Berg
Ann Quin | And Other Stories | 9781911508540 | June 2019
“This perversely lyrical novel has us rooting for a would-be murderer to just
get on with it and kill the guy. . . . Author Ann Quin manages to turn insanity
into comedy. . . . What else, besides the demented humor, persuades readers to
consent to live in a devolving mind is the manic lyricism, images and metaphors
spinning wildly and beautifully out of control. Madcap humor and dark
psychology combine in this brilliant riot of a novel, first published in 1964,
by a witty British writer who died too young.”—The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Empty Words
Mario Levrero, trans. Annie McDermott | Coffee House Press | 9781566895460 |
May 2019
“Empty Words contains two threads: the
handwriting exercises (complete with distractions) and what Levrero calls ‘The
Discourse,’ which has the stated aim of being about nothing. . . . As with the
writing exercises, the rules here are strictly limiting. Seen another way, they
are freeing. By throwing off the burden of an idea, Levrero can follow his
‘Discourse’ wherever it takes him.”—Rain Taxi
Mitochondrial Night
Ed Bok Lee | Coffee House Press | 9781566895323 | March 2019
“There is a connection between the lofty stars and the microscopic building
blocks of life. Lee weaves these threads throughout the collection, tapping
into the ways in which we deal with the universality of life. . . . Mitochondrial Night is an emotional and
inquisitive investigation into the human condition that might just bring us one
step closer to understanding our inescapable humanity.”—Rain Taxi
A Student of History
Nina Revoyr | Akashic Books | 9781617756641 | March 2019
“A Student of History continues the
tradition of the Los Angeles oil novel, but steers it in a new direction.”—Rain
Taxi
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a
List of Further Possibilities
Chen Chen | BOA Editions | 9781942683339 | April 2017
“A total thrill of a debut poetry collection, gay Chinese-American poet Chen
crafts a perfect balance of heartbreak and laugh-out-loud humor with
pitch-perfect cadence and rhythm.”—Los
Angeles Review of Books
Build Yourself a Boat
Camonghne Felix | Haymarket Books | 9781608466115 | April 2019
“Felix explores what it
means, politically to be a black woman in a world of Trump and personally,
exploring the ways heartbreak and other points of pain change a person and
their body. Build Yourself a Boat was exactly what I needed to read, and
revisit, this season as men decided what women should do with their bodies and
as I learned to manage heartbreak.”—Electric Literature
The Ugly Truth: A Riley
Ellison Mystery
Jill Orr | Prospect Park Books | 9781945551444 | June 2019
“This is the third title in Orr’s Riley Ellison mystery series, a string of
books which nimbly combines whodunit tropes with a refreshingly contemporary
sense of humor and well-drawn small-town characters.”—Columbia Tribune
“Muslim”: A Novel
Zahia Rahmani, trans. Matt Reeck | Deep Vellum | 9781941920756 | March 2019
“Rahmani’s language flows freely like water, despite the weight of her words
and their inferences. Her writing is impactful and profound as she attempts to
close the gaps in herself, trying to understand her own identity or, rather,
one that has been forced upon her.”—Arab
News
The Science of Lost Futures
Ryan Habermeyer | BOA Editions | 9781942683605 | May 2018
“In prose that is both eminently readable and reliably beautiful, Habermeyer
uses laughter to make you think, thoughtfulness to make you laugh, and all of
this to make you feel. The Science of
Lost Futures is stranger than truth, and likely stranger than most works of
fiction, too. But beneath its disarming charm and evocative imagination is a
big beating heart.”—The Harvard Review
House of
the Black Spot
Ben Sears | Koyama Press | 9781927668672 | May 2019
“Sears’ strength is absolutely as a visual storyteller, but there’s enough
happening in his engaging characters, involving storylines, and light-fingered
explorations of contemporary issues that the books are always something to look
forward to, and the latest, House of
the Black Spot, is a perfect example.”—The
Comics Journal
When I Arrived at the Castle
Emily Carroll | Koyama Press | 9781927668689 | April 2019
“The perfect horror story for a rainy day or some night shrouded in fog. . . .
A blood-drenched romance and a cartoon gothic opera.”—New York Journal of Books
Berlin Noir
edited by Thomas Wörtche | Akashic Books | 9781617756320 | May 2019
“The thirteen tales are well chosen and the collection skillfully put together
by Wörtche. . . . This is definitely a book that should be on the list of all
noir lovers.”—New York Journal of Books
The Cursed Hermit
Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes | Conundrum Press | 9781772620306 | October
2019
“Hobtown feels 90s, cool kids peeled off a Lookout Records sticker, and creepy
townies as Liquid Television nightmares. It’s proper, and professional, but
it’s also punk. If Ted Stearn was working with PT Anderson. A comedic tumble
down into the heart of rural darkness.”—Doom
Rocket
Exposed
Jean-Philippe Blondel, trans. Alison Anderson | New Vessel Press |
9781939931672 | June 2019
“Fun and delightful. . . . you’ll find it impossible to tear yourself from
the page. It’s compelling, sorrowful, playful, and at once completely
believable and mature. . . . Love and intimacy, romance and sexuality—they’re
all portrayed with a real deft hand by Blondel.”—Books and Bao