In this offbeat picture book warning against the dangers of artificial intelligence, imaginative Charlie follows his algorithm, AL, on a surreal journey to discover the inner workings of the internet. AL makes big promises in an effort to ensnare Charlie—he vows to make him a star, be his best friend, and teach him all he needs to know—but soon Charlie learns that AL’s gifts come with a hefty cost. To reach the fame and fortune of his dreams, Charlie will need to stop thinking for himself while also disconnecting from others—a price he’s not sure he is willing to pay.

After blindly following AL through his “sifted” and “filtered” reality, in the process learning how to pump out copycat creations that will attract the most followers, Charlie eventually takes a stand against AL and insists on marching to the beat of his own drum. “I’ll-go-rhythm instead,” he declares, opting to “explore real places” and offering readers a last-minute lesson about the origins of happiness: “It comes from helping others and having real relationships.” Adult readers will find the book’s championing of imagination and individuality valuable, though the moral about “real” relationships might land with more power if Charlie developed one within the story itself.

Illustrator Kayla Stark employs subdued hues and delicate lines to illuminate the story, and her geometric drawings fit the quirky theme. Especially effective: a haunting vision of a chain of identical children in violet coats, holding each others’ hands and bright red hearts, saying “We’re all alike. That’s what we do.” Webb’s rhyming is occasionally forced, but young readers will enjoy some of the more clever and tongue-twisting moments. The conceit of collecting those hearts as a measure of “how much you’re liked,” and a hint about online news being filtered to promote conformity, are heavy topics for the age group, but most readers will find the theme—and the warning—relevant and resonant.

Takeaway: A young boy learns that creativity beats out conformity in this cautionary tale against online living.

Great for fans of: Matteo Loglio’s Many Intelligences, Michael Rex’s Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots.

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

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This satiric dystopia from the pseudonymous Fabler imagines a near future in which a World Government has fully committed to identity politics and the “deplatform”ing of people like mathematics professor Jordan McPhee. “Apolitical and ambitious only for a life of moderate academic achievement,” McPhee was driven to his breaking point by a culture ruled by “Agenda 2060,” U.N. articles calling for an end to discrimination, hate speech, and carbon emissions, in addition to establishing plans for equal education, living standards, and other liberal causes. As students in this brave new world scream slogans like “White men’s math is dead men’s oppression!” McPhee, “stripped of any sense of value or identity,” eventually breaks, posting a statement decrying “Fevered, unbalanced seekers of nonexistent oppression.”

In short, he’s canceled, a “non-person” ousted from the academy and getting by in a tech job while airing his grievances through the voice of a political commentator, Artie Sharp, who reveals inconvenient truths about Agenda 2060’s “One World, One People, and One Government”—and turns out to be an A.I. algorithm of McPhee’s own invention. The plot, unsurprisingly, finds the society that canceled McPhee later desperately needing him, as he’s secretly enlisted to solve the math problem that threatens this purported utopia: how to balance the budget when the government is committed to pay benefits to minority populations that, thanks to shifting definitions, now constitute the vast majority of the population?

The prose and many of the ideas are uncommonly sharp for a cancel-culture satire, and the story’s incorporation of A.I., space travel, higher mathematics, and the challenges of governance are engaging, more so than the more familiar story of McPhee’s cancellation, a fantasy that itself can be read as an example of seeking “nonexistent oppression.” But that’s what any proudly divisive satire faces: Agenda 2060 is provocative and often funny, though readers not predisposed to its ideological conclusions won’t find reason to read long enough to discover that.

Takeaway: This sharply written satire of a future in which “cancel culture” rules might not change minds but offers some real laughs.

Great for fans of: Kinglsey Amis, Christopher Buckley.

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

Click here for more about AGENDA 2060: The Future as It Happens

This outraged polemic from Hanna (The Grim Reaper) argues that Israel’s “perversely persistent persecution of the indigenous Palestinian population” makes the nation an “‘apartheid regime’ guilty of crimes against humanity.” Further, he alleges that Judaism itself has been “hijacked” by Zionists who have made criticism of Israel tantamount to anti-Semitism and claim “that only a state controlled by, and exclusive to Jews can protect them against anti-Semitism and the threat of another Holocaust.” Zionists, he says, have prevented Jews from making common cause with other groups facing or that have survived genocide, especially the Palestinians, victims of “barbaric ethnic cleansing.”

“Preventing another genocide of the Jewish people, however, can hardly be either achieved, or morally justified, by having Jewish people exterminate another ethnic group,” he writes, with the high heat and opprobrium that pulses through the book. That scalding tone, while certain to alienate readers not onboard with his argument, doesn’t cover up a lack of rigor. To make his case, Hanna surveys not just 20th century and contemporary history, though he digs deep there, charting the horrific phenomena of genocide (“a fatal combination of social Darwinism … racist genetic theory, and fervent nationalism”) and anti-Semitism as well as considerations of Israel’s establishment, conflicts, and expansion. The Broken Promise Of A Promised Land also reaches back further, persuasively tracing a millennium-spanning history of inter-faith conflicts and oppression—and the development of Zionism itself.

With principled empathy for the oppressed, Hanna challenges religious dogma of all types, likens the idea of being “chosen” by God to the idea of a “master race,” and links Israeli lobbying to the United States’ Middle Eastern wars. He demonstrates from the first sentence his disinterest in inviting skeptical readers or believers into his thinking (it begins “If some Jewish people wish to believe they were chosen by a non-existent god …”), instead favoring rhetoric that will stiffen the spines of those already likely to agree.

Takeaway: A fiery denunciation of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, written with outrage and historical reach.

Great for fans of: Shlomo Sand’s The Invention of the Jewish People, Ilan Pappe’s Ten Myths About Israel.

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

Click here for more about The Broken Promise Of A Promised Land

Threading medieval and contemporary stories together, this epic archaeological adventure from Barron (Whistler's Bones) opens in 1554, when Prince Sebastian is born to the recently widowed queen of Portugal. The court astrologer gives his mother a haunting pronouncement upon the prince’s birth: Sebastian will be a world-changing king, remembered through the ages, but he would also die violently—and young. In the modern day, Australian archaeologists Francis da Costa and Lauren Hart search the eastern coast of Kimberly for remains of the ships that first brought Europeans to Australia. Their hard work pays off when they find a sixteenth-century Portuguese barca. To assist with their discoveries, they enlist the Lisbon-based scholar Dr. Nicolá Massane, whose research has uncovered a sect of contemporary Sebastianists convinced that Dom Sebastian will return to save Portugal in its hour of need.

Barron’s century-spanning epic thrill readers who love history, archaeology, and a mystical twist: The sect has dwindled over the centuries, but the traumatic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have revitalized its hope in a savior who will solve the problems plaguing the modern world. His prose and storytelling shine as he carefully balances two narrative modes that are widely different in content and form. The majority of the book’s first half follows the modern story of da Costa, Hart, and Massane, all fully-rounded and compelling characters. Romance fans are sure to enjoy the sparks that fly between da Costa and Massane, while history lovers will appreciate how Barron delivers well-researched facts with flair.

Barron fluidly shifts perspectives to an account of Dom Sebastian’s reign, told in the voice of a friend and confessor, vividly bringing the past to life. The two plots converge in one final discovery that satisfyingly ties up loose ends. The Last Days of Dom Sebastian combines the best elements of The Count of Monte Cristo with The Da Vinci Code, resulting in an adventure sure to grip readers from start to finish.

Takeaway: Filled with both romance and history, this archaeological adventure twining past and present is a must-read for fans of thoughtful epic thrillers.

Great for fans of: Will Adams’s The Alexander Cipher , Elizabeth Kostova’s The Shadow Land, Sean Pidgeon’s Finding Camlann.

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

Click here for more about The Last Days of Dom Sebastian

Aly’s fiction debut focuses on the impact of a decision one judge made 17 years before—and the challenge of achieving justice. Ernst “Cal” White-Callaway, a judge in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, complied with his mother’s wishes almost two decades back to continue with his engagement and marry Catherine White instead of Josey, the woman he fell in love with after a short acquaintance. Now trapped in a loveless marriage, Cal conducts an affair with Maggie Latham, a librarian committed to aiding abused young women. Cal and Maggie are members of the Berkshire Book Club, an organization banded together to make decisions outside of the law about how to handle issues of crime in a community rocked by organized crime activities.

In crisp, inviting prose, Aly excels at creating the primary narrative of Cal’s complex life and momentous decisions while highlighting the power of the women around him. Catherine exerts influence over Cal and her standing in the community as an organizer of important charity events while Maggie empowers women who have been wronged by men in their lives. The novel’s introspective view of long-term consequences hints at how a different choice could have significantly altered Cal’s life. If he had decided to marry Josey, he may not have been afforded the social status that led him to a partnership in a law firm and subsequent judgeship.

Tragedy strikes after Cal sentences a young man with a connection to his own past to three years probation for dumpster diving. Meanwhile, Aly’s chilling view of organized crime and its pervasiveness convincingly reveals both the ruthlessness of the players, their methods, and the difficulty of bringing them to justice. Hard choices and consequences loom over this thoughtful, immersive, and fast-paced novel: as the Berkshire Book Club collides with the organized crime cartel, the members of both organizations must make tough decisions to ensure their survival.

Takeaway: A judge faces the consequences of the past and the possibility of justice outside the law in this thoughtful literary thriller.

Great for fans of: Diane Chamberlain’s Big Lies in a Small Town , L.T. Ryan and Brian She’s Drift.

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

Click here for more about CHANGE HAPPENS

A spirited mélange of neo-noir detective storytelling, southern California satire, outraged screed, and vigorous erotica, Jensen’s provocative thriller finds hero/naif Paul (a “vanilla boy of supreme proportions”) plunging into the world of underground sex clubs and rich-dude fantasies on a quest to find and maybe avenge his errant wife, Deliah. Not long after one of the couple’s typical humdrum sexual encounters leaves her (as always) unsatisfied, Deliah leaves Paul, filing for divorce, communicating only through a short note, and apparently vanishing. To track her down, Paul quits his job at a videogame company, buys an RV, and launches into a series of harrowing, sometimes vividly sexual misadventures, revealing both Deliah’s secrets and the worst of humanity.

Crisp, energetic scenes of sex, comedy, and suspense set apart this proudly randy title, which navigates a tricky, shifting tone between liberated erotica and pained disgust at sexual exploitation, especially as Jenson reveals the abuse that men have inflicted on Deliah, Paul, and other characters. Eventually, inspired by that abuse and by Deliah’s own ahead-of-the-game scheming, Paul helps launch a crusade to round up and punish a circle of rapists. The lovemaking, after that by-design disappointing first encounter, tends toward the inventive and lightly comic, especially as Paul discovers new approaches and abandon with professional submissive Alex.

Jensen’s scene craft and voice at times suggests a hip, sharp-elbowed how-we-live-now comedy in the vein of old Vintage Contemporaries paperbacks (a pricey new car is described as the “ultimate mashup of ostentation, viciousness, and absurdity”), but with a twisting mystery/vengeance plot and regular eruptions of explicit content. Much is made of the hero’s inability, before her disappearance, to satisfy Deliah or even to recognize that she’s not satisfied, a tendency he comes to regret. The mix of elements, here, will not be palatable to all audiences, of course, and the world of this fast-paced novel isn’t always convincing, but Jensen writes it with sincerity, wit, and the understanding that being provocative mean more than just including lots of sex.

Takeaway: This snappy, explicit erotic thriller builds to a psychedelic conspiracy to take down predatorial men.

Great for fans of: New Erotica for Feminists: Satirical Fantasies of Love, Lust, and Equal Pay, Chuck Palahniuk’s Beautiful You.

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

Click here for more about PsycheDeliah

In this absorbing family saga, set in the days immediately following the fall of Saigon, Navy personnel in Hawaii and California try to come to terms with the fallout from the war, fractured personal relationships, and an investigation into a sailor's alleged homosexuality. The final entry in Church’s Cooper Quartet, Don’t Tell finds Lieutenant Robin Haas facing the inquiry into Leading Chief Petty Officer Rivitz, and her complex relationships with old and new lovers. Also involved are her cousins, brothers Laury and Byron Cooper, naval officers with their own family issues and entanglements with French Indochinian clans. The large cast of characters, like the U.S. itself at its time, struggles toward a future that makes sense.

In this military milieu, Church—a Vietnam-era Navy veteran herself—does a remarkable job of keeping multiple plotlines running with clarity and power. Especially rich is Laury's fraught marriage with attorney Kate, complicated by his children from another woman. Equally good is the highly charged relationship between Robin and Chief Warrant Officer Dan Cisco. Throughout, Church demonstrates a good eye for the military base setting of the era, especially the winked-at sexism and harassment. The awkwardness of the positions faced by both female personnel and wives comes through again and again. Still, new readers should be aware that to fully appreciate the various developments here it's essential to read the quartet in order.

The most riveting of the many story lines involves Robin and Dan's investigation into the allegedly gay Rivitz, whose situation turns out to be more nuanced than they imagined. As the tale unwinds, Church also does a masterful job of depicting attitudes about homosexuality in a bygone era, including an introduction to "disco." Church spins a lively tale where motives are unclear in a vividly realized hothouse naval environment. The engaging characters and their detailed histories make this a satisfying capstone to a wide-ranging epic.

Takeaway: Fans of family dramas will cheer on the appealing Naval protagonists as they navigate a troubled period of American history.

Great for fans of: Siobhan Fallon, Colleen McCullough.

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

Click here for more about Don't Tell

“Somehow, when a decision is made in favor of the Universe, everything aligns,” Nathan writes in this brief, focused parable about how one woman’s spiritual awakening during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. Born filled with “positivity, independence, strength, laughter, charm and love,” Evelyn, the focus of the first-person narrator who tells the story, achieved early in her adult life what most might consider success: a good career and marriage to a man with whom she made something of a “golden couple.” But her work-life balance was off, the marriage dissolved, and Evelyn soon understood that it was time to focus on herself—that “Everyday we endure life as pre-programmed robots living by society’s definition of the ‘norm.’”

A robot no more, Evelyn launches herself into a self-taught transformation, declaring “Once you have fallen this low, the only way is up” and taking on CrossFit, meditation, spiritual seeking, the study of myriad beliefs and traditions, from tarot to numerology, and ultimately the trust in a Higher Self. “Magic happens when we relinquish the ego and accept that the world is nothing short of an illusion,” Nathan writes, and such magic soon suffuses Evelyn’s life, as wildlife, coincidences, and various “synchronicities” become so abundant around her that friends begin to notice–and to undertake their own spiritual journeys, too.

Nathan’s approach in this novella is to lead by example. The narrator tells readers about witnessing Evelyn’s transformation from the outside, updating us with telling details or striking insights. The effect is similar to a friend recounting a mutual acquaintance’s mindfulness and wellness journey—it’s easy to feel inspired by the prospect that you could do it, too, though there’s no clear, established set of steps to take. The result is a report of someone who has changed her life and discovered that we learn best from each other’s examples—and an invitation to learn from hers.

Takeaway: An account of a woman’s transformational journey—and an invitation to undertake one, too.

Great for fans of: Bev Janisch’s Awakening a Woman’s Soul, Sue Patton Thoele’s The Mindful Woman.

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

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Gordon and Bluestein, former CEOs of multiple international organizations, pair expert know-how with streetwise experience in this indispensable guide for couples–or singles–looking for success in dual-career roles. Married for more than 40 years, the duo share tips they have learned and applied in their own lives–covering all the necessary bases, from money management to travel hints, to help readers thrive in dual-career tracks. Gordon and Bluestein heavily emphasize breaking free from traditional gender stereotypes as well as balancing personal intimacy and professional achievement, but their commonsense approach never loses sight of the complexity that comes with climbing the corporate ladder while maintaining a healthy family life at the same time.

Structured as a memoir and playbook, Doubling Down relies on personal anecdotes and established research, with the authors summarizing each section with easily digestible “lessons”– such as proven ways to gain international experience in the business world without sacrificing family time, a warning to couples against putting one career “on the back burner” in support of another, and a persuasive explanation of the importance of forming separate professions and identities. The meticulous advice on starting a family in the midst of a prosperous career may feel beyond the reach of some readers who lack the resources available to the authors, but their view that “[h]aving a family makes you better at work” is refreshing.

That thinking and some of Gordon and Bluestein’s other counsel is invitingly unconventional in a corporate environment, such as their “48-hour” rule that calls for spending at least 48 hours at home on weekends before heading out on another business trip. Such creative solutions will be welcome to readers eager to prosper in business without sacrificing their home lives. Personal photographs lend intimacy to the writing, and the guide’s advice continues right into the retirement years (which the authors term as a “rewiring”). Methodical but personal, this unorthodox guide dares to establish new approaches to having it all.

Takeaway: Invaluable guidance for readers seeking concurrent success in career and family life.

Great for fans of: Jennifer Petriglieri’s Couples That Work, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans’s Designing Your Life, Matthew Kelly’s Off Balance.

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

Click here for more about Doubling Down

Rotbart tells the arresting story of the Wall Street Journal on September 11th, 2001: the trauma the staff faced and the professionalism and courage that enabled them to persevere and put out a newspaper for September 12th. He profiles numerous brave journalists, with a focus on what it took and how it felt to conduct the research and reporting to put their stories together before, during, and after the attacks on the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan–right across the street from the Journal’s offices. Many New York City editors and journalists were able to reconvene at a South Brunswick, New Jersey, office and still produce an edition that would later win a Pulitzer Prize.

Rotbart’s admiration for the journalists is amply justified by their commitment to telling the stories of those who died in the attack as well as the survivors, all under intense deadline pressure as (to borrow the language of a September 12 headline) the “nation stands in disbelief and horror.” The logistical challenges of newspaper production, all complicated by the attacks, get covered briefly but ably, from difficulties communicating and with layout software to problems physically distributing the paper with Manhattan bridges shut down. Excerpts from e-mails and articles and editorials drafted before the dust had settled contribute to the emotional intensity, as do photographs of the team.

Written with the crisp precision and eye for detail of the best newspaper reporting, September Twelfth powerfully conveys the terror and betrayal felt in Manhattan on that day—as well as how professionals rose to the occasion, refusing to let themselves be overcome by grief and fear. By narrowing his focus to the Journal, Rotbart highlights the impact of individuals more than a broader history could. This moving, exciting story deserves attention from anyone interested in the history of American media or looking for a stirring example of journalistic ethics in action.

Takeaway: A rousing account of the work and courage of Wall Street Journal journalists on September 11, 2001.

Great for fans of: Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn’s 102 Minutes, Ralph Izard and Jay Perkins’s Covering Disaster: Lessons from Media Coverage of Katrina and Rita.

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

Click here for more about September Twelfth: An American Comeback Story

The first in Hammack’s Magical Peoples series packs emotion and adventure into old-fashioned fairytale storytelling suitable for all ages. King Roland of Westland is on the verge of war with his twin brother, King Richard of Eastland. To protect his people, Roland moves his entire population to a cavern in the mountains. Unbeknownst to him, he has stumbled onto the land of the fairies. Overcoming her distrust of humans, fairy Queen Gemeenah embraces the new arrivals, explains how they can live in harmony, and sets up a co-equal government with King Roland. When Roland’s queen Isadora delivers a baby girl, Roland exclaims, “I adore you already beyond all words,” inspiring her name: Princess Iadore Daisy. When six-year-old Iadore suffers a fatal injury, Gemeenah revives her with her fairy light, bestowing Iadore with the fairy powers of speaking with animals and making plants grow.

Hammack imbues this gentle story with minimal conflict, focusing instead on magical wonder, love of nature, a righteous king (Roland invents representational democracy!), and the emotional connections between family and friends. The cheerful tone and language are inspired by older bedtime storytelling traditions: “Nectar flowed in all the cups,” Hammock writes, of a celebration. “Every dish of food was devoured. Everyone agreed this was the most joyous festival yet.” Sprinkled throughout are stories about dwarves and giants, other visitors to the fairyland, and Iadore’s distant descendant, a young girl named Ilove, who speaks to the animals and can see fairies. Ilove learns about her ancestry and plays an important role in dispelling a magical enchantment.

With fairytale innocence, broad world building, and scant descriptions, the book allows readers to fill in the blanks with their own imagination. Love and understanding between different races and between children and parents provide a comforting message of compassion and empathy. This simple story of brave and sympathetic characters is suitable for readers of all ages.

Takeaway: A gentle fairytale in the classical mode, suitable for all ages and bursting with magic, fairies, and love.

Great for fans of: Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted, Juliet Mariller.

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

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Vandiver’s brief, tense debut novel concerns Anna Whitney, a New Yorker who goes on safari in South Africa to escape her own demons, but comes face-to-face with the demons that thrive in the seemingly idyllic wildlife preserve: poachers. One night, Anna hears the frightened cries of an injured rhinoceros, and with her safari guide, Chris attempts to save the rhino and its baby from poachers, despite her own doubts: “What the hell was I, an American woman with no knowledge of the bush, doing out here?” The poachers, desperate men unafraid of violence, pursue, and both Anna and Chris are forced to face their painful pasts head on in order to survive the night.

Under a Poacher’s Moon is a compelling, character-driven thriller that digs into Africa’s beauty and poverty. The novel is less than 200 pages, and Vandiver’s intense, compressed plot takes place over one night, but it’s alive with vivid descriptions of the African landscape and animals (“this terribly gorgeous specimen of muscle, sinew, teeth, claw, mane”) plus memorable characters. Vandiver, an attorney and conservationist, allows his cast a full range of humanity: Anna is complicated, touched by deep grief, and not always likable. Her relationship with Chris—a charmer who calls her a “rhino gal”—is believable and warm, growing naturally as they face life-threatening obstacles together.

While the story picks up once Anna finds the injured rhino, the opening pages get off to a slow start. As a white woman in Africa looking for an “escape,” Anna projects her own issues on the country, telling us, in her narration, that she wants Africa to remain “a refuge against all the ugliness and greed…that afflicted the rest of the world.” She envisions it as a place where she can recover from her trauma, instead of an actual place in its own right, which will be hard for some readers to stomach. Still, Vandiver’s complex story about the coexistence of animals and people will please animal and adventure lovers.

Takeaway: A woman and her tour guide take on poachers in a vivid story of conservation in South Africa.

Great for fans of: Pamela Beason’s Endangered, Mike Bond’s The Last Savanna.

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

Click here for more about Under a Poacher's Moon

Didari’s accomplished debut novella follows the journey of Afroozpari, an Iranian émigré, to her twice-found home in Bethel, Alaska. This highly visual telling opens with young Afroozpari chasing after an old Iranian man carrying popsicles called “Alaskan ice cream,” an object that also structures the close of the book, and organizes Afroozpari’s story into two parts (“Before” and “After House Renovation”) centered on another arresting image, the house on the wild berry tundra. “Nothing had been right from the very first day she came into this house,” Didari writes of Afroozpari, who experiences homesickness and loneliness once she arrives in Alaska.

A subsequent chapter returns to an Iran torn by revolution and war, both literally and in memory, as Didari reveals how Afroozpari first met her eventual husband, the dog-mushing, Alaskan-born Dayan—and how “Afroozpari had always thought that it was her destiny that Dayan came to Iran.” She moves to Bethel with him, and while the marriage does not go well, Afroozpari eventually finds meaning enough in the house on the tundra to return to it, and also in the inspiring life of Janan, an orphaned Alaskan child whom Afroozpari raises.

This novella moves swiftly between object and memory to express the reintegration and longing of dislocation, feelings that Didari adeptly stirs. Like a Jennifer Egan novel, many chapters are asynchronous, employing secondary characters to fill out the larger narrative of a refugee story rooted equally in sorrow and in joy. Didari uses images to pinpoint complex mixed emotions, such as when Afroozpari hangs a family photograph “with a gooshkoob, an Iranian metal meat masher” in her renovated Alaskan home. With rich, visceral vignettes of a life in transition, A House in the Wild Berry Tundra will move readers of literary fiction as Afroozpari learns that in order to be at home in Alaska, she must weave the old with the serendipitous new.

Takeaway: This resonant novella debut finds an Iranian woman discovering a home in Alaska, twice.

Great for fans of: Nahid Rachlin; Katherine Whitney and Leila Emery’s My Shadow Is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora.

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

Click here for more about A House in the Wild Berry Tundra

Clinical psychologist Nancy Stella’s nonfiction debut lays out six steps to overcoming trauma and self-defeating behavior with the promise that it’s based on the “latest discoveries on the human brain.” Drawing on examples from her own life as well as her clinical practice, Stella establishes a clear framework for working through anxiety and provides straightforward, relatable examples for practical application of steps designed to help “Create a Courageous Brain” and face fears of failure, being alone, confrontation, and more. Readers will be challenged to explore their own “patterns of self-sabotage” through Stella’s detailed review of these same patterns evident in her shared anecdotes, and she demonstrates how to “imagine the worst-case scenario,” prompting readers to put their fears into a healthier perspective.

Stella addresses a common, limiting fear (fear of rejection; fear of the unknown) in each of the guide’s six chapters and illuminates each with anecdotes to help readers understand her first step toward facing it: “tell your story.” She emphasizes the importance of recognizing mental and emotional triggers, such as a person with abandonment issues experiencing anxiety when their partner forgets a date or a promised phone call. Once a fear and its triggers have been thoroughly identified and described, she urges meditation to help readers move forward with courage and purpose, and includes meditation exercises tied to specific “fear traps.” Dr. Stella ends each chapter with a description of her anecdotal patients living their lives free from the anxieties that chained them before.

Readers who have experienced talk therapy or dived into much mental health-related literature will already be familiar with the basic steps of identifying and engaging with anxiety in order to move past it. Regardless of novelty, this is a solid primer, written with clarity in the voice of an encouraging coach, offering a good reminder of how to examine thoughts as objectively as possible to remove the power of past traumas and anxieties.

Takeaway: A good primer for readers starting out on the journey to cope with anxiety and trauma.

Great for fans of: Gavin de Becker’s The Gift of Fear, Craig Groeschel’s Winning the War in Your Mind.

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

Click here for more about Fear Traps

Haynes’s accomplished debut novel sets an arresting historical mystery during the administration of President John Tyler when the federal government was in the process of annexing Texas and subsequently giving more power to the Southern slave states. Haynes opens with protagonist Monty Tolliver, an aide to Henry Clay, visiting that renowned orator and senator on his deathbed in 1852, in the aftermath of Tyler’s presidency. Thinking it a visit to a dear friend, the encounter turns for the dramatic when Clay nonchalantly says “Before I leave this earth, I need to know the truth. Tell me about your plot to assassinate President Tyler back in 1844.”

Soon, the story vaults back to the 1840s and the introduction of the Navy’s mighty new warship, the USS Princeton, and the Peacemaker cannon, revealing how and why Tolliver and two friends initiated so shocking a conspiracy. With a central focus on the Tyler administration and its blunders, Haynes’ story examines how corruption is not a new phenomenon in American government, how the politics of slavery shaped the early republic, and how a democratically elected leader can have the power of a tyrannical king. After a failed attempt at presidential impeachment, the first such proceedings brought against an American president, Tolliver and company’s desperation to oust Tyler (“His Accidency”) from power by any means necessary raises urgent questions about what actions can be considered just in a country committed to individual rights and freedoms.

The question haunts Tolliver: “What if thousands of enslaved people, if not those living now, at least their children or grandchildren, could be brought closer to freedom by a single death?” Haynes establishes the stakes and context with clarity and power, threading a wealth of fascinating history into his telling. Especially engaging is the story of the USS Princeton and the possibility of a clandestine operation like Tolliver’s, undertaken by three unlikely people who feel pressed to try to shape history.

Takeaway: History enthusiasts will ponder “what if” in this memorable novel about an assassination plot against the tenth U.S. president.

Great for fans of: Stephen L. Carter’s The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln, Kurt Andersen’s Heyday.

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

Click here for more about And Tyler No More: A Novel

This bold blending of historical fiction with science fiction from Frailey (author of the Newearth series, among other titles) centers on the struggles of ancient peoples on an ancient Earth. A tribe has moved beyond the forests to the lake land despite a haunting generational memory, vivid in the nightmares of tribal leader Aram, of a great and deadly beast. Aram’s people hold to the belief that their struggling clan might rise to greatness; as they settle new lands, they encounter other tribes who might help or impede them: the peaceful and relatively prosperous denizens of the grass lands, led by Onias, and the war-hungry clan from the river lands.

Complicating the tribal politics is the attention of aliens from other planets, some of whom are mining Earth without the natives’ knowledge—and without much concern for human life. Frailey exhibits a strong command of survival storytelling, plus a welcome interest in the customs and beliefs of her invented clans. One pressing theme is renewed belief in tales of a “Creator God” whose “mighty hands and scooped out vast lakes and rivers,” while the philosophical idea of evil gets evoked with power. “These men will destroy you because they like the feel of the act,” one character warns. “Their evil is stronger than your good.”

Tense encounters, crisp action, failures of leadership, and dramatic surprises power the story’s main thrust, which concerns the relationships between the ancient humans, both at the tribal and personal level. Frailey creates compelling characters in each of the human factions, especially Aram, who is haunted by loss, and bold Pele of the river clan. The stakes of their conflict are urgent, as the fate of human development hinges on them. The science-fiction elements, by contrast, take a long time to pay off, and at first read like distractions from the human story: Frailey presents her aliens as knowable to us, the readers, which diminishes their mystery and majesty.

Takeaway: This pre-historic epic pits human tribes against each other as interplanetary beings look on.

Great for fans of: Jane M. Auel, Debra Austin’s Daughter of Kura.

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

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