeon).
I think of Heighton as a true artist in every sense of the word, and one of my favourite quotes from this book is in the introduction, taken from his essay titled “The Age of Clowns” in which he writes:
“Perhaps the best that individual artists can do is to try to foster Ages of Integration in their own hearts. An integrated writer may not have the power to overthrow the centralized rule of the cynical and the grasping, but the power to move a few thousand people deeply is something, is much; in a world so fragmented, any gesture that radically connects mind to mind and heart to heart is hugely significant” (p. 9 of Sacred Rage by Steven Heighton).
I loved this idea, because Heighton admits that even though most will not become huge stars (he flew somewhat under the radar as a writer in Canada), simply moving your small and dedicated followers is enough, especially these days. Art brings us together, whether we realize it or not. Based on Metcalf’s introduction, I’ll assume that these stories were chosen to not only demonstrate the breadth of work that Heighton produced, but his friend’s favourites as well. It’s a fitting tribute to a writer lost too soon.
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
Book Summary
Made up of 15 stories taken across 4 separate collections, Sacred Rage is a selection that spans the breadth of Heighton’s career, with an emphasis on his writing that takes place in Japan. It begins with a lengthy introduction written by one of Heighton’s editors, John Metcalf. He quotes various stages of Heighton’s writing, adding his own interpretation and interspersing his personal memories of his friend. It’s heavy on the writing analysis and light on the personal anecdotes, written like a true editor. Next up is a series of stories that take place in Japan, typically from the perspective of a young Canadian man teaching English to kids for a living. After a handful of those, the collection takes a surprising turn, incorporating a wide range of stories and perspectives that continually surprised me. “Townsmen of a Stiller Town” details a fried chicken delivery that takes an extremely dark turn. “Nearing the Sea, Superior” describes a short moment in time while a couple breaks up in an airport on their way to see relatives. One of my favourites is “Professions of Love”; an interior monologue of a plastic surgeon, confessing his reasons for working on his wife without her consent. “Noughts and Crosses” is another example of a one-sided perspective while the narrator details their planned and unset response to an email from a previous lover. The stories vary in length; most are at least a few pages, while a few others quite a bit longer.
My Thoughts
I found the stories set in Japan to be a bit tedious, simply because they all felt a bit similar to me; each basically boil down to a single Western man who struggles to connect with Japanese citizens around him, while ruminating on the differences. None of them felt particularly unique, and while many people can relate to those feelings when they travel, it’s not necessarily provocative enough to justify so many retellings. But knowing that Heighton had written much more with a wide range of topics, I pushed through and was happily rewarded with the stories I mention above, with very thoughtful characters, plots, and meanings. Many of his characters feel as though they are talking directly to the reader, when in reality, they are justifying actions to themselves. This was an effective way of including me as a reader, and enveloping me in the drama. Sometimes I sympathized with them (the jilted lover for example) while others I disdained (think, the scalp-happy surgeon).
I think of Heighton as a true artist in every sense of the word, and one of my favourite quotes from this book is in the introduction, taken from his essay titled “The Age of Clowns” in which he writes:
“Perhaps the best that individual artists can do is to try to foster Ages of Integration in their own hearts. An integrated writer may not have the power to overthrow the centralized rule of the cynical and the grasping, but the power to move a few thousand people deeply is something, is much; in a world so fragmented, any gesture that radically connects mind to mind and heart to heart is hugely significant” (p. 9 of Sacred Rage by Steven Heighton).
I loved this idea, because Heighton admits that even though most will not become huge stars (he flew somewhat under the radar as a writer in Canada), simply moving your small and dedicated followers is enough, especially these days. Art brings us together, whether we realize it or not. Based on Metcalf’s introduction, I’ll assume that these stories were chosen to not only demonstrate the breadth of work that Heighton produced, but his friend’s favourites as well. It’s a fitting tribute to a writer lost too soon.
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
October 7, 2025
Each book is a room in the home... the rootless writer, the deracinado...seeks to build out of words, images, ideas and narrative. from the introduction p10
It is unfortunate and sad that this beautiful book may be the terminal room in the unfinished palace that Steven Heighton crafted, for he has gone on through the final adventure, much too soon, and so far, no postcards. If anyone could send a poem across the barrier between worlds, it would be Steven.
Humanity has never stopped seeking quick chemical escapes from sadness, from stress, from insecurity, and from pain, which is to say from history, our own personal history or the larger one around us. p307 from the story Toward a New Theory of Tears
Bold and discreet, keenly perceptive, sensitive and fearless, SH escorts the curious reader along surprising directions off of the beaten path. His confidence and ease with language allows a cautious reader to feel safe enough to empathize (or not) with characters we would otherwise never have encountered. I did not love all of the stories but even the more disturbing few gave me some uncommon insight. His subtle humour ensures that his ironic tone is tinged not with malice or contempt but with care.
I sometimes wondered if I'd ever done more than mis-imagine what these people felt and believed.
P54 from the story Paintings of the New Japan
A lengthy introduction by his long time editor and friend, who assembled this collection, expands on some the themes that waft through the stories. Recurring are ruminations on "the digital ether we're all adrift in now" and the perils of TV; the poetic imagination and the varieties of religious experience.
...despite its name, television has been eroding our capacity of vision by framing an image of the world that's largely formulaic, stereotyped, flat and blandly secular....it infects the eye with a violently accelerated and hostile impatience. quoted in the introduction p13.
Steven Heighton was a generous, noble soul who saw clearly and had the ability to transmit his visions. He is sorely missed.
In a world so fragmented, any gesture that radically connects mind and mind and heart to heart is hugely significant. p9 from introduction
It is unfortunate and sad that this beautiful book may be the terminal room in the unfinished palace that Steven Heighton crafted, for he has gone on through the final adventure, much too soon, and so far, no postcards. If anyone could send a poem across the barrier between worlds, it would be Steven.
Humanity has never stopped seeking quick chemical escapes from sadness, from stress, from insecurity, and from pain, which is to say from history, our own personal history or the larger one around us. p307 from the story Toward a New Theory of Tears
Bold and discreet, keenly perceptive, sensitive and fearless, SH escorts the curious reader along surprising directions off of the beaten path. His confidence and ease with language allows a cautious reader to feel safe enough to empathize (or not) with characters we would otherwise never have encountered. I did not love all of the stories but even the more disturbing few gave me some uncommon insight. His subtle humour ensures that his ironic tone is tinged not with malice or contempt but with care.
I sometimes wondered if I'd ever done more than mis-imagine what these people felt and believed.
P54 from the story Paintings of the New Japan
A lengthy introduction by his long time editor and friend, who assembled this collection, expands on some the themes that waft through the stories. Recurring are ruminations on "the digital ether we're all adrift in now" and the perils of TV; the poetic imagination and the varieties of religious experience.
...despite its name, television has been eroding our capacity of vision by framing an image of the world that's largely formulaic, stereotyped, flat and blandly secular....it infects the eye with a violently accelerated and hostile impatience. quoted in the introduction p13.
Steven Heighton was a generous, noble soul who saw clearly and had the ability to transmit his visions. He is sorely missed.
In a world so fragmented, any gesture that radically connects mind and mind and heart to heart is hugely significant. p9 from introduction
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews