This follow-up to Riot Act (2024) returns to 1991 and an alternate America that’s ruled by propaganda and fear. Axl is haunted by grief. It doesn’t help that Gigi, his dead friend and longtime crush, is also haunting him. After being murdered during a radical act of civil disobedience, Gigi lingers among the living—specifically inside […]
The author became engaged to a man named Sam at 17 years old with her “mother’s full support,” she recalls. When she tried to cut ties, Sam’s first manipulative suicide attempt convinced her that she was “responsible for him, for his life.” By the age of 19, she married him, solidifying Sam’s hold upon her. […]
Kevin Reyes, a newly out gay high schooler in the Philippines, is still discovering his path. After coming out to his parents and being “met with silence” before they changed the subject, Kevin leaves with a group of friends from the school journalism club. They’re attending a party hosted by Raymond, an out classmate who […]
Findley, professor of History at Ohio State and author of The Turks in World History (2004), writes that the Ottoman Empire lasted six centuries under a single dynasty because Islam permits a man to have four wives, and the children of concubines are easily legitimized. With so many male heirs, until around 1600, it was […]
German art historian Zimmerman examines ways that the breast—“an overdetermined body part”—has been highly politicized, evoking contradictory and impassioned responses across many areas of Western culture throughout history. Translated by Barfoot, Zimmerman’s well-researched study draws on a wide-range of disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, theology, feminist theory, gender studies, and art history, to illuminate the connection […]
In Vilest Things (2024), Calla Tuoleimi, accompanied by Anton Makusa, managed a coup, dethroning the prince August Shenzhi and forcing him out of his beloved capital, San-Er. While August lurks in the provinces, waiting and scheming to gain back his birthright, Calla holds the crown, with the promise of power and complete rule over Talin. […]
Math unnerves Nikhil, who prefers art, storytime, and gardening. But Nikhil’s teacher, Ms. Oates, suggests that the youngster write letters to math (“She thinks it will help us be friends. It won’t”). Over time, Nikhil’s hostility (“You make my tummy hurt,” “I still don’t want to be friends”) turns to curiosity and even passion. Told […]
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from […]
Following an instructional introduction about how to navigate the winding panels of this graphic novel, readers assume the perspective of an infant in 1798 Nagoya, Japan. The baby’s father tells him to decide between two objects; humorously, both lead to a life devoted to revenge. Years pass, and the young boy must choose whether to […]
The story begins, “Suddenly the lights went out”—and readers are plunged into the dark of night. The first-person narrator gathers the courage to ask their girl companion questions: “Don’t you think there’s something really beautiful about people?” “What do you think can fit in a person’s heart?” The conversation between the two ebbs and flows, […]