John Thomson is the author of A Small Boat at the Bottom of the Sea. His stories have appeared in several literary magazines, including Collateral, Terrain, The Raven’s Perch, and others. His story “Out of Good Ground” won Terrain’s 2018 prize for fiction. He has worked as a government wildlife biologist and as a land steward for a nonprofit land trust in Northern California, where he and his wife live close to their two grown daughters.
When twelve-year-old Donovan Sanger is sent to spend the summer with his Uncle Bix—an ex-con—and his Aunt Hattie, who is dying from lung cancer, he does not know what to expect. But before a week goes by, Donovan learns that his uncle’s criminal past might be something he has not entirely left behind.
