We are delighted to announce that Benjamin Percy has selected Nathan Poole’s Pathkiller as the Holy Ghost as winner of the 2014 Quarterly West Novella Contest.

Benjamin Percy says “Pathkiller as the Holy Ghost does not fetishize the past—and so make it feel forged—but instead captures it with naturalism and authenticity that sink the reader back in time. Every page I found myself pausing to marvel at some lovely detail or read again a cleanly hewn sentence. The rough, tender characters came alive for me so completely that I will wonder about them for a long time. This is an impressively talented writer who belongs in the good company of Ron Rash and Philip Meyer.”

Nathan Poole’s debut story collection, Father Brother Keeper, was awarded the 2013 Mary McCarthy Prize by Edith Pearlman and will be published in 2015 by Sarabande. He is a recipient of the Narrative Prize, a Milton Fellowship, and a Joan Beebe Fellowship at Warren Wilson College. His work has appeared in various journals, including Narrative Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, The Kenyon Review Online, The Chattahoochee Review, The Four Way Review, Image, Drum Lit Mag, Nat.Brut.Quarterly, and Pacifica Literary Review. He holds an MFA from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. He is from Columbia, South Carolina.

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest for their patience and for supporting the journal. Stay tuned for details about the 2015 Novella Contest!

The 2014 Quarterly West Novella Contest finalists were:

1. Road Trip by Lynette D’Amico
2. Hidden by Batya Casper
3. An Unimportant Boy by Ted Chiles
4. The Slush Pile by William Nixon
5. They Had Their Man for Breakfast by Darrell Spencer
6. The Island of Pete by Jacob White