"A terrific debut novel . . . Mountford's parable of the voracious global economy reminds me of Graham Greene's The Quiet American." —Jess Walter, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Cold MillionsOn his first assignment for a rapacious hedge fund, Gabriel embarks to Bolivia at the end of 2005 to ferret out insider information about the plans of the controversial president-elect. If Gabriel succeeds, he will get a bonus that would m...

Sensorily rich and narratively captivating, the stories in Detonator are utterly addictive. Author Peter Mountford invites readers with a balance of humor, sensuality, and compassion while spanning continents, offering intimate portraits of flawed characters caught in the crosshairs of personal and political upheavals.In “One More Night Behind Walls,” set against the early 1980s-onset of Sri Lanka’s civil war, the young protagonist observes, “Some say the grown-ups used th...

Mountford's follow up to A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism is at once a cogent political drama and an acute meditation on the fragile nature of identity.The Dismal Science tells of a middle-aged vice president at the World Bank, Vincenzo D’Orsi, who publicly quits his job over a seemingly minor argument with a colleague. A scandal inevitably ensues, and he systematically burns every bridge to his former life. After abandoning his career, Vinc...

While much has been written of the importance of Agrippa in Augustus’ rise to power as the first emperor of Rome, Maecenas remains a shadowy figure despite being a vital part in the success of Augustus. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Maecenas was a vital negotiator between Octavian and Mark Antony in the years leading up to the battle of Actium, and a wise political advisor to Augustus during the early years of the new regime. This is the first biography of Maecenas in English a...

Thirty-six of the most interesting writers in the Pacific Northwest came together for a week-long marathon of writing live on stage. The result? Hotel Angeline, a truly inventive novel that surprises at every turn of the page.Something is amiss at the Hotel Angeline, a rickety former mortuary perched atop Capitol Hill in rain-soaked Seattle. Fourteen-year-old Alexis Austin is fixing the plumbing, the tea, and all the problems of the world, it seems, in her...

The Summer 2024 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 Summer 2024 Issue, guest-edited by Rebecca Makkai, features prose by Dur e Aziz Amna, Ramona Ausubel, Peter Mountford,...