Rock and a Hard Place Press
A Lit-Noir Publisher Focusing on Stories of the Desperate...and What They Do Next.
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Tales from Terrebonne

Set an hour south of New Orleans, Nathan Pettigrew’s Tales from Terrebonne showcases the lives and decisions of people in the deep American South as they navigate a changing world that threatens to leave them far behind.

Tales from Terrebonne

by Nathan Pettigrew

COMING SOON
Print ISBN: 979-8-950960-02-4; eBook ISBN: 979-8-950960-03-1
Purchase on BOOKSHOP.ORG, BARNES & NOBLE, or AMAZON

Welcome to Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, where there are guns, gators, and as much Spanish Moss as there are lost souls struggling to get from day to day.

Like anywhere in the United States, the neighborhoods are gentrifying, the families are divided, and encroaching influences from politics, corporate America, and crime are rewriting every facet of life.

Nathan’s Pettigrew’s debut collection, TALES FROM TERREBONNE, weaves together 15 crime fiction stories all set an hour south of New Orleans. It’s part anthropological study of the southern United States, part white-knuckle crime fiction, and part multi-generational tragedy that examines family, belief, and the idea of home in a changing and broken world.

It’s sincere, important, and brutal.

Divided into three sections, Pettigrew’s interconnected tales show people trying their best, but doing their worst. Terrebonne—like the country and the world around her—could be a heartbeat away from being saved, or a heartbeat away from dying.

It’s the people who live there, and the stories they carry, who get to decide which direction it goes.

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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:

“The setting, style, and storytelling are all top-notch. Truly, the book is fabulous. TALES FROM TERREBONNE is unlike any other book you’ll read this year!”

—Casey Stegman

“Brilliant. It’s like the entire world in one small town in one small book.”

—Kellie Scott-Reed

“In this fantastic collection, Pettigrew deftly confronts sexism, racism, homophobia, and corporate corruption and greed through the tired eyes and hardscrabble lives of those persisting in an increasingly gentrified Terrebonne, Louisiana. If you’re seeking crime fiction with a beating heart, look no further.”

—Curtis Ippolito, author of Waves of Burden

“Nathan Pettiegrew’s TALES FROM TERREBONNE displays the criminalities among the connections we forge with all good intentions, yet can’t help but commit. His writing is simple yet cutting and not to be missed.”

—Mary Thorson, author of A Woman's Guide to True Crime

“The world Pettigrew writes about is a dangerous one, but he approaches it with a rough-and-tumble empathy that leaves you believing there’s still a glimmer of hope—just make sure that glimmer isn’t coming from the hungry eyes of a gator. TALES FROM TERREBONNE is an unvarnished, insider’s look at bayou country and the people who call it home, revealing their vices and virtues with equal parts grit, humor, and heart. If you’re a fan of Southern crime fiction, be sure to make room on your shelf for this wild collection of short stories.”

—C.W. Blackwell, author of the award-winning collection Whatever Kills the Pain

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

NATHAN PETTIGREW was born and raised an hour south of New Orleans in Terrebonne Parish and lives in Florida with his loving wife, Lamia.

He is a 2026 winner of Optum Health’s prestigious Super Hero Award for his work with Provider Search, and Managing Editor at Mythic Picnic.

His story “Yemma” was awarded 2nd Place in the 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition, while other stories have appeared in best-selling and award-winning anthologies including a genre anthology that was spotlighted in a 2017 Rolling Stone article.