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Flood Covenant, desert stories by Mackenzie Sanders
Paperback: 146 pages, 2026
Literature | Short Fiction
ISBN-13: 9781972482223
The harsh landscapes of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado mold harsher people. From the Sonoran Desert to the Front Range, resource scarcity is a mindset passed down from one generation to the next, and drought is a shared inheritance. In these sixteen stories, Sanders reveals the commonplace violence of the Southwest, and the tenuous relationship people have with the landscape and each other: a young woman fantasizes about trout, another about mass murder; children and young adults search for mythical creatures in place of fathers; biblical rains reveal people’s secrets; deer taunt uranium miners; and men cosplay as cowboys attempting to manifest a nonexistent destiny. Flood Covenant was shortlisted for the Walter Cummins Award, longlisted for the C&R Press Fiction Award, a finalist for the EastOver Prize, a semifinalist for the Electric Book Award, and multiple stories received Pushcart nominations.
Flood Covenant, desert stories by Mackenzie Sanders
Paperback: 146 pages, 2026
Literature | Short Fiction
ISBN-13: 9781972482223
The harsh landscapes of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado mold harsher people. From the Sonoran Desert to the Front Range, resource scarcity is a mindset passed down from one generation to the next, and drought is a shared inheritance. In these sixteen stories, Sanders reveals the commonplace violence of the Southwest, and the tenuous relationship people have with the landscape and each other: a young woman fantasizes about trout, another about mass murder; children and young adults search for mythical creatures in place of fathers; biblical rains reveal people’s secrets; deer taunt uranium miners; and men cosplay as cowboys attempting to manifest a nonexistent destiny. Flood Covenant was shortlisted for the Walter Cummins Award, longlisted for the C&R Press Fiction Award, a finalist for the EastOver Prize, a semifinalist for the Electric Book Award, and multiple stories received Pushcart nominations.