Acquisition: Debut novel by James Slater Simmons, III

Lanternfish Press is pleased to announce the acquisition of James Slater Simmons, III’s debut novel, A Ghost Among Magnolias, for publication in Fall-Winter 2026.

Petronia Slater’s life has been plotted out for her since birth, just like every other child of successful Black builder and landowner Alonzo Slater. But Petronia feels stifled by the carefully curated world she inhabits as the daughter of a wealthy businessman in turn-of-the-century Milledgeville, Georgia.

When curiosity about her mother’s mysterious past gets the better of her, she sneaks out of her college dormitory to visit a disreputable neighborhood on the other side of Atlanta. There, she meets the young doctor Ben Simmons and dreams of running away for good. But history–and her family’s ghost–have other ideas.

James Simmons is trained as a playwright who has worked with St. Annes Warehouse, LaMaMa ETC, and Dixon Place. In 2022 he was invited to Djerassi’s Resident Artist Program. This is his first novel. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.

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