"Peter Mountford has traveled the globe to create a kind of atlas of longing and loss." —Jess Walters
Third Place Books welcomes Peter Mountford to our Lake Forest Park location to celebrate the launch of his short story collection, Detonator, which haunts the periphery of world-changing events, imagining their impacts on individual lives. He will be joined in conversation by Supersonic author Thomas Kohnstamm.
This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!
About Detonator. . .
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.
“Our minds were frail, troubled by old wounds that kept calling for help, and we were forever confused and looking in the wrong direction,” says the character of the title story, “Detonator,” about a man who blows up his life, again. And again.
Rather than rendering them insignificant, this perspective reveals their profound humanity as they navigate desire, grief, and meaning against political instability and social transformation.
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.
Praise for Detonator. . .
"The stories in Detonator are hilarious, even when they are miserable. Their humor is unfailingly intelligent and it makes room for unexpected grace; Mountford wins you over even if you don't want to be won over."
—Mary Gaitskill, author of Bad Behavior
"Detonator is an inventive, perceptive, and darkly funny collection of stories, situated near the busy intersection of money, memory, and sex. Like a twenty-first-century Graham Greene, Peter Mountford has traveled the globe to create a kind of atlas of longing and loss."
—Jess Walter, author of So Far Gone
"Whatever sort of surprise you're after-funny, devastating, sexy, shocking, savage, tender, illuminating-Detonator will supply it, in Mountford's exquisitely tuned and attentive prose. Like Mary Gaitskill, Mountford has a gift for creating crystalline articulations of the messiness inside us. I loved these stories, and I learned from them."
—Karen Russell, author of The Antidote
Peter Mountford is the author of the novels A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism (Washington State Book Award), and The Dismal Science (NYT editor's choice). His work has appeared in the New York Times (Modern Love), Paris Review, Southern Review, The Atlantic, The Sun, Ploughshares, and Guernica. He teaches at University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe's MFA, and through Mountford Writing.
Thomas Kohnstamm was born and raised in Seattle and still lives in the same house he grew up in—now with his wife and two children. He’s been a freelance writer for more than twenty years and has run his own multimedia content studio since 2011. Supersonic is his third book.
Want a signed edition of the featured book, but can't make it to the event? Order through our website or over the phone, and write your request for a signature or personalization in the comments field at checkout. Please call the hosting store if you're placing your order within 24 hours of the event.
For media or access inquiries, please email
ZXZlbnRzIHwgdGhpcmRwbGFjZWJvb2tzICEgY29t or call our Lake Forest Park store at (206) 366-3311.
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