Solos | Ploughshares

On a trip to Disney's Fort Wilderness with his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend June and her family, George spends most of the trip counting down the minutes until he can return to New York. On the last night of their vacation, June’s abusive mother joins them for dinner and her sister seems to disappear, revealing fractures no one wants to acknowledge. Sometimes we can't escape our pasts but must confront them head on.

In 1978 James Alan McPherson made history as the first African-American writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Told from the perspective of one of McPherson’s closest friends and students, “Old School” is a celebration of writing, memory, and true friendship and its importance in our lives. It provides a brief yet touching glimpse into the life of one of the United States’ most distinguished writers.

Nellie’s brother Jimmy passed away when she was only nine years old. As she reflects on the accident that claimed his life, she must acknowledge her own mortality and the empty space that death leaves behind.

Dr. Katya Vidović left behind memories of war and a dying mother when she emigrated from Croatia to the United States as a child. Now working with adolescent girls who suffer from eating disorders fueled by the fear of losing control, Katya struggles to help her patients while confronting her own desperate need to make peace with the past. 

When a mother and her baby are found dead in their car, a small New England town is forced to confront its secrets. As the news settles and rumors spread, the mother of the young family must grapple with the new understanding that this town is not the safe and peaceful place it pretends to be.

Sitting at a crossroads in the Guatemalan highlands, the Blue River Hotel has served as witness to the conflict and consequences of the country’s civil war. After a Canadian traveler passes through, he's forced to question the life he's chosen and to consider the effects of leaving his career and his fiancée behind for an uncertain future with a woman who has unexpectedly entered his life.

Kaat is ready to marry her girlfriend Stone. They live together in Paris, are both pursuing their careers, and have even talked about having a baby. Then a motorcycle accident disrupts Kaat’s plans, and she is confronted by flaws in their seemingly perfect life and a secret that could destroy everything.

The only reason Ebo enlists to fight in Vietnam is because it means a free trip to O’ahu where he can visit his younger sister, Momo. He hasn’t seen Momo, who is disabled, since she became a ward of the state. During his last night before leaving for basic training, Ebo’s mother lets him in on a secret, which forces him to question his future, the importance of family, and who he really is. 

Timothy Parrish’s “The Critic” is a slightly surrealist account of the fraught, yet creative relationship cultivated between artists and critics. We meet a music critic who has devoted his entire life to covering the career of an elusive, Bob Dylan-esque musician referred to as “The Twerp.” But as the critic begins to hear The Twerp’s voice everywhere, we learn his vocation may have turned the corner into obsession.

Kyle Waller has spent his life working to the top of the corporate ladder, but now that retirement has come for him, he’s not sure what’s next. A chance encounter at a bar sends Kyle to Belize to chase adventure and an archaeological discovery that could make history.