Smith Henderson is the recipient of the 2011 PEN Emerging Writer Award in fiction, and was the Phillip Roth Resident in Creative Writing at Bucknell University the same year. His short story, Number Stations won a Pushcart Prize and a finalist honors for the University of Texas Keene Prize, where he was a Michener Center for Writing Fellow. He currently works at the Wieden Kennedy advertising agency, where he contributed to the Emmy-nominated Halftime In America Super Bowl Commercial. An accomplished screenwriter, he co-wrote Dance With The One, a 2010 South By Southwest Narrative Prize Finalist. His fiction has been anthologized and published in American Short Fiction, One Story, New Orleans Review, Makeout Creek, and Witness. Born and raised in Montana, he now lives in Portland, Oregon.
Lighthouse Burning (2023) (Harlan Winter, book 1) Jordan Farmer "Once again, Jordan Farmer has written a darkly urgent book. The Poison Flood is not only a story about the redemptive power of art - it is itself a redeeming and beautiful work."
Kala (2023) Colin Walsh "Colin Walsh's debut Kala is a heartbreaking story of love and lost youth that is at once tender and absolutely gutting. Psychologically rangy and ultimately riveting, Kala is a book you'll not just read and love, but lend to those you love."
Sleepwalk (2022) Dan Chaon "Set in troublingly probable future and full of heartbreak, Dan Chaon's Sleepwalk is nevertheless an achievement of humor, tenderness, and human connection."
The Killing Hills (2021) (Mick Hardin, book 1) Chris Offutt "Dark, but deeply humane. The love in this book is deep and powerful. And winsome twinkles shine through the blackness throughout, thanks in no small part to Offutt’s keen ear and eye."
Olympus, Texas (2021) Stacey Swann "An uncanny twin-myth of modern Texas and ancient Greece that feels familiar and strange, loving and painful--like family itself. Olympus, Texas is an achievement of sustained brilliance, and an audacious opening to Swann's fated journey into the canon of greats."
All God's Children (2020) Aaron Gwyn "All God’s Children is a riveting work of historical vision. Once again, Gwyn has crafted a tale that is as tragic as it is gorgeous."
Florida Man (2020) Tom Cooper "There are few words that will do Florida Man justice, but to try: Ribald. Audacious. Terrifying. Florida Man is Cooper's singular, hallucinatory expression of deep American weirdness, a thing enjoyed and then survived, like a tangerine sunset overtaken by a purple hurricane. Hang in, people."
Watershed (2019) Mark Barr "Watershed will leave you charged and enlightened, Mark Barr is a powerhouse."
The Cassandra (2019) Sharma Shields "The Cassandra is a fantastic achievement of unflinching honesty, psychic power, and sustained empathy. Sharma Shields’s fearless reckoning with American might at the beginning of the nuclear age closes the distance between victor and victim, historical detail and mythic truth. This fevered novel’s seer will infect you with her visions, but her moral candor will work on you long after the dream is over."
Wonder Valley (2017) Ivy Pochoda "Wonder Valley seethes with the vivid, searching idea of southern California. But as the intersecting journeys of hippie acolytes, restless hoods, lost boys and all manner of runaways converge, Pochoda enacts an aching dream of home that will possess and haunt you."
The Blinds (2017) Adam Sternbergh "The Blinds is brilliantly original. Fast-paced, ranging, and inventive, Adam Sternbergh’s restless imagination once again conjures characters and scenarios with heartbreaking insight, peril, and startling stakes. Readers take heed; this is a hell of a ride."
Champion of the World (2016) Chad Dundas "A debut with the masterful breadth and insight of a veteran talent's work...Champion of the World is a showcase bout full of reversals, grit, and spirit."
