From the award-winning author of Mad Boy, a richly atmospheric historical Western about a notorious riverman seeking a new life amid the violence and dark promise of the American frontierIn the summer of 1834, the sky over an Ohioan river town darkens—not with storm clouds, but with the thunderous wings of an immense flock of passenger pigeons. Their arrival, known as a passing, is an omen, and for the infamous Henry Phipps it means that a reckoning is nea...

In a gripping novel of secrets and survival from an acclaimed, emerging literary voice, the collision between a budding forensic investigator, his tormented mentor, and the haunted woman who emerges from the wreckage of his past will have fateful results for all.At loose ends after college, Ellis Barstow drifts back to his hometown and a strange profession: reconstructing fatal traffic accidents. After meeting up with his half-brother’s high school girlfriend, Heat...

Colorado Book Award Winner for Literary Fiction: "The colorful characters make this account of the War of 1812 a rollicking page-turner" ( Publishers Weekly).In the early nineteenth century, young Henry Phipps is on a quest to realize his dying mother's last wish: to be buried at sea, surrounded by her family. Not an easy task considering Henry's ne'er-do-well father is in debtors' prison and his comically earnest older brother is busy fighting the redcoat...

George Tilson is an eighteen-year-old farm boy from Iowa. Enlisted in the Army during World War II and arriving in Normandy just after D-day, he is nicknamed Heck for his reluctance to swear. From summers of farm labor Heck is already strong. He knows how to accept orders and how to work uncomplainingly. But in combat Heck witnesses a kind of brutality unlike anything he could have imagined. Fear consumes his every thought and Heck soon realizes a terrible thing about himself: He is a cowa...

The Winter 2020-21 Issue. Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature, and now provides readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in a variety of formats. Find out why the New York Times named Ploughshares “the Triton among minnows.”The Winter 2020-21 Issue, edited by Editor-in-chief Ladette Randolph and Poetry Editor John Skoyles, features poetry an...

From the electrocution of Topsy the Elephant at Coney Island in 1903 to the rekindling relationship of two high school sweethearts in a stolen SUV, each story in Nick Arvin's remarkable first collection reveals a world where people struggle against their own shortcomings as time and technology move inexorably forward. With great intelligence, warmth and sly humor, Arvin explores how technology shapes the way we interact with one another and how we experience a world governed by it. With aw...

The Winter 2019-20 Issue. Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature, and remains prescient in the digital age by providing readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in a variety of formats. Find out why the New York Times named Ploughshares “the Triton among minnows.”The Winter 2019-20 Issue, edited by Editor-in-chief Ladette Randolph and John Skoy...

The terrors of a young soldier come to life in shocking, almost hallucinatory detail in a powerful first novel that follows in the footsteps of The Red Badge of Courage and A Farewell to Arms.

THE FIRST NOVEL IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING JANE HAWK SERIESMeet Jane Hawk—a remarkable new heroine certain to become an icon of suspense. “This gripping thriller grabs readers from the first few pages and sweeps them along to the rousing finale.”—Booklist“I very much need to be dead.”These are the chilling words left behind by a man who had everything to live for—but took his own li...

“Connolly has crafted one of the most darkly intriguing books this reviewer has encountered in more than three decades of reading crime fiction.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)The second thriller in John Connolly's bestselling, chilling series featuring haunted private investigator Charlie Parker.Charlier Parker, a former New York City detective with a haunted past, befriends a down-and-out mother with a small child. When she ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Jane Hawk—fiction’s most relentless, resourceful, stunning new heroine—continues her battle against a murderous conspiracy in the riveting sequel to The Silent Corner.“No time to delay. Do what you were born to do. Fame will be yours when you do this.”These are the words that ring in the mind of mild-mannered, beloved schoolteacher Cora Gundersun—just before she takes her own life, and ...

John Sandford, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Prey novels, gives suspense an ingenious twist as he takes readers into the mind games of two irresistible con artists plotting the perfect sting…Kidd is a computer whiz, artist, and professional criminal. LuEllen is his lover, and his favorite partner in crime. Their playing field in on the cutting edge of high-tech corporate warfare. This time they’ve been hired by a defense industry corporat...