Though months away from it July publication, Josh Rountree’s debut novel THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH is already garnering buzz as evident by James Gardner’s Library Journal review and inclusion in Sadie Hartmann’s article on the Pandi Press blog, Return of the Western 2023. Bourbon Penn 29 features the Rountree’s story “Constellation Burn.”

THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH is available for pre-order directly from Tachyon and all finer booksellers.

Rountree’s colorful palette brings together Western and fantasy elements to create a magical tale about the deep bonds forged by circumstance.

Library Journal

I freaking loved this. It’s weird, quirky, and heartwarming. Josh Rountree has chops. I hope everyone will fall in love with Charlie Fish as much as I did; definitely a new Rountree fan.

Sadie Hartmann at Pandi Press

CONSTELLATION BURN

by Josh Rountree

Jordan was on the run again.

No fixed direction, just a fast escape from her life with Tad, and a hitched ride with a talkative long-haul driver on his way to El Paso. The driver pulled into a truck stop, bought her a charred hamburger and some black coffee, then left her to haunt the diesel pumps, a lost soul gone ghost white beneath the glow of industrial halides. Jordan sat on a duffel bag stuffed with everything she’d had time to pack. The earth beneath her shuddered every time a rig moved past on the interstate and blood accelerated in her veins with the adrenaline of what she’d done. She might have lingered there forever, letting the wind chew her away, but she noticed a pickup truck idling in front of her, the passenger door thrown open, and a man inside, offering a ride.

“I can keep you safe,” he said.