This heartwarming and inspirational tale by Parker (author of The Constantine Conspiracy) offers a unique perspective on small-town dynamics, personal growth, and the transformative power of sports. Set in a picturesque mountain town where football is more than just a game, Parker’s compelling narrative centers on three characters whose lives intersect on and off the field: Chelsea Deal, interim head football coach for Georgia’s Rabon Knights; new transplant Palmer Norman, whose music holds “a touch of darkness born by suffering”; and quarterback Ty Rogers, brimming with natural talent—and haunted by a dark, threatening disease.

The novel's strength lies in its well-developed characters and their intertwining storylines. Chelsea, a refreshing protagonist who brings a unique perspective to the male-dominated football world, boasts a journey from big-city lawyer to small-town coach that is both believable and inspiring, and the young players under her wing are equally compelling, each grappling with personal demons that add depth and relatability to their characters. Parker's attention to detail in describing the atmosphere of high school football in a small Southern town is commendable, from the crowded diners to the tension on the sidelines, allowing readers to feel as if they’ve stepped onto the fifty-yard line themselves, dazzled by bright lights and the roar of the crowd.

Though some of Parker’s sports drama feels predictable, he avoids clichés by focusing on the characters' personal growth rather than just their athletic achievements, granting them the space needed to navigate their troubles and accept each other for being flawed, and, above all, united against the heartbreak life pours their way. The pacing slows at times, especially during the more reflective moments, but those sections ultimately contribute to the story’s emotional payoff, and Parker’s skill at capturing the essence of teamwork and the impact mentorship can have—as when Palmer notes that Rabon “[became] my family… [lifted] me up when I fell down”—resonates.

Takeaway: Thoughtful exploration of community, personal transformation, and believing in yourself.

Comparable Titles: H.G. Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights, T.L. Simpson’s Strong Like You.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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In 1979, 14-year-old Suzanne Parry's mother, Alex, was murdered in their modest family shop, Zoe's Records. Since that fateful day, Suzanne's childhood gift of clairvoyance has allowed her to sense her mother's spirit—an eerie presence she calls Mom-not-Mom—warning her about Peggy, her father's old high school flame, who worms her way into their lives and starts playing mom to Suzanne's six-year-old brother, Chris. Fast forwarding to 2004, financial woes compel Suzanne’s family to return to their hometown in Denver, allowing the past a chance to rear its ugly head, when a recent kidnapping event that occurred before their move reopens old wounds that never truly healed.

"For me, Denver meant the past would encroach," Suzanne says. Still, she reluctantly approves with an agenda in mind: uncovering her dad's history may provide answers to her son Austin's undiagnosed cognitive and behavioral lapses. Suzanne's story, both past and present, is an unflinching portrayal of a family gone haywire, when, in the face of tragedy, communication lacks and secrecy builds. Swanson (author of The Glass Forest) cranks up the tension between well-drawn leads—Suzanne’s rebellious teenage daughter, Caitlin, seethes with jealousy over the attention Austin receives, their home becomes a target of a suspicious intruder, and her husband is becoming cozy with his coworker.

Despite the narrative's slow burn and somewhat predictable past, the clever use of alternating timelines keeps readers on their toes as they follow the young Suzanne sneaking to decode Mom-not-Mom's cryptic warnings juxtaposed with the adult Suzanne, who might be bordering on insanity. Alex's on-point words, "what we feared most was what we most needed to confront," overarch the central theme in this satisfying blend of supernatural and coming-of-age mystery—that children require a parent’s unequivocal attention, for childhood shapes the kind of person we eventually become.

Takeaway: Grieving, clairvoyant teen unravels the mystery of her mother’s murder.

Comparable Titles: Rene Denfeld’s The Child Finder, Nova Ren Suma's Imaginary Girls.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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Penned with grace, power, and insight into the power and nature of both faith and discipline over the body, this compact memoir of recovery and mentorship packs a serious punch. At its heart is the inspiring figure of Bob Gorinski, the physical therapist whom Allen meets after an ACL tear upends Allen’s college football career. At the time, Allen, a sophomore, was a promising Christian athlete who felt out of step with hard-partying students —he recounts the “the usual awkwardness of reading my Bible while [his roommate] played video games”—and some elements of the college’s curriculum. Recognizing a kindred spirit, Gorinski sprung a surprising invitation on Allen: “Why don’t you come to the house, and I’ll show you some exercises?”

At Gorinski’s house on Bonny Lane, Allen soon found himself challenged to push himself and grow stronger through simple but innovative workouts, including obstacle courses, jumping and agility exercises, weightlifting, and more, all without what Gorinski would call “fancy gym equipment.” This proved fruitful not just for recovery, though Allen faced setbacks and fresh injuries that eventually ended his dreams of rejoining the team. Gorinski also guided Allen and other friends and proteges in workouts of mind and heart, through readings and spirited discussions. Gorinski’s faith—captured in conversations and excerpts from Gorinski’s writing—proved as nourishing as his PT, teaching Allen that faith’s essence “isn’t the absence of uncertainty—uncertainty is necessary—but rather just the right amount of confidence to act in spite of it.”

Allen’s briskly told account is inviting and moving, written with an open-heartedness and a commitment to caring for the body that will inspire young people. (Even the roommates who leave dirty underpants in his bed are treated, ultimately, with a touching lack of judgment.) The story’s end will stir tears, but Allen demonstrates, through his own mentorship and storytelling, that the wisdom and lessons of those who shape us have power as long as we keep them alive.

Takeaway: Rousing story of mentorship and a Christian athlete’s physical and spiritual recovery.

Comparable Titles: Blake Sebring’s Brave at Heart, Keith E. Webb’s The Coach Model for Christian Leaders.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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Day debuts with a provocative and timely novel delving into the tangle of political polarization, immigration, and personal transformation in contemporary America. When disgruntled conservative Jack O’Malley—injured after a fall from his roof while cleaning gutters—needs a cleaning service to get his house in shape to sell, he hires 16-year-old Sofia Rivera and her mother, undocumented immigrants from El Salvador, kickstarting an uneasy alliance that challenges preconceptions and explores the potential for understanding across deep societal divides. Sofia’s teenage defiance incites Jack’s military compulsion for law and order, propelling the two into an entertaining give and take that leaves them both deeplyreflective.

“Somehow, this train wreck of a girl has blown past the perimeter and reached command and control. She has nailed him in the worst way. She has made him see something of himself in her” Day writes of Sofia’s unique talent to crawl under Jack’s skin and leave him feeling vulnerable. Though the premise of an unlikely duo coming together to bridge ideological gaps is not new, Day's execution feels fresh and relevant to current societal tensions, and he avoids easy resolutions, opting instead for a more realistic and nuanced exploration of how people can change when their worldviews are challenged.

Some readers may find the initial characterizations of Jack and Sofia stereotypical, but the narrative rewards patience, as the characters undergo a profound transformation while gaining depth and complexity. Readers will be captivated as Jack’s exterior softens and he begins to stand up for Sofia and her mother, just as much as they will be when Sofia’s interactions with Jack prompt her to reflect on her own life choices, including her excitable boyfriend, Memo—who loves bombs, overpromises, and drips emotions at every second—and her desire to return to El Salvador. The book concludes with a tender picture of reconciliation—and rebirth.

Takeaway: An unlikely friendship is the catalyst for personal transformation.

Comparable Titles: Jodi Picoult, Celeste Ng.

Production grades
Cover: B-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: B
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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“As Christians, we must bring wisdom, not just science, to the bedside,” Hudson writes in this impassioned and practical debut that examines the gulf between expectations and in-the-field reality by medical professionals performing missionary work. As the title suggests, Healthcare and the Mission of God calls for clear alignment between, as Hudson puts it, saving bodies and saving souls. With clear-eyed candor, Hudson, an internist and epidemiologist, addresses the frustration, disappointment, and burnout he experienced in his first mission, in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s, where he and his team faced outbreaks, malnutrition, and more. He felt then that his efforts were too little, the resources too scant, the churches too disinclined to invest in nutrition, that inevitably led him to work harder and harder—and to lose his clarity of purpose.

After three decades as a medical missionary, however, he now sees that seeds he helped plant have born fruit, with the “physical and spiritual needs of the district” being met “through hundreds of churches” nurtured by those early efforts. Hudson now sees his younger self’s feelings of defeat as rooted in a misunderstanding of the mission of the mission: it’s through disciples and churches, he writes, that God changes the world. Hudson’s compact book, targeted at medical missionaries, offers compelling accounts from others who have dedicated themselves to cross-culture missions, moving anecdotes from his own experiences, and a host of deftly incorporated insights from Christian thinkers and writers.

Especially illuminating are Hudson’s explorations of the history of Christian health care and missions, dating back to Rome, and a careful delineation of how, in contemporary times, medical missions differ from healthcare missions. The cases he makes for why today’s healthcare ministries should collaborate with churches—and why “treating the whole person” body and soul is “designed to transform communities by God’s grace and for His glory”—will offer comfort and clarity to his audience.

Takeaway: A Christian doctor’s impassioned call for treating body and soul in missionary work.

Comparable Titles: Jason Baareman’s Rehab the World, Bruce Steffes’s Medical Missions: Get Ready, Get Set, Go!.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Healthcare and the Mission of God

“There is something good about each day,” Cochran declares in the opening pages of this rousing celebration of a son gone too soon—and of all that Christian, a “radiant spirit” with a “deep appreciation for the beauty of diverse spiritual perspectives,” managed to teach his parents in his 23 years on this Earth. After receiving a fatal diagnosis with a rare and aggressive bile duct cancer in 2020, Christian displayed “a superpower,” sensing and relieving his father’s “pain and fear,” continuing to be joyful and empathetic, and, as Cochran writes, looking “beyond the surface” of days of treatment and medical bureaucracy to “[embrace] the grandeur of existence.” Christian “never stopped living his life,” Cochran notes, with warmth and a touch of awe, describing how after the diagnosis the young man applied to grad school in international studies, started a podcast, continued making music, and forged a touching friendship with another recent college graduate enduring cholangiocarcinoma, becoming a “light” in her journey.

What’s Good About Today? shares similarities with other stories of medical tragedies and traumatic loss, including touching journal entries from family and loved ones, accounts of searching for meaning (“I would often ask ‘Why? Why Christian?’”) and navigating complex medical systems, and touching examples of community support. Cochran and his collaborators, though, emphasize something surprising in this story of loss: what they gained from Christian’s compassion, generosity, and commitment to living life with a “different way of keeping time.”

Readers see what Cochran calls Christian’s challenge, to the rest of us, “to reconsider our relationship with time” and measure it in the love we spread in anecdotes and eulogies but also touching excerpts from Christian’s own writing, especially a powerful speech in which he calls the gulf between the “experimental and expensive” care available to him and that others receive around the world “a moral failing and, in a loose sense, a crime against humanity.” Page after page, Christian’s insight, ethics, open-mindedness shine through, stir tears, and inspire.

Takeaway: Celebration of the life and spirit of a young man who showed how to live

Comparable Titles: Alexandra Fuller’s Fi, Catherine Mayer and Anne Meyer Bird’s Good Grief.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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In this meticulously researched fiction debut, Cree whisks readers away to the time of the infamous 1892 Borden murders. Accused of hacking to death her father, Andrew, and her stepmother, Abby, in their Fall River, MA home, Lizzie Borden—later acquitted by a jury during her trial—is seen here through the eyes of an accomplished historian, who draws from several historical sources, including police notes, legal journals, and court transcripts, to craft a compelling story examining the facets and events that led up to “one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in American history.”

Cree is a skilled storyteller, and readers will be spellbound as the tale races to sleuth the answers to this violent, devastating crime. Tantalizing clues and powerful courtroom scenes paint vivid details and foment assumptions, and backstory unveiled near the story’s end provides added depth, offering up Cree’s reasoning as to who the true killer was. The imaginative step-by-step recounting of the actual attacks is gruesome, but Cree painstakingly documents the murders with the help of multiple historical references, sparing no attention to the most minute particulars—including Lizzie’s alleged purchase of prussic acid (now known as cyanide) and the Borden household’s floorplans, reflecting on the role that such factors may have played in the crime. To avoid spoilers, Cree cautions readers not to read the historical afterward until finishing the story.

Cree transports readers beyond the central murders, masterfully exposing the cloud that Lizzie—and her fellow spinster sister Emma—experienced after the acquittal, noting the snubs and dark questions that chased Lizzie until the day she died. Even Lizzie’s name change, to Lizbeth Borden, failed to tamp down the rampant speculation, and Cree invites readers to speculate as well—at least until the tale’s final scene. True crime buffs will eagerly devour this impeccably delivered mystery.

Takeaway: Masterfully crafted tale of one of history’s greatest unsolved crimes.

Comparable Titles: Erika Mailman’s The Murderer’s Maid, Cara Robertson’s The Trial of Lizzie Borden.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Playful orca Yuki learns a valuable lesson on following his mama’s advice in this striking picture book. When Yuki’s mama warns him not to swim close to shore in their Iceland home, Yuki brushes off her advice and returns to his deep-sea antics, diving and cavorting with a cascade of crustacean friends clinging to his back. But when he stumbles onto a ship near the shore, Yuki can’t help but be curious—and swims far closer than he should, netting him a quick capture by humans who force him into a performance show in Mexico.

Film director Bluth, the filmmaker and animator responsible for classics like An American Tail and The Secret of Nimh, doesn’t disappoint in this children’s book debut. The story teems with colorful, bubbly characters who immediately plunge into readers’ hearts, center of which is Yuki, of course, but his underwater pals steal several scenes as well, particularly their open-mouthed despair when Yuki disappears at the hands of humans, a moment that Bluth crafts with stunning emotion: “‘Yuki!’ they whisper. ‘Yuki’, they shout, till their tiny crustaceous voices give out.” That’s just one of several evocative scenes, and young readers will be swept into this tale of friendship and family as they learn, alongside Yuki, that some choices come with devastating consequences—but, in the end, love truly saves the day.

Bluth’s bright, splashy illustrations are the crowning jewel, showcasing Yuki in the best—and worst—moments of his life, always with breathtaking emotion. Color schemes shift from playful to dismal as Yuki works through his forced captivity (and Hollywood takes a swipe at making him the most famous whale ever), but the story’s happy ending is an absolute wonder to behold, rich with the effervescent joy of reunited friends and family. Bluth credits Yuki’s child fans for his happily ever after in an empowering windup that will thrill young readers.

Takeaway: Young orca learns the value of friends and family in this stunning underwater tale.

Comparable Titles: Andrea Zuill’s Gustav Is Missing!, Dan Yaccarino’s Morris Mole.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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The ancient, the gorgeous, and the touchingly quotidian all cohere in this breezily gorgeous tour of photographer Giglio’s tour of Italy, a nation he toasts in a preface not just as “the land of my ancestors” but as that rare place where “everyone could pronounce my name.” That blended sense of history and the everyday powers Walk With Me, as Giglio and his camera visit Italian cities, taking in the splendors—the cliffs of the Amalfi coast astonishing here, even if you’ve seen them in person—and the street life. This he captures with an eye for telling detail, like the hands of the nun in Naples who rushes toward him, urging him to pray for the poor, or the grizzled stub of cigar poking from a tangle of beard on the face of man experiencing homelessness.

That’s not to suggest that Walk With Me emphasizes the darkest corners of Italian life. Giglio’s eyes are clear, but he’s often enchanted, finding beauty in umbrellas in rainy streets, in couples embracing and kissing, and in the rhythms and rituals of life offline, like a man reading the newspaper in the morning in an outdoor café or the several shots of adults gathered together outdoors, relishing each other’s company. Giglio’s captions tend to be playful, like many of his photos, but through them, with a minimum of fuss, he makes a case for the nourishing qualities of such connections.

Amid the courtyards, cathedrals, and hardworking pasta-makers, Giglio’s tour offers welcome surprises, captured on the fly but with striking, resonant compositions: a janitor, eyes glazed, sweeping a train station on a tractor-sized machine; a balloon peddler texting on his phone while his crop of unicorns and other inflated characters bob above. The preserved skeletons of ancient victims of Vesuvius offer a jolt among so many touching scenes of life, but the contrast proves illuminating: like Giglio’s other subjects, they were people, in their time, holding to each other.

Takeaway: Gorgeous tour of contemporary Italy, in photos emphasizing everyday splendor.

Comparable Titles: Harvey Stein’s Movimento, Agostino Priarolo’s People’s Republic of Venice!

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Walk With Me

Abrahmson, a pseudonym for Mark Binder, shines in this winning story of strength and determination, the third in his Village Life series. In Chelm, Poland, after the birth of her twins Rachel and Yakov, Sarah Cohen starts to see cracks appear in her marriage. Her husband Benjamin dotes on Yakov, while seeming to care less about Rachel, but Sarah has other things on her mind, too—a group of fellow Jewish women tap her after the twins’ birth to join their secret Council of Wise Women, women who are the movers and shakers in Chelm. Sarah, aware of the rough patch she’s going through, agrees, kickstarting a string of unlikely events in her life.

The story starts with Sarah, but it quickly becomes apparent that Rachel is a prodigy, and Abrahmson often examines the unique cultural aspects of the women in Chelm through Rachel’s experiences. At seven, she teaches herself Hebrew, Yiddish, English, and German, all while gently caring for the ailing widow Oma Levitsky, whose magical chicken soup is said to cure all ills. Those snapshots give the story a folksy feel and a delicate humor that entertains, as when Oma’s soup cures a sick group in a nearby town, sparking a famine of sorts and forcing Chelm residents to eat endless cabbage, with predictably gassy results.

Abrahmson (The Village Feasts) maintains that playful touch throughout, painting characters who leap off the page. Chelm’s wise women are delightful and perceptive, their conversations a joy to read, whether they’re toiling over the latest relationship problems or debating whether girls in the village should be formally educated (“We women [are] able to cherish our subtle knowledge passed through words and whispers and gentle guidance” one woman observes). Abrahmson douses the story with welcome tension at times, and his sparkling prose and enviable world-building make this a beautiful testament to tradition and values.

Takeaway: Charming testament to Jewish traditions and the power of women.

Comparable Titles: Sydney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family series, Rachel Kadish’s The Weight of Ink.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: NA
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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In Horn’s rollicking, compulsively readable take on the Cinderella story, a young girl named Sylvia Locke learns to appreciate what she has. Living at her grandparents’ farm after her adventurer parents go missing, Sylvia is known throughout Fairytale Land as something of a “bad girl.” She is routinely rude to her grandparents and refuses to work on her manners, so she is sent to live with her “goody-goody” Aunt Marjorie and twin cousins in the hilariously (to kids) named suburb of Buttzville. While she is there, the family receives an invitation to the ball where Prince Quinn of Rainbow City will choose his princess.

Because Sylvia’s aunt doesn’t want her to attend, she decides she must go, and she enlists the help of self-proclaimed “evil fairy godmother” Pamela to get her there. But Pamela’s magic doesn’t always work quite right, so Sylvia ends up wearing a white tracksuit and driving a 1996 “Merkury Sable” to the party. Her unusual attire attracts the attention of the prince, who ends up being just as sarcastic as Sylvia. When Sylvia abruptly flees the party before her car and clothes transform to a bike and potato sack at midnight, Quinn stops at nothing to find her. She even gets her happy ending —though likely not the one readers will expect.

Admittedly, Sylvia is not the most admirable character—she is rude and selfish, and she doesn’t have any qualms about lying or stealing to get what she wants. However, her behavior is clearly a reflection of her inner world—she has, after all, been abandoned by her parents, and she struggles to make friends because of harmful rumors surrounding her family. This offers kids a compelling example of empathy for others and a reminder that, in the real world as well as Fairytale Land, things are frequently more complicated than they appear.

Takeaway: Rollicking take on the Cinderella story, with a young girl learning to appreciate what she has.

Comparable Titles: James Riley’s Half Upon a Time; Lisa Brasweell’s Twisted Tales series.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A-
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

Click here for more about Sylvia Locke's Cinderella and the Evil Fairy Godmother (Tairy Fails #2)

Set a century from now, Emmett’s bold, brainy, and provocative fiction debut explores urgent issues of truth, mis- and disinformation, and what it means to be human, all from the perspective of a winged, part-cyborg “Reverse Journalist” (or RJ) in the employment of the Mother Country, China. (One great pleasure of the novel: the geopolitics of the 2100s.) As an RJ, or “journalist of future prospects,” young Naomi—an Ameriguan from Michigania born with a hole in her heart and a reputed gift for prescience—is augmented and trained by the Chinese and Ameriguan Singing Directorate to take in and evaluate information from countless sources, in every language, plus “Aeolian vibes” and “both wisdom and warning from unidentified sources in Nature and the Divine.” Drawing from their “Logoharps,” RJs report “the truth of probable outcomes, scripting events to glorify and sustain the health of the Party and its constituents.”

Naively, Naomi seeks out this role out of what she describes as a desire to “be embraced in a Harmonious Society and warm bosom, to “help co-create what’s to come,” and to “create a positive outlook.” In idea-dense chapters that will thrill readers fascinated by the ethics of mass-media and journalism, Emmett charts Naomi’s youth, including her fractious marriage with a man who decamps for medical school in Beijing, and then her language training, her augmentations, and her early successes as an RJ, where she turns every problem her double-sized brain faces into a “a 22-sided origami resembling a crayfish.”

A plot eventually kicks in, involving a coverup, a Human Recycling program, orders to engineer the downfall of an “algorithmic imposter,” and a surprise from Naomi’s past. All of this is gratifyingly twisty, with conflicts extrapolated from our present with rare conceptual rigor, but the richness of imagination and moral inquiry take priority over narrative momentum. Still, readers of thoughtful SF will find revelations on every page. Emmet is a talent to watch.

Takeaway: Smart, startling SF debut exploring next century’s media and disinformation.

Comparable Titles: Malka Older; Seth Dickinson’s Exordia.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about The Logoharp

Harper’s debut delivers a compelling mix of mystery and dark comedy, as Paul, a depressed and self-involved 40 year-old actor just successful enough to have “met famous people,” finds his neighbor—the pompadoured dog-trainer he suspected his wife might be enjoying an affair with—dead in their upscale Brooklyn apartment building. Another discovery that jolts Paul from his lethargy: his wife, Laura, is missing. That makes him a suspect, of course, with a “deranged strangler” on the loose and no one to turn to for help but Alina, who works the building’s front desk when she’s not toiling away “on her chick-lit romance novel.” Fortunately, she’s savvy, eager for some excitement, and willing to help Paul, even if he hasn’t bothered to read her book yet and chides himself for not remembering whether she’s “Dominican or Puerto Rican or half of each or half of one”.

As Paul learns more and more about his apartment and its complex neighbors, he finds himself in a classic whodunnit. Harper’s writing is crisp, witty, and conversational, maintaining a brisk pace even as Paul can’t stop himself from musing about bagels or asking a detective for career advice. Amid the sharp dialogue and vivid descriptions, Paul often addresses readers directly—“Even if my grief was selfish, unfair, unearned, it didn’t matter”—in inner monologues and arguments that are a continual highlight. Despite his flaws, he proves easy to root for, as he pursues the case through lively twists and emotional gut-punches.

The crime is layered and engaging, but not overly complex, and despite the wit the suspense is consistent as Harper deftly blends mystery, satire, and Brooklyn character study, all with impeccable scenecraft. Harper stages surprises, revelations, gags, and bursts of self-discovery with equal aplomb. Even readers steeped in the genre will find the ending a dazzling surprise with real emotional resonance—and they’ll be heartened by the promise of a sequel.

Takeaway: Witty mystery expertly balancing suspense, emotion, and a Brooklyn murder.

Comparable Titles: Anthony Horowitz, Richard Osman

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Additional Attendee

In his fiction debut, Miezejeski crafts an intriguing study of humanity's first contact with extraterrestrials. Inhabitants of the planet Cronin, searching for signs of life outside of their system for the last 3,000 years, first discovered radio waves emanating from Earth in 1945, launching them on an intergalactic mission to observe and record information about this newly discovered planet (a process emboldened by the internet, which allowed them easy access to “over 90 percent of the knowledge gained about Earth”). Now, on the cusp of a “major geological event,” the Cronin society—a species that bears resemblance to humans but is covered in bright feathers—have determined it’s time to make first contact with Earth’s people.

Miezejeski’s world is as factual as it is creative, as he draws parallels between Cronin’s search for intelligent life and Earth’s same quest, albeit with differing results. “It's highly unlikely that any two intelligent life forms have or will make contact with each other during their limited lifespan in terms of the age of the universe,” Neil, a scientist on Earth, declares to an audience of museum donors, during the span of time it takes Cronin commander Gus to contact him through email, offering his planet’s knowledge base to an Earth struggling with conflict, disease, and global warming.

Though he draws from real life initiatives and scientific programs, Miezejeski’s narrative gets bogged down at times with minor grammar errors and the somewhat flat interactions between the Cronin civilization and Earthlings. The bulk of the story revolves around how Cronin contacts Earth, and the concerns that arise on Earth in response, but Miezejeski’s truly alien extraterrestrial world—with days that are 33 hours long, limited seasonal weather variation, and an absence of social exploitation—is immersive. Miezejeski closes with a curveball ending that will delight sci-fi fans.

Takeaway: Thought-provoking story of extraterrestrial life’s first contact with Earth.

Comparable Titles: Arthur C. Clarke, Liu Cixin.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: B

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This moving, challenging novel of a young gay man coming of age in the 1980s pulses with moments of connection and freedom, explored in prose that exults in its own liberation: “Thus time, tortoise and torturous, hale and hare. Rich in paradox, it travels. At a rate of 67,000 miles per hour. It catapults us with a flaming center.” The narrative explores the lives of gay men at the onset of the HIV pandemic in Ojo Caliente, a “neon mountain town” town whose stretch of New Mexico seems intent on “formaldehyding the past.” The narrator, meanwhile, is facing past and present in incandescent sentences, as he makes new friends, explores his sexuality with an array of men—from those not openly "out" to those with women at home—and contemplates relationships he’s left behind, all as he vows “to scramble, leave the state, go for good.”

The flaming center here is Mengay's blazing style, a stream-of-consciousness gush studded with killer details—“the two of us press flesh to flesh, causing me to frot the horn in rhythmic beats, the sound intensifying on this barren spit below I-70”—wells of deep feeling, and reams of sharp-elbowed, unpunctuated dialogue that, in the briskest passages, offers a reprieve from the prevailing density. Mengay (author of The Lede to our Undoing) demonstrates a mastery of rowdy voices, in chatter and letters, sometimes offering scenes in script form.

But Ojo’s power comes from Mengay’s attention to the senses in scenes of home building, road tripping, boisterous get-togethers, earthy trysts (“Lips and beard abrade my skin, peel me like a tangerine”), and taking the dancefloor at a gay bar that’s like a “studded–and-buckled Araby of the west.” Especially moving is Mengay’s stripping away at the cast’s protective layers, revealing men who are wild and carefree with the narrator yet not free to be so in their everyday lives. Readers who relish uncompromising fiction of substance and ambition will find this wild, wise, and nourishing.

Takeaway: Incandescently written novel of growing up queer in 1980s New Mexico.

Comparable Titles: Ali Smith, Alan Hollinghurst.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

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Bolger’s debut immerses readers in the raw essence of urban life as seen through the lens of a vulnerable protagonist. The narrative skillfully navigates newly released convict Francis Doonan's journey from innocence to experience, capturing the complexities of adolescence with poignant clarity through the viewpoint of a man who has spent almost half of his life incarcerated. Doonan, now 32 after being imprisoned at age 18, spends his “first day of freedom” reminiscing about people from his past—and the shocking changes the world’s undergone since he was put away—while reflecting on his choices, in an unflinching portrayal of familial discord, substance abuse, and loneliness, all set against a vividly rendered New York City backdrop.

Bolger's prose is frank and evocative, pulling readers into Doonan's world with detail and dialogue that pulse with authenticity and richly drawn characters steeped in their place and era. Through Doonan's eyes, we witness his personal growth and the harsh realities that shape his worldview, in a world punctuated by brutal fights, drug running, and tender dreams amidst harrowing cruelty. Doonan, vigorously opposed to joining the gangs that run the streets of Hell’s Kitchen during his adolescence, turns down their offers while surrendering to his inner rage, reflecting during a drug-fueled bender, “Howie and I were sitting together in a far-off land where we could be or do anything we wanted. but were our pain and rage too much to allow us?”

More than anything, this is a compelling exploration of youth, resilience, and the pursuit of identity. Bolger's ability to blend poignant moments with gritty realism ensures the book’s emotional impact, and Doonan’s journey from flashbacks to freedom will hook readers from the onslaught—and leave them contemplative as he muses that learning to live again is “just another stoop to conquer.”

Takeaway: Unflinchingly honest portrayal of adolescence in urban America.

Comparable Titles: Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: B

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