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Mightier Than the Sword
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Table of Contents
About The Book
Four college professors embark on a crime spree in Northern Arizona in 1993. They start by robbing an off-campus bookstore, but when things don't go as planned, the book bandits are drawn into a bigger, bolder caper involving corrupt university officials, drug-dealing frat boys, Navajo ex-cons, and a mysterious golden pen. Steeped in the lore of the West, Mightier Than the Sword is a twisty, pulp take on the dirtiest job of them all: working as a part-time professor in a college town.
Product Details
- Publisher: Rare Bird Books (October 27, 2026)
- Length: 280 pages
- ISBN13: 9781644285862
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Raves and Reviews
"I screamed and leapt and punched the air. Holy smokes, this novel. Jim Ruland's Mightier Than the Sword is a campus noir with a punk fuse and a poet's ear, an ingenious heist novel and searing critique of the American grind that's a blast to read. Four adjunct professors plan a crime so brilliant and bonkers I couldn't stop reading. Funny, salty, exquisitely weird, this book is a roundhouse kick. 'Having transgressed against herself, which is the best kind of feeling there is.' The real effing deal."
– Margot Douaihy, USA Today bestselling author of Scorched Grace, Blessed Water, and Divine Ruin
“Infused with the anger and positivity that punk rock can offer, Make It Stop is both an excellent comic book style romp and a frightening look at what, potentially, lies ahead.”
– The Pensive Quill
“Everyone knows that healthcare in this country is broken, but no one has written a ripping crime thriller about it, until now. In ‘Make It Stop’ Jim Ruland takes his readers on an adrenalized thrill ride set in the near-distant future that in fact has a lot to say about our present health-industrial complex and its voracious appetite for profit at the expense of public welfare.”
– Los Angeles Times
“A punk rock thrill ride.”
– Francesca Lia Block on Make It Stop
“A bare knuckle, punk rock fever dream about American health care.”
– Joshua Mohr, author of Model Citizen on Make It Stop
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