Jordan Castro’s THE NOVELIST was named an NPR Best Book of 2022, well as one of WPR’s “8 Books to Enjoy at the Beach This Summer.” Book critic Michael Schaub writes: "Castro’s fiction debut is as meta as it gets, but that’s part of its immense charm…[THE NOVELIST is] sweet, funny and beautifully written." The book also received a fantastic review from Taylor Lewandowski for Bookforum, who notes that the book “upends the historical 'drug novel' by offering a portrait of what life looks like in recovery,” and “the narrator’s hopeful reorientation out of this simulated, technological world opens space to be present, to think of his partner, and to return home humbled by the machinations of the actual world.” Soft Skull published the book on June 14, 2022.