"Love in Time: An Ethical Inquiry"

New from The University of Chicago Press: Love in Time: An Ethical Inquiry by Fannie Bialek.

About the book, from the publisher:

A meditative reconsideration of what it means to love as ever-changing beings in an ever-changing world.

We live in time, and so we love in time. Our beloveds change, and we change beside them. Sometimes we change apart, but it is this very changeableness, the braving of an unknown future together, that endears us to our lovers. Far from an ideal of constancy and commitment, then, love is an endeavor fraught with uncertainty.

In this book, Fannie Bialek sketches a view of love that does not ignore the vagaries of life but embraces them. In contrast to philosophical and religious attempts to secure love against finitude, Bialek’s love embraces its susceptibility to change and accepts the ethical challenges such change introduces. Attentive to our deepest vulnerabilities, Bialek develops a fresh ethics of love grounded by our humility before time.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Incidentals"

Coming March 31 from Little A: Incidentals: A Novel by Sheila Yasmin Marikar.

About the book, from the publisher:

A couple’s luxury vacation in the Maldives takes a sinister turn when they’re befriended by two strangers in a twisty and darkly comic novel by the author of Friends in Napa.

Sarah and Sam have lost the very spark that brought them together. In an effort to save their marriage, they embark on an anniversary trip to the Maldives where a week at a luxury resort might remind them of why they fell in love. On the plane, they meet Krista and Kevin, a happy older, exceptionally generous couple headed to the same destination and eager to make vacation friends. They could be just the marriage mentors Sarah and Sam need.

But when a dead body is pulled from the crystalline waters only days into the vacation, a dark pall is cast over the sunny coral isles. The official story is a tragic accident. But that doesn’t sit right with Sarah, who senses something off. What could these very wealthy, too-fast friends possibly want from a modest couple like them?

The answers could destroy what’s left of her marriage. Then again, a murder in the Maldives might be the best thing that ever happened to it.

Vist Sheila Yasmin Marikar's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Folk Engineering"

New from The University of North Carolina Press: Folk Engineering: Planning Southern Regionalism by Stephen J. Ramos.

About the book, from the publisher:

The understudied history of race, region, and planning in the US South

During the interwar years, the discourse of regional planning profoundly reformulated the spatiality of race and place in the United States. In the South, Jim Crow brutality and agricultural crisis fueled unprecedented population outmigration. Sociologist and author Howard W. Odum founded the Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina to develop a Southern regionalism that reasserted organic territorial culture amid that flux. Regionalism connected the arts, humanities, and social sciences across the country in a collective effort to elevate place-based narrative and folk sensibility to an all-encompassing social theory.

Stephen J. Ramos refocuses the history of US regionalism and regional planning on the South, illuminating the modern tensions inherent in regionalism as nostalgic cultural practice paired with future-oriented planning ideology. By tracing Southern regionalists' intellectual history and institutional biography, Ramos explores how they developed a regional-nationalism through surveying and planning that came to inspire federal New Deal policies for the South. In showing how Odum’s influence crossed various borders, Ramos offers us a nuanced way to reappraise race, social science, and planning in the US South.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Run For Your Life, Callie Kingman"

Coming soon from Montlake: Run For Your Life, Callie Kingman: A Novel by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans.

About the book, from the publisher:

A blindsided soon-to-be divorcée rediscovers herself in this witty, celebratory novel about a hard-fought comeback by the authors of The Better Half.

Two decades have passed since Callie Kingman begrudgingly followed her husband, Thomas, across the country in pursuit of his career at the expense of her own. Today, Callie is an empty nester with no job prospects, a declining mother, and a spouse who announces his intention to leave her―in Sacramento, the dullest city in America. His parting potshot: “It’s not me, it’s you.”

Taking to bed, Callie relies on delivery for food, her neighbor for booze, and her college best friend for commiseration. When an overdue annual exam leads to a health scare, Callie is forced to contend with her fractured and unfulfilled life by revisiting the vibrant, indomitable woman she used to be.

From her idyllic years at Princeton and an extraordinary first love to the pressures all women face to strive, serve, and be sexy as hell, once again she’s face-to-face with it all. Callie is running for her life, determined to forge a path ahead that is better than the one she’s leaving behind.

Learn more about Alli Frank and Asha Youmans at the Alli + Asha website and on IG/FB/Twitter: @alliandasha.

My Book, The Movie: Never Meant to Meet You.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Little History of the Earth"

New from Yale University Press: A Little History of the Earth by Jamie Woodward.

About the book, from the publisher:

A lively account of the history of our planet, from its earliest origins to the present day, told through the major geological changes and scientific breakthroughs

Where has our planet come from, and what lies beneath its surface? How have we come to understand its past and present environments, and what does its future look like? Thanks to scientists who study its rocks, fossils, and landscapes, we know that Earth history spans over four and a half billion years. But there is still much more to discover.

This Little History recounts our planet’s fascinating past and the science which has shaped how we think about it. Taking us from the formation of the Solar System, the evolution of our atmosphere and oceans, and the first signs of life, through to dinosaurs, mammals, and the eventual arrival of humans, Woodward shows us the full span of Earth history, from deep time to the Anthropocene. Along the way, we learn about the major breakthroughs of the pioneering scientists who have unearthed our planet’s secrets.

From fossils of ancient creatures to the very air we breathe, this is the essential guide to our world.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Every Happiness"

Coming February 3 from Bloomsbury USA: Every Happiness: A Novel by Reena Shah.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Every Happiness is a dazzling debut that explores the ties that bind two women across decades and continents despite rivalry, class difference, and the conflicting needs of family and self.

Deepa and Ruchi are 12 years old when they meet at their Catholic school in India, but their connection is swift and lasting. As the two girls grow up and face their families' expectations and the limits of their ambitions, their friendship is marked by intimacy, jealousy, and suppressed desire.

When, in their twenties, Deepa marries a doctor and moves from India to the suburbs of Connecticut, Ruchi quickly finds an engineer bound for the same state and follows her friend across the world. But life in the United States is different than either woman expects. Deepa's daughter seeks affection Deepa refuses to give, and Ruchi's son resists her smothering care. At the same time, Deepa and Ruchi find their closeness tested by a growing class disparity, competing family needs, and the differences in their desires. Ultimately, when Ruchi discovers a dangerous secret about Deepa's husband's wealth, both women are forced to weigh the tangled bonds of their friendship with their lives, and their families', in the burgeoning Indian American community.

“Moving and unforgettable” (Kimberly King Parsons), Every Happiness explores the slippery edges of a lifelong relationship, and the invisible threads that bind us, sometimes painfully, to those we love most.

Visit Reena Shah's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Fear of God"

New from the University of California Press: Fear of God: Practicing Emotion in Late Antique Monasticism by Daniel Eastman An.

About the book, from the publisher:

n the writings of ancient Christians, the near-ubiquitous references to the "fear of God" have traditionally been seen as a generic placeholder for piety. Focusing on monastic communities in late antiquity across the eastern Mediterranean, this book explores why the language of fear was so prevalent in their writings and how they sought to put it into practice in their daily lives. Drawing on a range of evidence, including sermons, liturgical prayers, and archaeological evidence, Daniel An explores how the languages monastics spoke, the socioeconomic settings they inhabited, and the visual spaces in which they prayed came together to shape their emotional horizons. By investigating emotions as practices embedded in the languages, cultures, and sensorial environments of late antiquity, this book offers new insights into the spiritual world of Christian monasteries.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Gods Must Burn"

Coming soon from Solaris: The Gods Must Burn by T.R. Moore.

About the book, from the publisher:

A disgraced war hero is transformed into the Wolf God, protector of the Forest God, and must earn her trust in this healing dark fantasy for fans of The Wolf and the Woodsman and Princess Mononoke

War hero Basuin doesn't know what to believe in anymore. All Basuin knows is life as an army captain and the pain, loss, and disgrace it has brought him. Demoted and humiliated by his legion commander, he is led into the forest for one more mission: capture a god.

But when his commander uses innocent wolf pups as bait, Basuin dies saving them. The Wolf God, impressed by his sacrifice, deifies Basuin to protect the forest and its beautiful, sharp-tongued god from the legion's deforestation.

To the Forest God, Basuin is nothing more than one of the men sent to burn her forest down. Betrayed by humans too many times, she rejects him, working alone to protect the spirits of the forest as her home disappears around her. To save the god he is growing to love, Basuin must untangle the feelings between them.

Otherwise, they'll burn together.

Visit T.R. Moore's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Archie Bunker for President"

New from the University of North Carolina Press: Archie Bunker for President: How One Television Show Remade American Politics by Oscar Winberg.

About the book, from the publisher:

Delving into the intersection of television entertainment and American politics during the 1970s, focusing on the sitcom All in the Family, this book explores how political campaigns, social movements, and legislators leveraged the show’s popularity for their own agendas. From Archie Bunker’s reactionary bigotry, to Edith Bunker’s symbolic role in the Equal Rights Amendment campaign, and the show’s creator and producer Norman Lear’s defiance against government censorship, Oscar Winberg uncovers the profound impact of television on political strategies and institutions.

Oscar Winberg’s capacious research, including in Norman Lear’s private archive, shows how All in the Family set the stage for today’s spectacle politics. It also reveals how politicians, from Richard Nixon to Hillary Rodham Clinton, skillfully utilized entertainment television to connect with audiences, demonstrating the evolution of personality politics that culminated in the political rise of Donald Trump. With a keen focus on the transformative power of television entertainment, this multifaceted history expands the discussion on the interconnected roles of media and politics, offering a new exploration into how one television show produced a profound cultural shift in American politics.

Visit Oscar Winberg's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Asterwood"

Coming soon from Delacorte Press: Asterwood by Jacquelyn Stolos.

About the book, from the publisher:

Family secrets, friendship, and magic burst from the seams of this thrilling fantasy adventure that follows a ten-year-old girl as she discovers a new world behind her home in desperate need of her help and within it, her own troubling family legacy.

Madelyn has always been satisfied with her life of cozy meals, great books, and adventures with her father in the woods behind their farmhouse.

But when a mysterious child appears and invites her down a forbidden trail and into a new world, Madelyn realizes that there’s far more to life than she ever allowed herself to realize.

This new world, Asterwood, is wider, wilder, and more magical than she could ever imagine. And somehow, it’s people know who she is—and desperately need her help.

Accompanied by new friends—one ​who can speak the language of the trees and one with a mind as sharp as her daggers—and her calico cat, Dots, Madelyn embarks on an epic quest across a strange and sprawling forest world whose secrets just might help her save her own.​

Visit Jacquelyn Stolos's website.

--Marshal Zeringue