News - Book Launches

News - Book Launches

SEE FRIENDSHIP by Jeremy Gordon received praise from The New York Times Book Review: “Gordon’s smart novel on the warping effects of nostalgia and technology asks us to follow some Forsterian advice from a century ago: Only connect.” Upon its release, the debut novel was featured on Book Riot’s “New Releases and More for March 4, 2025,” Literary Hub’s “Laila Lalami! Alanis Morissette! 24 new books out today,” Town & Country’s “The 49 Must-Read Books of Spring 2025,” and Chicago Review of Books’ “12 Must-Read Books of March 2025.” Furthermore, Jeremy Gordon discussed “Grief, Connection, And His Novel ‘SEE FRIENDSHIP’” with Defector Media and “Media Jobs, Male Loneliness, and Modern Malaise” with Interview Magazine. SEE FRIENDSHIP was published on March 4, 2025 by Harper Perennial.

THE BOMBSHELL by Darrow Farr

Advance praise for THE BOMBSHELL by Darrow Farr includes blurbs from Chang-Rae Lee, who calls it “sexy, kinetic and dazzling” and “an amazing, unforgettable novel”; Adam Johnson, who praises it as “lush, cinematic and propulsive[…]filled with sex, violence, glamor and a true revolutionary spirit. It’s a towering literary achievement. THE BOMBSHELL is certain to be the debut of the year, a true must-read”; Gabriela Garcia, who hails it as “[A]n electrifying exploration of personal and political revolution… [A] complex, unflinching portrait of youthful transformation and the dangerous allure of fame that announces Darrow Farr as an exciting new voice to watch”; and Emma Knight, who declares: “THE BOMBSHELL will explode into your psyche and keep you happily captive until the last word. Farr’s complicated heroine, by turns overconfident and touchingly vulnerable, will force you to constantly reassess your convictions. I didn’t want this fascinating, nuanced, beautifully drawn novel to end.” Publishers Lunch also selected the novel as one of its “Buzz Books 2025: Spring/Winter” list picks. THE BOMBSHELL will be published by Pamela Dorman Books on May 27, 2025.

THE TELLER OF SMALL FORTUNES by Julie Leong is celebrating a highly successful release. The debut novel is #16 on the Indie Bestseller trade paperback fiction list and #118 on USA Today’s Best-selling Booklist. Since publication, it has also been featured on a number of round ups, including Parades’ “The 22 Best New Book Releases This Week: Nov. 5-11, 2024,” Goodreads’ “6 New Books Recommended by Readers This Week,” Screen Rant’s “10 Biggest Fantasy Books Coming Out in November 2024,” Paste Magazine’s “The Best New Fantasy Books of November 2024,” Book Riot’s “The Best New Books of November 2024, According to Indie Booksellers” and finally, Library Journal’s “Book Pulse (Librarians and Booksellers Suggest).” Ace published the book on November 5, 2024.

Alex Van Halen’s BROTHERS debuted at #2 on The New York Times Bestseller Hardcover Nonfiction and Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction lists for the week of November 10, 2024. Harper published BROTHERS on October 22, 2024.

Robert Hilburn’s A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY was featured on Parade’s “The 15 Best New Book Releases” for the week of October 22-28. They write: “[M]usical talent Randy Newman has Grammys, Oscars and Emmys to his credit, thanks to film scores, songs for TOY STORY and a string of acclaimed albums…Start now with ‘12 Songs’ and ‘Sail Away,’ two of his best, then play the score to THE NATURAL. Then you’ll understand why his prickly, satirical, heartfelt Americana is praised by so many…and he’s long overdue for a serious biography.” Hachette Books published A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY on October 22, 2024.

Prior to the publication of Robert Hilburn’s A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY, The New York Times ran a Sunday feature about Randy Newman. Bob Mehr writes: “[Newman’s] movie songs are filled with memorable melodies; his own albums with unsavory characters. One of the most astute cultural observers is the subject of a new book…While Hilburn’s book functions as a conventional, often penetrating, biography, it’s ‘also a personal, critical argument on Randy’s behalf,’ Hilburn said in an interview. ‘It’s fine to enjoy ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me,’ but the greatness of Randy Newman, his real legacy, are all the brilliant songs he’s written about the shortcomings of the American character.’” Hachette Books published A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY on October 22, 2024.

BROTHERS by Alex Van Halen received fantastic writeups from Gary Graff of Billboard and Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone. Graff writes: “Throughout BROTHERS’ 231 pages, Van Halen discloses the tight bond between him and Eddie, personally and musically – and presents the connection between those two as one and the same thing…The passion for music came early and was a constant, of course, and one can read in BROTHERS the kind of mission on Van Halen’s part to offer a more expansive and sophisticated view of his brother’s talents.” Harper published BROTHERS on October 22, 2024.

BROTHERS by Alex Van Halen

Alex Van Halen’s memoir, BROTHERS, was the subject of a fantastic New York Times piece. Richard Bienstock writes: “Why did [Alex] write [BROTHERS]? ‘To add a little more depth to the understanding of what Ed was all about…When you’re in the spotlight, people tend to speak for you. I wanted to remind people that Ed was not a commodity. He was a complex human being.’… BROTHERS is not a story of regret. It’s a tale of understanding, of acceptance, of love. Mostly, of humanness. ‘If you’re going to tell the story, you should give equal space to the good and the bad,’ Alex said. ‘Because the good doesn’t make any sense without having the bad.’” Harper will publish BROTHERS on October 22, 2024.

WILLIAM by Mason Coile has received fantastic press in the weeks leading up to its publication. For The Minnesota Star Tribune, Maren Longbella raves: “[M]emorable…The alternating short and shorter chapters keep the action tearing along, rather like cuts in a movie, as the temerity to meddle with existence undoes most of the characters...Is it the absence of something that creates the dissonance or is it the presence of something evil? By the end of WILLIAM you will have the answer. And then you'll want to read it again.” The book was featured on Reader’s Digest’s “61 Best Horror Books to Read in 2024,” Book Riot’s “10 Chilling New Horror Books Out September 2024,” and other must-read round-ups from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Gizmodo. G.P. Putnam’s Sons will publish the novel on September 10, 2024.

SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS by Kailee Pedersen published to fantastic reviews this week. From Los Angeles Times, Heather Scott Partington writes: “Pedersen’s grisly tale joins many distinct threads together into a terrifying end. SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS is remarkable in its keen barbarism, the author’s blending of the ordinary violence of rural life with the gravity of a Chinese myth. Her characters live ‘only for the ferocious hunt, the glorious betrayal. The suffering of others is its own delicacy,’ she writes — ‘more pleasurable than that of even raw flesh.’” Meanwhile, a review in Paste Magazine calls SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS “a masterclass in measured horror storytelling” and an “astonishing feat, a horror debut that announces Pedersen as a major new talent in the genre and in fiction at large.” St. Martin’s Press and Titan Books (U.K.) published SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS on August 20, 2024.