"Lost Girls of Hollow Lake"

New from Delacorte Press: Lost Girls of Hollow Lake by Rebekah Faubion.

About the book, from the publisher:

After a group of teens visit a dangerous island where three are left behind, the surviving girls realize they must return to confront the sinister force hunting them. This dark YA thriller is perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.

Eight were lost. Five were found. None will ever be free.

For Evie Williams, life is about to get a lot more complicated. Haunted by the events of a school trip to Hollow Lake National Park that went disastrously wrong, Evie and her friends returned changed, their lives forever marked by the mysterious Island they encountered—and the three girls they left behind.

Now, someone is picking off those who were involved, one by one. Their families, friends, and even online investigators are all caught in a deadly game. The stakes are raised when Evie receives a chilling message: to save her loved ones, she must return to the Island.

As Evie and the other "Lost Girls" navigate the treacherous terrain of the Island once more, they must confront the secrets they’ve buried, the horrors they witnessed, and the person—or thing—that’s hunting them. But some secrets refuse to stay hidden, and the Island demands a price for freedom.

Visit Rebekah Faubion's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Voice and Ethics in Shakespeare's Late Plays"

New from Cambridge University Press: Voice and Ethics in Shakespeare's Late Plays by Kent Lehnhof.

About the book, from the publisher:

Breaking new ground in Shakespearean sound studies, Kent Lehnhof draws scholarly attention to the rich ethical significance of the voice and vocality. Less concerned with semantics, stylistics, and rhetoric than with the sensuous, sonorous, and somatic dimensions of human speech, Lehnhof performs close readings of five plays – Coriolanus, King Lear, Pericles, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest – to demonstrate how Shakespeare's later works present the act of speaking and the sound of the voice as capable of constructing, deconstructing, and reconstructing interpersonal relationships and obligations. By thinking widely and innovatively about the voice and vocality, Lehnhof models a fresh form of philosophically-minded criticism that resists logocentrism and elevates the voices of marginalized groups and individuals including women, members of societal “underclasses”, racialized persons and non-humans.

--Marshal Zeringue

"If I Ruled the World"

New from Flatiron Books: If I Ruled the World: A Novel by Amy DuBois Barnett.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A fast-paced, juicy debut novel that peeks behind the curtain at the cutthroat world of hip-hop music and the glamorous magazine scene in the late 1990s, written by the ultimate insider

It's 1999, and Nikki Rose is the only Black editor on the staff of a prestigious fashion magazine she once thought would be her ticket to becoming a respected editor in chief. But after being told one too many times by her boss that “Black girls don’t sell magazines,” she quits to take over Sugar, a struggling hip hop music and lifestyle magazine with untapped potential.

Thrown into an entirely new world of wealth, decadence, and debauchery, Nikki has just six months to save Sugar—and her own dreams. As she pulls all-nighters at the office and parties with New York City’s most influential bad boys, Nikki must prove she has what it takes to lead. But her most dangerous challenge is evading Alonzo Griffin, her very married, very powerful ex-lover and former boss, who is determined to destroy both her and Sugar. Along the way, Nikki leans on a circle of loyal friends and navigates unexpected romances that force her to reckon with what—and who—she truly wants.

If I Ruled the World is a smart, utterly immersive journey through one of the most dynamic eras in pop culture history—a story of ambition, friendship, love, and finding your own voice.

Visit Amy DuBois Barnett's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Un-Americanism"

New from the University Press of Florida: Un-Americanism: A History of the Battle to Control an Idea by George Lewis.

About the book, from the publisher:

Inside notorious and influential struggles to define what it means to be “un-American,” illuminating the complex evolution of the term throughout US history

The term “un-American” has been wielded as a powerful tool throughout US history, from Jefferson’s vision of the early Republic to the Trump era, yet no objective definition has ever been universally agreed upon. For the first time, George Lewis’s Un-Americanism offers a long history of this term, tracing what it has meant to whom through close looks at the most prominent contests for control of its definition and deployment.

Lewis examines case studies that show politicians using the idea of the un-American to advance their agendas, organizations using it in racial nationalist campaigns, and federal committees using it in investigations such as those of the anticommunist “Red Scare” of the Cold War, along with activists and coalitions who have countered rhetoric of the “un-American” by claiming their own use of the term. In these chapters, Lewis delves into the role of institutions and organizations such as the American Legion, the House Un-American Activities Committee, and the American Civil Liberties Union. Lewis paints a compelling picture of how the term has both shaped and been shaped by the country’s social and political landscape.

Un-Americanism offers a profound analysis of how this term has drawn and redrawn lines between what is considered “good” or “bad” politically. By exploring its complex evolution, the book highlights how the term has impacted each generation’s understanding of national values and American identity. Lewis challenges readers to reflect on its ongoing influence in defining who truly belongs in the American story.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Escape!"

New from Dutton: Escape!: A Novel by Stephen Fishbach.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A propulsive debut novel following a has-been reality TV star and a disgraced producer who get one last shot at redemption on a show set on a remote island, only to discover that the plot twists are beyond what they ever imagined.

Everyone gets the story arc they deserve.

Kent Duvall, a faded reality show winner, just wants another chance at glory—to find his way out of his depressing life and back to his highlight reel. When a scandal is captured on camera at a charity event, he gets his shot, on a new jungle survival show with seven other contestants. Each of them has been cast as a type—Ruddy the bully, Miriam the nerd, Ashley the love interest—but everyone is more than they appear.

The contestants’ goals seem simple—survive the wild, build a raft, win treasure. But Beck Bermann, a reality producer who suffered her own public shaming, sees them as characters in her redemption arc.

As the schemes and strategies spiral out, breakout camps sabotage each other and rival producers struggle to control the storyline. Soon the question becomes less about who will win than who will make it out in one piece.

Visit Stephen Fishbach's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Pleasure, Play, and Politics"

New from the University of Nebraska Press: Pleasure, Play, and Politics: A History of Humor in U.S. Feminism by Kirsten Leng.

About the book, from the publisher:

Pleasure, Play, and Politics is the first book to examine the roles humor played in U.S. feminism during the late twentieth century. Based on extensive archival research, it brings to light the stunning, moving, and frankly hilarious ways feminists have used satire, irony, and spectacle as they worked to build a better world. The story it tells includes activism and music, political mobilization and cartooning, stand-up comedy and demands for change.

Kirsten Leng explores the ways culture and politics feed one another and shows how humor contributed to movement-building by changing hearts and minds, creating and maintaining a sense of community beyond a single issue, and sustaining activists over the long haul. The fascinating individuals, groups, and objects examined here—including the sex workers’ rights group COYOTE, the Guerrilla Girls, Florynce Kennedy, and the Lesbian Avengers—don’t just provide entertaining anecdotes or unsettle lazy assumptions that feminists are perennially dour and censorious: they offer a lesson or two for contemporary feminists and social justice activists. Taken together, they remind us that laughter can move us, that humor and anger can coexist, and that play and pleasure have a place in struggle.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Reckoning"

New from Severn House: The Reckoning (A Renata Drake Thriller, 1) by Kelli Stanley.

About the book, from the publisher:

SHE KILLED A MAN.
HE DESERVED IT.
BUT JUSTICE ISN’T YET DONE.

First in an explosive new thriller series set in the eighties from the author of the critically acclaimed Miranda Corbie series introduces the fierce feminist Renata Drake—on the run from the FBI for the execution-style murder of her little sister’s killer.

California, Southern Humboldt County, 1985. Renata Drake steps off a Greyhound bus and into small-town Garberville, hoping to disappear. She checks the papers. She’s not headline news. Not yet.

But she’s made a mistake. The FBI have the cannabis-producing “Emerald Triangle” town— and its corrupt residents—in their sights. Even worse, a teenage girl is missing, and when she turns up dead, the third in three years, it’s clear a serial killer is living among them.

Renata knows about murdered girls and the burning desire for justice—and for revenge. Her younger sister Josie is gone, and now, so is the man who killed her. Renata didn’t stay in Washington, D.C. to be arrested for executing a murderer, and she shouldn’t stay here either. But Renata decides to investigate, and what she uncovers will trigger a final reckoning: For herself, for a killer, and for all of Southern Humboldt.

This powerful, page-turning thriller explores the human cost of corruption and the psychological toll that violence takes on women.

Visit Kelli Stanley's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Kelli Stanley & Bertie.

The Page 69 Test: City of Dragons.

The Page 69 Test: City of Secrets.

The Page 69 Test: City of Ghosts.

My Book, The Movie: City of Ghosts.

The Page 69 Test: City of Sharks.

My Book, The Movie: City of Sharks.

Writers Read: Kelli Stanley (March 2018).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Drama and the Death of God"

New from Cornell University Press: Drama and the Death of God: Secularity on Stage from Antiquity to Shakespeare by John Parker.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Drama and the Death of God, John Parker argues that the secularity often associated with Shakespeare inspired a variety of performances going back to antiquity. Scripture presupposes, even needs, the existence of a worldly sphere inimical to faith: known as the saeculum, this finite domain of appetite and unbelief invited both condemnation and celebration throughout medieval Christendom, as exemplified by the songs and plays of the Carmina Burana. After the tenth century, Christians routinely impersonated unbelievers in music dramas connected to the high holidays so that they might question biblical truths, especially the authenticity of miracles. The church generated by this means a vision of the godless world that modernity stepped into. After the English Reformation, when Europe's first commercial theaters arose on ruined monastic estates, players continued to showcase how divine intervention could be staged by humans in the absence of God. King Lear in particular explores the ancient proposition that the saeculum holds no inherent meaning and is capable of generating only pseudomiraculous spectacles to salve the ache of existence.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Blob: A Love Story"

New from Harper Perennial: Blob: A Love Story by Maggie Su.

About the book, from the publisher:

A humorous and deeply moving debut novel in the vein of Bunny and Convenience Store Woman about a young woman who tries to shape a sentient blob into her perfect boyfriend.

The daughter of a Taiwanese father and white mother, Vi Liu has never quite fit into her Midwestern college town. Aimless after getting dumped by her boyfriend and dropping out of college, Vi works at the front desk of a hotel where she greets guests, refills cucumber water samovars, and tries to evade her bubbly blond coworker, Rachel. Little does Vi know her life is about to be permanently transformed when she agrees to a night out with Rachel. In the alley outside the bar, Vi discovers a strange blob—a small living creature with beady black eyes. In a moment of concern and drunken desperation, she takes it home.

But the blob is no ordinary pet. Becoming increasingly sentient, it begins to grow, shift shape, and obey Vi’s commands. As the entity continues to change, Vi is struck with a daring idea: she’ll mold the creature into her ideal partner. Feeding it a stream of sweet breakfast cereals and American pop culture, the creature grows into a movie-star handsome white man. But when Vi’s desire to be loved unconditionally threatens to spiral out of control, she is forced to confront her lonely childhood, her aloof ex-boyfriend, and the racial marginalization that has defined her relationships—a journey of self-discovery that teaches her it’s impossible to control those you love.

Blending the familiar with the surreal, Blob is a witty, heartfelt story about the search for love and self and what it means to be human.

Follow Maggie Su on Instagram.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Imagining Health"

New from the University of Massachusetts Press: Imagining Health: Medicine, Social Protest, and Modern American Literature by Ira Halpern.

About the book, from the publisher:

A surprising look at how American writers envision a more equitable healthcare system

In the United States, a deep suspicion of professional medical expertise is becoming increasingly prominent. Meanwhile, many arguments for health justice take a highly critical view of medical authority, even rejecting it entirely. In the early to mid-twentieth century, alternatively, as medicine rapidly professionalized, Americans came to hold the medical establishment in a particularly high regard, while many saw how it could play a crucial role in progressive politics. In this period, technologies developed, specializations grew, and medical education became standardized. With this process came inequities, as marginalized populations struggled to access the highest levels of care. Literary writers confronting social ills through their work included critiques of this new system in their writing, Ira Halpern argues. Without abandoning professional medicine, they called for alternative systems of care that could better serve diverse populations.

Halpern examines the work of several writers—including Robert Herrick, Wallace Thurman, Frank Slaughter, Charles Chesnutt, Walter White, Ralph Ellison, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Upton Sinclair, Stephen Crane, and Edith Wharton—to demonstrate how American writing from this period embedded a critical look at healthcare within other elements of progressive politics, from racial protest and women’s rights to disability justice and counter-capitalist viewpoints. Placing this writing into historical context, in terms of medical and scientific developments as well as traditions of social protest, Halpern reveals the efforts of these writers to envision better alternative trajectories for a quickly evolving medical establishment that left too many Americans without reliable care.

--Marshal Zeringue