September 2026 Staff PicksLike this list

16 items

• Never Whistle at Night. Part II, Back for Blood

  An Indigenous Horror Anthology

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  Back in 2023, Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology was a surprise hit, spending weeks on the best sellers list. The next installment had big shoes to fill and, luckily, it delivers. While the first anthology included many…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Beginnings

  Moresco, Antonio

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  In the tradition of Kafka and Robert Walser, Moresco's The Beginnings is a rewarding novel for readers drawn to literary strangeness and daring, formal experimentation. Its three sections ostensibly follow the same unnamed narrator through radically…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Black Bag

  Kennard, Luke,

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  In this irreverent, sprawling satire, an out-of-work actor finds himself gigging as a black bag (with bare legs) in a psychology experiment for an eccentric professor. At first only required to wear this strange getup around campus, he quickly finds…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Curse of Hester Gardens

  Thompson, Tamika,

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  In this debut novel, many residents of the Hester Garden Housing Project have been touched by death. Gun violence has taken beloved sons, a twin sister, and sometimes both parents of people who inhabit the Garden. It's easy to feel haunted in a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Escape!

  a Novel

  Fishbach, Stephen,

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  If you've watched any (and I mean any) reality show and thought to yourself "is this really real?" then Escape! is the book for you. This literary comedy thriller follows the entire season of a fictional survival reality-TV show from casting to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Good Morning Means I Love You

  a Novel

  Allen, Kendra, 1994-

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  Good Morning Means I Love You is Kendra Allen's first novel of fiction. On the surface, the story is about polyamorous relationships, between two men and a woman, but that's only the most obvious reading. The novel explores gender roles, challenges…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• An Immaculate Deception

  Livino, Isabela

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  Madalena has found herself in a tricky situation. Being unmarried and pregnant in 1870s Brazil, her reputation and her life are on the verge of ruin. She is praying that once her beloved Leandro hears the truth he will do right by her and propose.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Killer Vibes

  a Peter Key Novel

  Friday, Jack,

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  Peter Key, a self-described lazy, bisexual stoner, is about to be kicked out of his friend's garage when he learns he has inherited a house in Austin, Texas. The house, owned by an uncle Peter hadn't seen in years, is dilapidated, and comes with…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lady X

  a Novel

  Fader, Molly,

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  New York City, 1977. Disco fever and punk rock rebellion are in full swing during the blistering hot Summer of Sam when graffiti signed by the mysterious Lady X starts popping up all over the city, accusing powerful men of sexual assault. In 2024,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Operation Bounce House

  Dinniman, Matt

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  Oliver is nursing a broken heart and a hangover when the killer mecs arrive. Most settlers on New Sonora want to be left alone to tend their farms, but the Apex Corporation has unleashed first person shooter fans into real life to clear the planet…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Palaces of the Crow

  Nayler, Ray,

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  Set mostly in Eastern Europe during World War II, this haunting novel mixes literary and historical elements with a dash of speculative fiction. Neriya, a Jewish girl, gets to know the crows in the village where her family summers, designing games…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Partially Devoured

  How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World

  Kraus, Daniel, 1975-

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  Horror readers were excited when Daniel Kraus won the 2026 Pulitzer for Fiction for Angel Down, a novel that blends horror, historical fiction, science-fiction, and magical realism into a war novel. Kraus is a prolific writer whose work spans…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Queen Mab

  a Novel

  McBride, Emily, 1983-

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  When Maddie, a bright young doctoral scholar of English literature, becomes pregnant, it's not quite on the schedule she and her husband Tom planned. They're just scraping by, but nonetheless, they're excited by the development. Then, after an…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Repetition

  a Novel

  Hjorth, Vigdis

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  While attending a winter concert, an unnamed narrator notices an uncomfortable dynamic between a sulking teenage girl and her upset parents. The incident tugs at the back of her mind, and she begins to reflect on a chapter from her own teenage youth…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Sleeping Sisters

  Givhan, Jennifer

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  Fortuna has a sinister history she's been hiding from for years. But when she wins the lottery, she's propelled back into the one thing she's been avoiding - the public eye. Now she's more desperate than ever to protect her family from danger -…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Things We Never Say

  a Novel

  Strout, Elizabeth,

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  Middle-aged high school teacher Artie Dam is a regular guy. Everyone likes him. He coaches sports, enjoys sailing a modest boat on summer weekends, he's won teacher of the year (though he puts no stock in that), and he fails to understand why…Read moreRead more of this annotation