[2] After completing his MFA, Englehardt worked as a contributing editor at Pacifica Literary Review,[3] and was selected as a 2015 Made at Hugo House Fellow.

Kirkus Reviews describes Bloomland as "Hugely important, hauntingly brutal" and states, "Englehardt has just announced himself as one of America’s most talented emerging writers.

"[10] Kristen Millares Young of The Washington Post writes, "“Bloomland” juxtaposes the proximate with the predator, intermingling their perspectives until the flickering becomes a bloody tapestry of our beleaguered nation.

"[11] In The Literary Review, Jeff Bursey states, "writing a relatively non-polemical debut novel about a student who shoots others at his campus would be difficult to do, but John Englehardt, in Bloomland, has achieved this feat.

"[12] Publishers Weekly describes the novel as "potent" and states, "Englehardt’s debut poses timely, difficult questions.