Continuing its streak of positive reviews, SCIENTIST: E.O. WILSON: A LIFE IN NATURE by Richard Rhodes received another stellar review, this time from The Wall Street Journal. The reviewer raves that the book “is cause for celebration…providing succinct, nuanced summaries of some of [Wilson’s] major insights, enriched by frequent forays into the history of modern biology.” Doubleday will publish the book on November 9, 2021.

ON FREEDOM by Maggie Nelson continues to generate positive praise. The book received a glowing review from Commweal: “Nelson is, above all, a writer of prose and poetry often startling in its aptness, precision, and unexpectedness…[ON FREEDOM] is a subtle and elegant book…What is important about this book is not only its argument but also that it is an excellent example of the practices it commends.” Meanwhile, Ruminate raves: “The intellectual method of this poet, essayist, critic, and MacArthur genius grant recipient, is to focus her attention where the thicket of our inherited ideas is its thorniest, where mutually antagonistic concepts, practices, and values are knotted. This is where her subtle and nuanced thinking is at its best…Nelson is our day’s ur-thinker for nuance, our own private Susan Sontag.” Nelson also sat down to discuss ON FREEDOM with Christina Quarles for Artforum’s “Writers on Artists” series. Graywolf Press published ON FREEDOM on September 7, 2021.

Jennifer Marie Brissett’s epic space opera DESTROYER OF LIGHT received generous praise from The Los Angeles Review of Books. Reviewer Steven Shaviro writes: “DESTROYER OF LIGHT has a wonky, science-fictional feel to it, which is something that still deeply appeals to me, even though fantasy, horror, and weird fiction seem to be more widespread and popular these days. Brissett plays with and transforms a number of familiar science-fictional tropes…creat[ing] a weird and alien world, but one that resonates deeply with our own contemporary concerns.” Meanwhile, Brissett spoke to Den of Geek on the book’s inspiration and ambitious narrative structure: “What inspired this multiplicity of perspectives is my imaginative self-thinking of what it might be like to experience being at the speed of light when time no longer moves forward or backwards, but everything happens at once.” Tor Books published DESTOYER OF LIGHT on October 12, 2021.

Garden and Gun magazine named CHILD IN THE VALLEY by Gordy Sauer one of its must-read titles for this fall. Executive Editor Amanda Heckert writes: “Murder, greed, redemption—this debut novel by the Texas native Gordy Sauer chronicling one man’s lawless journey from Missouri to California to strike it rich during the Gold Rush landed on my to-read list after I saw Publisher’s Weekly call it ‘an accomplished literary western,’ and no less than the late Larry McMurtry deem it ‘vividly brutal and haunting.’ Deal me in.” Hub City Press published the book on August 24, 2021.

HarperCollins selected THE MOVEMENT MADE US by David J. Dennis, Jr. and David J. Dennis, Sr. for their Summer 2022 Diverse Voices award. A reading committee made up of volunteers from different levels and departments at HarperCollins selects only three titles per year for this internal award, which aims to promote awareness and appreciation of their diverse lists. Harper will publish the book on May 10, 2022.

VANDERBILT by Anderson Cooper continues to be a bestseller, appearing for the week of November 7 on The New York Times lists for Hardcover Nonfiction, Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction, Audio Nonfiction, and Business, as well as The Washington Post’s Hardcover Nonfiction list. The New York Times also featured a Letter to the Editor responding to Cooper’s By the Book interview last month: “Anderson Cooper’s responses showed his deep honesty and vulnerability, and all the sadness he has had in his life... I can think of no one else who has answered that oft-posed question (‘You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?’) in such a disarming and truthful manner. So moving.” Harper published VANDERBILT on September 21, 2021.

FOUL PLAY, the 59th book in Stuart Woods’s long running Stone Barrington series, made its debut on the New York Times Bestseller list for the week of October 24. The book debuted at number 9 on the Combined Print and E-book Fiction list. G.P. Putnam’s Sons published the book on October 5, 2021.

Danielle Steel’s latest novel, THE BUTLER, will make its debut on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of October 24, 2021. It will debut at number 5 on the Combined Print and E-book Fiction list, and number 7 on the Hardcover Fiction list. Delacorte Press published the book on October 5, 2021.

Joss Lake discussed his debut novel FUTURE FEELING with Ari Braverman of The Believer, who calls the book "smart and a little bit pissed off but not so cynical that it wasn’t also luminously, optimistically enthralled with the world and all the ways we might figure out how to live inside it," and a story "filled with tenderness—a reminder for its readers that these days a real appraising eye sees not only decline but connection and potential as well." Soft Skull published the book on June 1, 2021.

Daniel Barban Levin sat down for an interview with Frances Badalamenti for BOMB Magazine to discuss his memoir SLONIM WOODS 9, the meaning of the word "cult" and how easily "normal" people might fall into one, and how the process of writing allowed him to come to terms with everything he endured. He also appeared on an episode of the Ivy League Murders podcast, discussing his experiences as a second installment in their Sarah Lawrence series on Larry Ray and his influence on his daughter's group of college friends. Crown published SLONIM WOODS 9 on September 7, 2021.