Agri Ismaïl. Coffee House, $20 trade paper (360p) ISBN 978-1-56689-747-1
Ismaïl debuts with a captivating satire of materialism and ambition. In 1978, Rafiq Hardi Kerman, founder of the Communist Party of Kurdistan, escapes Iran with his wife, Xezal, and their three young children—Mohammed, Siver, and Laika—and sets up a new life for them in London. Some 30 years later, ... Continue reading »
Rob Osler. Kensington, $27 (304p) ISBN 978-1-4967-4951-2
Osler’s delightful follow-up to The Case of the Missing Maid again finds queer PI Harriet Morrow solving crimes for the Prescott Agency, a rival to the Pinkertons, in 1898 Chicago. When journalist Eugene Eldridge is murdered, word gets out that he’d been investigating a powerful politician ... Continue reading »
Sara Tantlinger. Dark Matter, $14.99 trade paper (174p) ISBN 978-1-958598-81-8
The 12 equal parts chilling and exhilarating stories in Tantlinger’s debut collection deliver dread-filled cosmic horror with a richly gothic flavor. The range is wide: there’s eco-horror explicating the consequences of environmental destruction (“As Humans Burn Beneath Us”), a tale of delightfully ... Continue reading »
Iman Hariri-Kia. Cosmo Reads, $18.99 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-72827-064-7
A devoted romantasy fan embarks on an outrageous quest to find her soulmate in this hilarious and intelligent romp from Hariri-Kia (The Most Famous Girl in the World). A dutiful copywriter by day and beloved fan fiction writer by night, Joonie Saboonchi credits A Tale of Salt Water and ... Continue reading »
Jibola Fagbamiye and Conor McCreery. Amistad, $48 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-305879-8
This rousing celebration of Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (1938–1997)—Afrobeat star, truth-teller, commune leader, and frequent “rascal”—blends brisk biographical storytelling with urgent cultural and political history, gorgeous evocations of the power of music and dance, and bursts of bloody violence both fa... Continue reading »
Lyn Hejinian. Wesleyan Univ, $18.95 trade paper (176p) ISBN 978-0-8195-0197-4
The wry and sprawling final offering from the late, great Hejinian (Fall Creek) comprises a book-length prose poem in which the speaker moves through the motions and emotions of the “every day,” engaging with a cast of local characters. By doing so, Hejinian and her narrator explore a centr... Continue reading »
Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee. Revell, $26.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-8007-4275-1
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 »
John Edgar Wideman. Scribner, $29 (400p) ISBN 978-1-6680-3637-2
Novelist, essayist, and critic Wideman (Slaveroad) delivers a profound, career-spanning collection of essays on literature, sports, and culture. Early entries consist largely of critical analyses of writings by Charles W. Chesnutt, Richard Wright, and W.E.B. Du Bois, with Wideman declaring ... Continue reading »
Rocio Salas-Whalen. Rodale, $29 (288p) ISBN 978-0-593-98120-7
Endocrinologist Salas-Whalen offers a compassionate and comprehensive guide to losing weight with GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. She walks readers through the process of evaluating GLP-1 medications (short for glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone that regulates blood sugar le... Continue reading »
Edited by Rose Marie Berger. Broadleaf, $28.99 (336p) ISBN 979-8-88983-541-7
These stimulating essays and interviews from the first 50 years of Sojourners magazine, collected by poetry editor Berger (Who Killed Donte Manning?), seek “sabbath rest, contemplation, solitude, simplicity, and communal resilience” in today’s world. Franciscan priest Richard Rohr ... Continue reading »
Nicholas Day, illus. by Hadley Hooper. Holiday House/Porter, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8234-5850-9
For readers who feel constantly hurried along, Day (Nothing) offers up an anecdote from the life of Charles Darwin (1809–1882) as permission to do something downright rebellious: slow down and let their thoughts wander. Fittingly discursive text describes how Darwin literally walked... Continue reading »




