“It occurred to me, suddenly, that perhaps this was his twisted attempt at trying to bond. For the first time in all these years, he was letting himself be vulnerable.It was a distinctly uncomfortable experience.” Born out of wedlock and shunned by society, Alma learned to make her peace with solitude, so long as she…
A Steeping of Blood by Hafsah Faizal
“Come now, Arthie. You know better than that. I’m certain the evil Ram waters the peonies in her garden. Many well-mannered wives dip their biscuits in their tea while dreaming of butchering their husbands. We contain multitudes.” White Roaring is sharpening its fangs after the deadly night that left the city in shambles. The press…
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura
“When a life was lost, who did it belong to? What were those left behind meant to do with the incomprehensible, inescapable loss?” When a young woman from Tokyo contacts the Go-Between to request a meeting with a deceased TV star who once helped her, she doesn’t expect a teenage boy to show up. Dressed…
The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park by Michiko Aoyama
“Anxiety is something you feel about something that hasn’t happened yet or about others. The fact that you can picture those things shows you have a good imagination.” Nestled at the bottom of a five-story apartment block in the community of Advance Hill is the children’s playground in Hinode Park, where you will find a…
The Nightblood Prince by Molly X. Chang
“If we were in different circumstances, if you were a normal man and there were no prophecy, I would have loved you—every broken piece of you with every broken piece of me.” The night Fei was born, a prophecy was made: she would one day become the Empress of All Empresses. Torn from her family…
It Had to Be Him by Adib Khorram
“He couldn’t stand the thought of someone breaking Ramin’s heart. He wanted to gather up all the pieces and fit them back together. He wanted to frame it, reinforce it, so it was impervious.” Ramin Yazdani’s marriage proposal has just gone bottoms up: his ex dumped him in public for being boring. Bent on proving…
How to Talk to Your Succulent by Zoe Persico
“Your hen once told me humans are a lot like plants. We stand with confidence when we’re happy. We shrink and wither when we struggle.” Eleven-year-old Adara and her dad are moving from California to the cold and flat lands of Michigan . . . and it sucks. After Mom’s recent passing, it seems way…
Death Does Not End at the Sea by Gbenga Adesina
“Glory of the Latinof the dead and their grammarcomposed entirely of decay. Glory of the eyes of my fatherwhich, when he died, closedinside his grave, and opened even more brightlyinside me.” Gbenga Adesina’s stunning debut book of poems explores the complexity of elusive citizenship and offers the reader an immigrant’s brokenhearted prayer for a new…
The Wind That Lays Waste by Selva Almada
“Tomorrow. In the evening, we are all optimists. We think that when the light of a new day fills the sky above us, we will be able to change everything and begin afresh. But the next morning we wake up exhausted, tired before we start the day, and we leave it all to tomorrow again….
Bad Indians Book Club by Patty Krawec
“The dominating society loves to categorize people as good and bad depending on whether or not they support the existing system.” When a friend asked what books could help them understand Indigenous lives, Patty Krawec, author of Becoming Kin, gave them a list. This list became a book club and then a podcast about a…
The Great Book Wyrm 