John Smolens' previous three novels were also published by Shaye Areheart Books: Fire Point (2004), The Invisible World (2002) and Cold (2001). His earlier works of fiction include a collection of short stories published by Carnegie Mellon University, My One and Only Bomb Shelter (2000), and two novels, Angel’s Head (1994) and Winter by Degrees (1988). His short stories and essays have appeared in various magazines and newspapers, including: the Virginia Quarterly, the William and Mary Review, the Massachusetts Review, Yankee, Redbook, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe. His novels have been translated into Dutch, Greek, Italian, and Turkish, and the United Kingdom.

“John Smolens is that rare and gifted writer who can capture both our exterior and interior worlds with equal dexterity, grace, and power. Cold is a novel so riveting you will absolutely not be able to put it down, and these characters will stay with you long after turning the last page.”
-- Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog

“Cold is a finely crafted, wild yarn set in the great north. John Smolens gives us a suspenseful tale in a style somewhere between Jack London and Raymond Chandler. A fine read.”
-- Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall and Dalva

“A mesmerizing danse macabre, one that welds the drama of family treachery to an unforgiving landscape…Imagine James M. Cain rewriting the script of the film Fargo and you get close to the novel’s palpable mixture of bleak wilderness and blood-hot passion. Hot stuff, stripped bare with ice and fire.”
-- The London Sunday Express

“Smolens’ skill [is] in rendering scenes of stunning brutality and uncommon tenderness.”
-- Publishers’ Weekly

John Smolens is a professor of English at Northern Michigan University.