Nine long stories and essays, originally published in the acclaimed Ploughshares Solos digital series, appear together in this fifth annual print collection. Travel to Belize with a retired businessman desperate for a new adventure, explore the fraught yet creative relationship between artists and critics, and follow the journey of a writer who retraces the steps of John Keats and comes face-to-face with his own ghosts. From the world of jazz musicians to the private lives of a dysfunctional family and from Paris to Lagos, the nine long stories and essays included in this Solos Omnibus confront the complexity and nuance of the human experience. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature, and remains prescient in the digital age by providing readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in a variety of formats. Find out why the New York Times named Ploughshares "the Triton among minnows." - Back cover.