The writer protagonists of these stimulating metafictional stories from Ozeki (A Tale for the Time Being) long for connection and creative fulfillment. The title entry, framed as an author’s note, concerns a short story called “The Typing Lady,” written by a woman who caught the attention o... Continue reading »

Hart’s excellent third nail-biter focused on Mark, a former assassin known as Pale Horse (after The Medusa Protocol), nimbly balances humor with genuine suspense. Valencia, a member of Mark’s Manhattan-based support group for recovering contract killers, needs childcare while she heads to L... Continue reading »

A gentle elegiac tone pervades this stunning posthumous historical fantasy from multi–Hugo and Nebula award winner McIntyre (Dreamsnake), who died in 2019. In ancient Crete, Iakinthu, a former bull dancer, is at the apex of her second profession as chief diplomat-trader of her seafaring nat... Continue reading »

The explosive conclusion to Robert’s bestselling Dark Olympus series (after Tender Cruelty) offers readers an un-put-downable final trip to the dystopian city of Olympus, where the ruling council of 13 “gods” face the wrath of Circe. Fifteen years before the start of the book, Circe was rip... Continue reading »

Angouléme Grand Prix award-winner Sattouf returns with the excellent first of a two-volume conclusion to his Arab of the Future series which recalls an awkward adolescence overshadowed by family crisis. It’s 1992, and Riad is 14, living in Rennes with his French mother and younger brother Yahya. His... Continue reading »

In her prismatic fourth collection, novelist, memoirist, and poet Alvarez (The Woman I Kept to Myself) spins richly detailed micro-narratives of her childhood in the Dominican Republic in the 1950s, her young adulthood in New York City, and beyond. Vivid scenes include reciting poems for he... Continue reading »

In this tour de force from Brotherton (A Bright and Blinding Sun) and Lee (A Single Light), four friends’ lives change irrevocably when America becomes embroiled in WWII. In 1930s Mobile, Ala., preacher’s son Jimmy Propfield shares an idyllic upbringing with childhood sweetheart Cl... Continue reading »

Pulitzer winner Cunningham (Day) offers eloquent reflections on life, love, and literature, as well as valuable pointers on craft and storytelling, in this sterling memoir. Much of the account focuses on the intersection of Cunningham’s private and artistic lives, as when he traces how a me... Continue reading »

From baker Jensen (Flour Power) comes an expansive and accessible guide to making pizza from scratch. For best results, she urges home cooks to invest in a digital scale for measuring ingredients by weight instead of volume, as well as a baking steel for home ovens, which helps mimic the he... Continue reading »

This sprawling, immersive account from historian Pearsall (Atlantic Families) explores “the effect of the world on the American Revolution” rather than the “too often” emphasized opposite. The book opens with a reflection on colonial militiamen’s powder horns, which were typically carved wi... Continue reading »

Lin Wallace (On Our Way with Mr. Jay) and Rex (The 13th Day of Christmas) flip carpe diem on its head in this lush high-concept picture book that spotlights the life of a single day. As a full-throated songbird heralds sunrise in the distance, “a Day is born.” Cataloging t... Continue reading »