Mikolaj Grynberg, trans. from the Polish by Sean Gasper Bye. New Press, $19.99 (176p) ISBN 978-1-6209-7880-1
Grynberg expands on a short story from his collection, I’d Like to Say Sorry, but There’s No One to Say Sorry To, for this deeply humane portrait of a Polish Jewish family in the decades after WWII. In episodic chapters, Grynberg pieces together the stories of his vulnerable and quick-witte... Continue reading »
Jonathan Ames. Mulholland, $27 (240p) ISBN 978-0-316-57612-3
Idiosyncratic PI Happy Doll returns for another violent, darkly funny adventure in Ames’s outstanding sequel to The Wheel Doll. After killing members of the Jalisco cartel and fleeing Mexico with $60,000 and a gunshot wound, Doll finds a sketchy doctor to fix him up—and give him an entirely... Continue reading »
Dan Hanks. Angry Robot, $18.99 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-915202-94-9
Cleverly blending science fiction, fantasy, and horror, Hanks (Swashbucklers) uses a video game format to probe the nature of humanity in all its glory and gore. The story kicks off when a mysterious and foreboding tower suddenly materializes in the air over central England, and a diverse g... Continue reading »
Lorraine Heath. Avon, $9.99 mass market (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-338445-3
Heath’s riveting and deeply sensual fifth Scandalous Gentleman of St. James romance (after Gentlemen Prefer Heiresses) takes the series to new heights. After a railway accident in Victorian England results in a brain injury, Viscount Langdon secludes himself at his family’s remote island re... Continue reading »
Matt Madden. Uncivilized, $29.99 trade paper (248p) ISBN 978-1-941250-65-5
Manic, funny, and complex, this staggeringly inventive collection from Madden (Ex Libris) detonates any remaining assumptions readers might hold for the traditional comics medium. Madden employs his knowledge of comics technique across a gallery of formal experiments that range from sagas (... Continue reading »
Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada. Univ. of Calif., $34.95 (816p) ISBN 978-0-520-30354-6
Challenging the notion of “American” poetry by including the entire Americas from ancient pre-Columbian cultures to the present, this expansive anthology is divided into thematic “galleries” and “maps,” guiding readers through a maze of poetic innovations and traditions. The first gallery juxtaposes... Continue reading »
Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee. Revell, $26.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-8007-4275-1
In this tour de force from Brotherton (A Bright and Blinding Sun) and Lee (A Single Light), four friends’ lives change irrevocably when America becomes embroiled in WWII. In 1930s Mobile, Ala., preacher’s son Jimmy Propfield shares an idyllic upbringing with childhood sweetheart Cl... Continue reading »
Diana Darke. Hurst, $29.99 (480p) ISBN 978-1-80526-097-4
Historian Darke (The Ottomans) offers a meticulous and piercing reassessment of the origins of the “Romanesque” style in medieval architecture. The Romanesque—long meant to evoke the revival of classical Roman traditions that brought an end to the Dark Ages and heralded the coming of the Re... Continue reading »
Michael Mina. Voracious, $40 (288p) ISBN 978-0-316-42978-8
Restaurateur Mina (Michael Mina: The Cookbook) presents an exciting celebration of his Egyptian heritage. Traditional dishes—including ta’ameya (fried fava bean patties), ma’amoul (date-filled cookies), and koshari (lentils, chickpeas, pasta, and rice served together in a tomato sauce with ... Continue reading »
Catherine Nixey. Mariner, $32.50 (384p) ISBN 978-0-358-65291-5
In the early days of Christianity, there were many different versions of Christ, according to this scintillating history from journalist Nixey (The Darkening Age). Studying texts that emerged in the centuries after Jesus’s death, Nixey dissects ancient Greco-Roman writings that depict Chris... Continue reading »
Barbara Dee. Aladdin, $17.99 (288p) ISBN 978-1-665917-67-4
Twelve-year-old, white-cued Freya struggles to relate to her peers, who are put off by her uninhibited enthusiasm. Following a humiliating defeat in the race for class president, Freya vows to keep her views to herself. Then, while researching for a school project, she learns of the sexist writi... Continue reading »