Hawksbill
Press
Presents
Novels By
Mark Anthony Powers

A Swarm in May is the debut novel of a doctor and beekeeper and weaves systemic racism, Little League baseball, and the art and science of beekeeping into a riveting medical mystery.
In Breath and Mercy, witness challenges in a doctor’s training, the frightening birth of the HIV pandemic, and the struggle to provide ethical care during an epic disaster. Breath and Mercy is the prequel to Mark Anthony Powers’s bestselling debut novel, A Swarm in May, and the first book in the Phineas Mann series.
In Nature’s Bite, we enter 2024 with its worsening climate change and political polarization. A mysterious visit from FBI agents interrupts Phineas’ evening. His work as the Principal Investigator in a Phase 3 trial of a novel asthma drug begins with Marie Porter, a young doctor with a hidden past. Then, as an affliction surfaces to hinder Phineas’ abilities, the two doctors become embroiled, against their wishes, in intrigue at the highest levels.


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The Phineas Mann series offers the reader medical thrillers spanning fifty years.
In Breath and Mercy, we meet medical student Phineas Mann in 1976 as he witnesses death for the first time. Years later and fresh from specialty training in pulmonary and intensive care, he is forced to make agonizing life and death medical decisions during the aftermath of a cataclysmic hurricane. These decisions threaten his career and family and will haunt his future.
A Swarm in May is set in 1998, and an unexpected visitor from Phineas’ past arrives in his intensive care unit. He is forced to confront her companion, a violent racist who is the son of his critically ill patient with tetanus. When the elderly father has unexplained setbacks, the racist son escalates threats against the medical team to horrifying levels.
We enter 2024 in Nature’s Bite with its worsening climate change and political polarization. A mysterious visit from FBI agents interrupts Phineas’ evening. His work as the Principal Investigator in a Phase 3 trial of a novel asthma drug begins with Marie Porter, a young doctor with a past. Then, as an affliction surfaces to hinder Phineas’ abilities, the two doctors become embroiled, against their wishes, in intrigue at the highest levels.
About the Author
Mark Anthony Powers
Mark Anthony Powers grew up in the small town of West Lebanon, NH. At Cornell University, he branched out into Creative Writing and Russian while majoring in engineering. After receiving his MD from Dartmouth, he went south to the University of North Carolina for an internship and residency in Internal Medicine, followed by a fellowship in Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine.
After almost forty years in clinical practice and teaching, he retired from Duke University as an Associate Professor Emeritus of Medicine and began his exploration of other parts of his brain. Writing, gardening, IT, and magic courses were just some of the enjoyment that followed. A deep dive into beekeeping led to his presidency of the county beekeeping association and certification as a Master Beekeeper.
Two cups of coffee and two hours of writing most mornings produced the medical thrillers A Swarm in May, Breath and Mercy, Nature’s Bite, and his forthcoming book in this series, Culled.
Listen to a podcast interview with Mark Anthony Powers.
Contact Mark
For more information or to set up an interview, please contact Mark here.