"Queen of the Dead"

New from Angry Robot: Queen of the Dead by Sarah Broadway.

About the book, from the publisher:

A fun and fast-paced paranormal urban fantasy with a touch of romance and supernatural hijinks galore, perfect for fans of The Whispering Dead by Darcy Coates.

Speaking with the dead is nothing new for Lou. It’s a curse she’s learned to hide from everyone – sometimes even herself. After running away from a past that took advantage of those abilities, Lou finally carves out a normal life for herself. That is, until she receives a mysterious message from a ghost – the Veil is thinning – and a cult of necromancers infiltrates her small town.

In a race to discover and defeat her foe, Lou learns she’s not alone in the fight. She grudgingly leans on her allies but wonders who to trust. What’s more impossible is suddenly finding herself the romantic interest of a man who somehow isn’t afraid of all the dark, creepy things about her... but even he has secrets for her to discover.

Time is running out, and reality seems to be slipping away. To save her new life and the people she loves, Lou must learn to accept who she is and embrace her true abilities, no matter where they might take her.

Visit Sarah Broadway's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Sense of Space"

New from the University of Chicago Press: A Sense of Space: A Local's Guide to a Flat Earth, the Edge of the Cosmos, and Other Curious Places by John Edward Huth.

About the book, from the publisher:

From global navigation to natal charts to memory palaces and beyond, a thrilling journey through humanity’s visualization of new spaces.

When you give directions, do you tell someone to go straight ahead and turn left? Or do you suggest that they head north before moving west? Your answer reveals more than you might think.

In A Sense of Space, writer and physicist John Edward Huth uses these two kinds of navigation—either centered on or independent of people—to help readers chart a path through evolving spatial models. In doing so, he offers an astonishing exploration of how changing scientific models of space alter our social perceptions, and vice versa. New visions of space can emanate from human considerations, he argues, and those new visions can in turn spawn new cultural phenomena. With accessible introductions to topics including mental maps, astrology, astronomy, particle physics, and Einstein’s relativity, Huth makes clear that, although our minds have evolved to comprehend space in terrestrial distances, we routinely extend this understanding to realms far removed from our everyday experiences, from cosmological to subatomic scales.

Taking us across the eons from the myth of a flat earth to the mysteries of the multiverse, A Sense of Space is an energetic, thoughtful guide to how we orient ourselves in our world—and beyond.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Grave Deception"

Coming soon from Crooked Lane Books: A Grave Deception: A Kate Hamilton Mystery by Connie Berry.

About the book, from the publisher:

Antiques expert Kate Hamilton dives into the past to solve a fourteenth-century mystery with disturbing similarities to a modern-day murder in the sixth installment of the Kate Hamilton mystery series.

Kate Hamilton and her husband, Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, have settled into married life in Long Barston. When archaeologists excavating the ruins of a nearby plague village discover the miraculously preserved body of a fourteenth-century woman, Kate and her colleague, Ivor Tweedy, are asked to appraise the grave goods, including a valuable pearl. When tests reveal the woman was pregnant and murdered, the owner of the estate on which the body was found, an amateur historian, asks Kate to identify her and, if possible, her killer. Surprised, Kate agrees to try.

Meanwhile, tensions within the archaeological team erupt when the body of the lead archaeologist turns up at the dig site with fake pearls in his mouth and stomach. Then a third body is found in the excavations. Meanwhile, Kate’s husband Tom is tracking the movements of a killer of his own.

With the help of 700-year-old documents and the unpublished research of a deceased historian, Kate must piece together the past before the grave count reaches four.

Visit Connie Berry's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Art of Betrayal.

My Book, The Movie: The Art of Betrayal.

Q&A with Connie Berry.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Digital Future of English"

New from Oxford University Press: The Digital Future of English: Literary Media Studies by Simone Murray.

About the book, from the publisher:

More than any other academic discipline, literary studies is the creation of print culture. How then can it thrive in the digital era? Early 1990s predictions of the book's imminent demise presented a simplistic either/or choice between the legacy of moribund print and triumphalist digital technology. Yet we have grown to experience the two media as complexly interdependent and even complementary. Clearly, digital does not kill print. But literary studies in the digital era cannot simply resume business as usual. It is urgently necessary to reconsider the discipline's founding assumptions in light of digital technology.

The digital era prompts a rethinking of literary studies' object of study, as well as its methods, theories, audiences and pedagogical practices. What counts as literature necessarily shifts in an age of proliferating born-digital texts and do-it-yourself (DIY) online publication. Where should literary studies sit institutionally, and how might it graft contextually-oriented social sciences methods onto its traditionally humanistic mode of textual analysis? Why should literary study continue to marginalize emotional responses to texts when online communities bond via readerly affect? Who is the audience for literary criticism in an age where expertise is routinely challenged yet communication with global book-loving publics has never been technologically easier? Finally, how can we utilize digital tools to rejuvenate literary studies pedagogy and help English staff better connect with millennial-age students?

Literary studies has been convulsed for decades by debates over electronic literature and, more recently, digitally-aided 'distant reading'. But these discussions still mostly confine themselves to demarcating our proper object of study. We need to think more expansively about digital technology's impact on the underpinning tenets of the discipline. Literary Media Studies is pitched at fellow literary scholars, book historians, media theorists, cultural sociologists, digital humanists and those working at the interface of these converging disciplines. It models constructive engagement with contemporary digital culture. Most importantly, it brings a burst of sorely needed optimism to the question of literary studies' digital future.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Ten Thousand Light Years from Okay"

New from Lake Union: Ten Thousand Light Years from Okay: A Novel by Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman.

About the book, from the publisher:

A widowed and grieving young novelist believes her words create realities―both tragic and charmed―in a hopeful and surprising novel about family, newfound love, and moving on.

Four years after her husband Sam’s tragic death mirrored a fatal plotline in her debut novel, Thea Packer hasn’t written another word, afraid that what she writes could come true again. Resigned to raising her young daughter in her in-laws’ guesthouse, Thea is on the verge of abandoning her literary career when inspiration strikes.

Her new book is a fairy-tale romance featuring a long-lost astronaut who miraculously returns home to his family, with the hero loosely drawn from Thea’s memories of Sam. Thea considers the fantasy a harmless way to process her grief.

That is, until a charismatic man walks into her life―and he’s an astronaut.

Thea can’t believe it’s happening again. Or is it? Her mother-in-law doesn’t think so―she sees only a woman increasingly detached from reality. Now, as coincidences between Thea’s writing and reality pile up, Thea must unravel the secrets of her past and tackle her grief head-on before she loses more than she ever imagined.

Visit Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Artisans and Designers"

New from The Kent State University Press: Artisans and Designers by Rebecca Jumper Matheson.

About the book, from the publisher:

One couple's bold vision for American fashion

Long before the fashion industry formally addressed questions of sustainability and advocated for “slow fashion,” William and Elizabeth Phelps, a husband-and-wife design duo, were already working to create hand-crafted leathergoods and functional women’s sportswear that could be worn for decades. Active from the 1940s to the late 1960s, Phelps Associates quickly won acclaim and found commercial success, attracting a broad clientele and becoming known for quality, utility, and craftsmanship.

Using vintage metal insignia and hardware, often military surplus, the Phelpses designed bags and belts that answered the need for American-made luxury goods during and after World War II. In the post-war period, the Phelpses experimented with new methods of production and branched into ready-to-wear fashion. Meanwhile, the pair worked to revive artisan workshops, emphasized fostering positive work environments for their employees, and offered employment opportunities for injured veterans.

Artisans and Designers is the first in-depth analysis of the Phelpses’ partnership, their often overlooked contributions to the fashion industry, and their forward-thinking business practices. Rebecca Jumper Matheson draws on their pieces to connect their work to larger conversations about sustainable fashion, consumerism, industrialization practices, and the intersection of art with American identity during and after World War II. The result is an engagingly written, richly illustrated account of a brand committed to creating classic pieces that have stood the test of time.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Queen Who Came in from the Cold"

New from Crooked Lane Books: The Queen Who Came in from the Cold: Her Majesty The Queen Investigates by S. J. Bennett.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Amateur sleuth Queen Elizabeth II is back on the case in 1960s England in the fifth installment of this historical mystery series The New York Times Book Review calls “sheer entertainment,” perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen and Richard Osman.

1961, England. The Queen is spending a night on board the royal train with her entourage and her sister, Princess Margaret. But before they reach their destination, an unreliable witness claims to have seen a brutal murder from one of the carriages.

The Queen and her assistant private secretary, Joan McGraw, get to work on their second joint investigation. No one else saw the crime. If there is a victim, could he be the missing photographer friend of Margaret’s new husband, Tony Armstrong Jones?

This time, the Cold War threatens to undermine the Queen’s upcoming visit to Italy. She and Joan must tackle dark forces that follow them all the way, in a tale of spies, lies, and treachery.

This charming mystery will be perfect for fans of The Crown and Miss Marple.

Visit S.J. Bennett's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Tolerance for Inequality"

New from the University of Chicago Press: A Tolerance for Inequality: American Public Opinion and Economic Policy by Andrew J. Taylor.

About the book, from the publisher:

A nuanced reassessment of US democratic responsiveness and public opinion on economic policy that explores the real reasons government does not do more to mitigate inequality.

Many believe that the United States’ growing economic inequality is the result of a political system that has been captured by wealthy elites. But is economic capture actually the problem? In A Tolerance for Inequality, Andrew J. Taylor examines this question from multiple angles, drawing on public opinion data and analyses of representation in Congress. Taylor finds that economic policy outcomes are more reflective of public opinion than the common wisdom suggests.

Broadly, less-affluent Americans’ policy preferences are not meaningfully different from the preferences of other Americans, and Washington is responsive to these preferences. Although politicians are more affluent, on average, than most Americans, this does not prevent them from representing the economic views of their poorer constituents. Today’s Democratic Party is more interested in regulation and supplying public goods than redistributing wealth downwards, and political reforms designed to provide more equal outcomes are largely misguided. In short, Americans get the kind of economy they at least say they want.

Visit Andrew J. Taylor's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Flightless Birds of New Hope"

Coming January 1 from Lake Union: The Flightless Birds of New Hope: A Novel by Farah Naz Rishi.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Three estranged siblings―and a high-maintenance cockatoo―reunite in a luminous novel about forgiveness, connection, and the complexities of family by the author of Sorry for the Inconvenience.

Upon the sudden deaths of their bird-obsessed parents, the three Shah siblings reunite.

Aliza has spent years holding their crumbling family together, caring for their younger brother, Sammy. And Aden, named executor of the estate, finds himself resentfully facing the one member of the family who always got their parents’ undivided love: their famous Bollywood-bopping cockatoo, Coco.

One reckless night, Aden opens Coco’s cage, letting her do what he did a decade ago―fly away from home.

In a panic, the siblings set off to recover her, armed with only Coco’s tracking chip and the fragile hope they might set things right. What they think will be a quick search and rescue becomes a two-week cross-country road trip, where old grudges resurface, relationships are tested, and long-buried dreams stir awake.

As Coco, meanwhile, forges her own path to the past, Aden, Aliza, and Sammy follow―not just the bird, but the possibility of something more: a way back to each other.

Visit Farah Naz Rishi's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Forgotten Debate"

New from the University Press of Kansas: The Forgotten Debate: The Korean War and the Roots of America's Ideological Divisions by Dane J. Cash.

About the book, from the publisher:

A deeply researched political history that finds a new origin story to today’s deeply entrenched partisanship. Cash reminds us that the “forgotten war” in Korea was also the occasion for the “forgotten debate” between liberals and conservatives.

When it comes to the origins of today’s sharp partisan divide, most have pointed to the usual suspects—Newt Gingrich’s Republican Revolution in 1994, Watergate, and the Vietnam War. In The Forgotten Debate, Dane J. Cash suggests that we need to look further back in history. He argues that we can trace the roots of the current ideological divide in America to the period of the Korean War.

The 1950s were hardly a time of “liberal consensus,” as Cash maintains that liberals themselves were quite divided about the proper course of action in Korea and in the Cold War more generally. Left liberals supported containment policy and its manifestation as a limited war in Korea, whereas hawkish liberals favored a much more aggressive strategy, particularly one vis-à-vis Communist China, which was largely indistinguishable from the position taken by avowed conservatives. The seeds of neoconservatism were thus sown much earlier than is typically appreciated. Furthermore, conservative voices were galvanized by what they perceived to be American timidity (and ultimately failure) in prosecuting the Korean War. Their frustrations about Korea and American weakness toward China led them to develop a unilateralist, “America First” foreign policy, which coalesced into a coherent movement several years prior to the founding of William F. Buckley, Jr.’s National Review in 1954—generally considered to be the genesis of modern conservatism.

Drawing on a range of opinion journals, The Forgotten Debate shows that conflict, rather than consensus, marked elite attitudes to the Korean War. Cash thus reminds us that the divisions in society today have a much longer history than we typically realize. The Korean War is often ignored and overshadowed by later developments, like the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, but many of our current ideological positions were forged in that forgotten period.

--Marshal Zeringue