The White Field

2021 American Fiction Award Winner (Urban Fiction)

The White Field is a fast-paced journey of a man, Tom, fresh out of prison and trying desperately to rebuild his life. But he is caught by mysterious, unseen forces beyond his knowledge or control. After his release from prison, he is dropped back into the world in the wastelands of the city. In the menial work afforded the underclass, he begins his new life among characters at the edges of society, dwellers of the netherworld such as Raphael, a former cop from Mexicali singing Spanish arias in the mists of the industrial night among drug addicts and crooked cops; Tony, a stoner scholar with an encyclopedic knowledge of history based solely on the intricate study of rock and roll; and Larry, the bloated, abusive manager trapped as much as his workers in a world of tedium and repetition and machines.

Think, The Three Stooges on acid. Unable to reconnect with what's left of his family, Tom embarks on a criminal path more harrowing than the one that led him to prison in the first place. Lured in by the nefarious, Thane, he slips into a plan that will leave him with no way back. And with no place left in this world to go but prison, he makes one last run for freedom. Will he escape?

"...Rarely will a reader find the grittiness and beauty intertwined so compellingly." -Mark Spencer, Winner of the Faulkner Award, The Omaha Prize, The Bradshaw Book Award, and author of several books including Ghost Walking and Trespassers

"...carries the awake reader into new terrain and taps on the soul for this journey into the self." -Jeff Kamen, Award winning journalist and documentary producer for NPR, NBC, CBS, ABC, and author of Warrior Pups

"...haunting splendor, illuminating the dreams of the doomed." -Matthew Dexter, author of The Ritalin Orgy

"...a taut, well-paced thrill ride rife with keenly observed lyricism, a startling and refreshing addition to the literary world of misfits: gripping, thoughtful, and unquestionably alive." -Sara Lippmann, Author of Doll Palace, Dock Street Press

"...a stunning narrative that is simultaneously frightening and familiar." -Kerri Farrell Foley, Managing Editor Crack The Spine.

"...lyrical jazz, shifting effortlessly between smooth syncopation and frantic riffs with practiced perfection." -David LaBounty, Managing Editor, Blue Cubicle Press

"...a blend of classic archetype with breathtaking prose... beautifully sculpts noir themes, gripping characters, and vivid imagery..." -Amy Kisner, Editor Lit Literature

"With a poet's ear, [Cole] records the pulse of a work-a-day life's tedium and, cogently, that of his narrator who dares to escape it." -Dennis Must, author of Hush Now Don't Explain and The World's Smallest Bible plus three short story collections: Going Dark, Oh, Don't Ask Why, and Banjo Grease.

"...a genre-stripper... alternately bewitching and terrifying... the ultimate existential thriller." -Michael Feeney Callan, author of novels such as The Woman and the Rabbit, Lovers and Dancers, poetry books, Fifty Fingers and An Argument for Sin, and critically acclaimed biographies on Robert Redford, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Richard Harris, and Julie Christie.