The Writer’s Center welcomes author Peter Mountford for a reading from his new collection, Detonator. Peter is joined by novelist Karin Tanabe.

FREE & open to the public. RSVP below.

Peter Mountford is the author of the novels A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism (winner of the Washington State Book Award in Fiction), and The Dismal Science (a New York Times editor’s choice). His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Southern Review, the New York Times magazine, The Atlantic magazine, The Sun, Ploughshares, and Guernica. He teaches creative writing at University of Nevada, Reno, at Tahoe’s low-residency MFA program, and through MountfordWriting.com, and currently lives in Seattle, Washington.

Karin Tanabe is the author of seven novels. A former Politico reporter, she is a frequent contributor to The Washington Post Book World. Her writing has also appeared in the Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, and Newsday. She has been featured as an entertainment, style, and politics expert on Entertainment Tonight, CNN, and CBS Early Show. Karin is a graduate of Vassar College and lives in Washington, D.C

About the Book

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 the war as an excuse to let go, but I think it’s more like the war forced them together, and that’s what made them go off the rails.” Soon, the interpersonal dramas of the expat community beget casual debauchery and fatal consequences during a drunken New Year’s Party.

In other stories, an American consultant faces personal and professional ruin after fateful decisions concerning Ecuador’s post-revolution economy. A divorcee in her forties finds unexpected chemistry with her ex-husband’s girlfriend after a Scottish Highland funeral. A married suburban feminist experiments with the escape of a dangerous love affair in Washington, D.C.

With remarkable sensitivity and psychological acuity, Mountford positions his characters not at the center of historical events, but at their peripheries — witnesses to momentous changes they can only partially comprehend.

Mountford illuminates each character with stunning humanity — free from condescension — as consequences swirl through even the purest intentions. With striking precision, he captures the visceral authenticity of emotions as characters gather fragmented understandings of their place in the world. Each story traces a unique path along the plane curve of history, honoring the messy, beautiful complexity of lifetimes unspooled and most of all — lived.