Bullet Holes with Norrin M Ripsman (Next Chapter, 2026)

Norrin M. Ripsman (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1997) is the Monroe J. Rathbone Distinguished Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University. His primary research interests include crisis prevention; democracy and national security; postwar peacemaking; the construction of regional stability; the political economy of national security; neoclassical realism; crises and pre-crises; and the impact of globalization on national security. Norrin M. Ripsman writes in two genres: academic and literary fiction. He has published a short-story collection, Song Book, and a novel, The Oracle of Spring Garden Road. His latest novel is Bullet Holes (2026). Bullet Holes (Next Chapter, 2026) is a novel that deals with school shootings. It is a novel that reminds us that for decades, Americans have been struggling with the urgent need to address the scourge of school shootings while protecting constitutionally enshrined freedoms. Too often, the conversation is more of an echo chamber, where people talk past each other without really listening or understanding each other's legitimate points of view.