THE VISITORS by Jessi Jezewska Stevens was included on The Face’s list of “10 Books to Dive Deep Into This Summer,” praised by columnist Anna Cafolla as “an unsettling and oddball novel...both a bold, imaginative play on very recent history and a trenchant prophecy of the terrifying times we’re collectively staring down the barrel of.” In an interview with The Creative Independent, Stevens spoke to the feeling that “the whole book is kind of written at 11” and her proclivity for “writ[ing] psychological fiction,” noting that her fascination as a writer “isn’t exactly interiority and psychology so much as…magic and uncanny experiences that we can’t quite place and those moments where you feel the world is just tilted one to two degrees off of where it should be.” And Other Stories published THE VISITORS on June 7, 2022.

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.

Liska Jacobs’s third novel, THE PINK HOTEL, published to a raft of great press this week. Esquire selected the novel as its July Book Club pick, and published an interview with Jacobs alongside glowing praise: “In this glittering satire about greed, excess, and human folly, Jacobs takes aim at our tenuous class system and sinks a kill shot.” Jacobs was also interviewed by The Orange County Register, where she discussed the inspiration for THE PINK HOTEL: “I love to write books that take place in pressure cookers, and you can’t have anything better than riots and wildfires outside a very luxurious hotel…Under lockdown, I was taping my windows closed because smoke was getting in. It was incredibly toxic. But isolated at the Beverly Hills Hotel, it was $44 salads and underwater music. It felt like a different world.” THE PINK HOTEL received glowing praise from Alta’s Monday Book Review (“THE PINK HOTEL is by turns a love story, a social satire, an elegy for the planet, a farewell to the glamour of Old Hollywood, and, above all, a morality tale…If Jacobs’s descriptions of the staff are insightfully nuanced, her depiction of the wealthy is anthropological”), and was featured as a Lit Hub must-read. Elsewhere, The Los Angeles Times published an essay by Jacobs titled “What do artists and their fans owe each other?” in which Jacobs reflects on the oft-troubled relationship between author and reader: “Every one of us is searching for what it means to be us. And, in that search, artists and their work become something for us to inhabit, to explore who we are...which can sometimes make the artist, who created from a place of need for understanding and intimacy, feel even more alone. But maybe the beauty of art is that it can serve as a bridge, a space where — even briefly — we see one another.” Lit Hub also published a piece by Jacobs “on Leaving Los Angeles, City of ‘Impermanence and Unreliability’ [and] finding Kinship with Eve Babitz and Joan Didion.” MCD published THE PINK HOTEL on July 19, 2022.

Carlene Bauer’s GIRLS THEY WRITE SONGS ABOUT was featured on The New York Times Book Review’s Shortlist round-up “‘Porn of the Self’: Novels of Female Angst.” Alex Beggs writes: “The nostalgia for late-90s New York and magazine heydays hits hard in Carlene Bauer’s GIRLS THEY WRITE SONGS ABOUT, a novel that spans a decades-long friendship that’s so intense the reader feels like an uninvited third, munching popcorn in the corner of an $850-per-month Park Slope one-bedroom....Bauer’s writing is so gorgeous, the dialogue so cutting, that I began to wonder if there was a world where people have casual conversations about ANNA KARENINA, when the last debate I had with a friend was about the benefits of zip-front sports bras.” Farrar, Straus and Giroux published the novel on June 21, 2022.

DARK EARTH by Rebecca Stott
Book Launches
Rebecca Stott’s DARK EARTH published to fantastic press. The book was featured on must-read lists from Lit Hub, Publishers Weekly, and The Lesbrary. Danik Ellis of Lesbrary raves: “With an intimate yet cinematic scope, DARK EARTH re-creates an ancient world steeped in myth and folklore, and introduces us to unforgettable women who come to vibrant life on the page. A heart-in-mouth adventure full of moments of tenderness, this is a beautiful, profound novel about oppression and power that puts a female perspective on a historical period dominated by men’s stories.” Random House published the novel on July 19, 2022.

THE FURROWS by Namwali Serpell was featured on The Million’s "Great Second-Half 2022 Book Preview." The citation reads: “Serpell’s latest novel, which follows her expansive debut THE OLD DRIFT, begins with an epigraph from Marcel Proust: 'People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive.' THE FURROWS chronicles the overpowering 'aura of life' of the presumably drowned boy as he swims through the consciousnesses of those who mourn him.” Hogarth will publish the novel on September 27, 2022.

Rio Cortez’s debut poetry collection GOLDEN AX received a stunning review from Diego Báez for the Poetry foundation. Báez praises the poem “Covered Wagon as Spaceship” for its “haunting, bucolic imagery” and “chilling final line,” and “Black Frasier Crane” for its “send-up that is utterly gutting.” Penguin Books will publish the collection on August 30, 2022.

Kendra Allen’s FRUIT PUNCH is among The Washington Post’s “12 noteworthy books for July and August.” Becky Meloan praises: “Allen’s powerful debut memoir reckons with coming of age after a childhood assault…As [Allen] tries to understand herself, she cleverly forces consideration of her humanity...Her writing is filled with insight and humor, and provides a nuanced representation of often-marginalized voices.” FRUIT PUNCH also appeared on The Root’s listicle of “10 Books by Black Authors [They] Can’t Wait to Read This August.” Ecco will publish FRUIT PUNCH on August 9, 2022.

Nada Alic’s debut short story collection, BAD THOUGHTS, is enjoying a wealth of great press in the weeks following its release. A gorgeous rave from Shy Watson in Southwest Review reads: “I finished these stories with the impression that Nada Alic sees and understands all; that she, like many of her characters, may have a direct line to God. While endlessly entertaining, the book also taught me something: that, as people, we only do what we must.” Another review in Washington Square Review praises Alic’s twenty-first century realism: “Alic was able to capture the dark authenticity of the worst of our thoughts, and still remain sincere and funny. The characters don’t attempt to be likable, but that makes them feel real...The humor is devastating and the devastation is palpable. It feels good to read something that doesn’t try to be prescriptive of the times we’re living in—it just tells you how it is, and then it lets you sit in that feeling.” Alic was also interviewed by Sophia June for Nylon, who praises: “Reading about the women in Alic’s stories is akin to calling a good friend to tell them something embarrassing you said only to find out they said something worse...Talking to Alic gives the same salve” and by Denise S. Robbins for the Chicago Review of Books, who writes: “The characters in [BAD THOUGHTS] paint a portrait of an author grappling with womanhood, adulthood, meaning, and ego death, all with a sense of irony and self-mockery.” Alic also made a playlist inspired by the book for Largehearted Boy, and the book was selected as The Nervous Breakdown’s August Book Club pick. Vintage published BAD THOUGHTS on July 12, 2022.

Antonia Angress’ sparkling debut SIRENS & MUSES continues to earn wonderful press in the weeks following its publication. Glamour named SIRENS & MUSES one of “The 10 Hottest New Books to Read This Month,” praising: “SIRENS AND MUSES holds the reader’s attention like a gallery so compelling that a visitor is torn between staring at one work and rushing on to the next room... Each artist's subject matter is distinct but they share the same obsessive focus on value—value of their art, the value of connections, of integrity, of legacy. There's romance and eroticism here, extending between the women but also between the artists and their work.” Angress also published an essay in the July/August print edition of Poets & Writers titled “Sanctuary: How My Mother’s Art Shaped Me as a Writer.” Angress writes: “Living between worlds can feel like living nowhere. But the skills my childhood taught me—code-switching, shape-shifting, finding points of connection across language, culture, & nationality—have proved essential to the art of fiction.” Ballantine Books published SIRENS & MUSES on July 12, 2022.