Like Bismuth When I Enter
Carlos Lara | Nightboat Books | 9781643620190 | April 2020
“Like Bismuth When I Enter shows a technician at work on the aesthetic forces of production, an enthusiast laboring under the rusty hood of Surrealism.”—Caesura Magazine
We Want it All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics
Edit. Andrea Abi-Karam & Kay Gabriel | Nightboat Books | 9781643620336 | October 2020
“The editors present this anthology as an experiment: how far can literature written and/or collected from a standpoint of identity. We see a new language and a new form to express the desire to shake the American public out of its lethargy. We see courage here as the writers face suffering. Pain is singular yet it reaches its targets one at a time. We live at a time of indifference and here we are reminded that each one of us is somehow responsible for everything that is done.”—Reviews by Amos Lassen
Topp: Promoter Gary Topp Brought Us the World
David Collier | Conundrum Press | 9781772620320 | May 2020
“Guided by old friend and celebrated comic book artist, Dave Collier, Topp: Promoter Gary Topp Brought Us The World combines memoir and biography, evoking an edgy, sublime style similar to underground artists like Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar.”—Addicted Magazine
Jump the Clock
Erica Hunt | Nightboat Books | 9781643620244 | October 2020
“Erica Hunt has been publishing poems since the 1980s. Jump the Clock gathers nearly two hundred pages’ worth of them. I generally feel like a poet has some level of talent if, in a chapbook, I find a couple of lines I want to quote; Hunt’s book had me nodding or laughing or wincing in appreciation at least every other page. I emerged from it with the sense that she is, whatever this term might mean, a major poet.”—Plough
Pet Sounds
Stephanie Young | Nightboat Books | 9781937658946 | April 2019
“For Young, the sustained attempt to think beyond the heteronormativity of the nuclear family—to imagine forms of love and care that are configured otherwise—exists alongside a profound longing to return home. This kind of longing is most closely approximated by music, but not simply or straightforwardly, for music is a charged topic as well.”—Public Books
The Piano Student
Lea Singer, trans. Elisabeth Lauffer | New Vessel Press | 9781939931863 | October 2020
“Reads like a dark detective novel of the sort Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt might have written … This is a moving book, filled with tension and tragedy. We see Horowitz, warts and all … a fascinating read.”—ArtsMuseLondon
Artie Conan Doyle and the Scarlet Phantom
Robert J. Harris | Floris Books/Kelpies | 9781782506089 | April 2020
“Each crime will have readers wondering who the culprit could be; twists and turns add to the plot as our heroes look for clues and even get thrown off the case.”—Youth Services Book Review
Planet Wax
Aaron Lupton, Jeff Szpirglas | 1984 Publishing | 9781948221146 | October 2020
“An illustriously designed tome. For audiophiles, vinyl collectors and soundtrack lovers, this is a must-have book for your collection.”—MovieWeb
The Big Tow: An Unlikely Romance
Ann McMan | Bywater Publishing | 9781612941837 | October 2020
“It’s lighthearted fare that relishes in its own ridiculousness, but McMan grounds the more outlandish flights of fancy in honesty and warmth. Readers are sure to be taken in by the quirky charms of this lesbian love story.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Butter Honey Pig Bread
Francesca Ekwuyasi | Arsenal Pulp Press | 9781551528236 | November 2020
“[A] magical debut . . . unfold[s] in lyrical, emotionally affecting parallel narratives. . . . Written in sizzling prose, Ekwuyasi’s assured, inspired debut will impress fans of Akwaeke Emezi.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Deep as Death
Katja Ivar | Bitter Lemon Press | 9781912242306 | June 2020
“Ms. Ivar’s well-constructed book is full of surprises—and offers a greatly satisfying payoff.”—Wall Street Journal
Pleasure Activism
adrienne maree brown | AK Press | 9781849353267 | March 2019
“Rooted in black feminist tradition, brown’s book is a call for social justice to reground itself in pleasure.”—Book Riot, “30 best body-positive books”