"Siren Says"

New from G.P. Putnam's Sons: Siren Says by Jennifer Michelle Herrera.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A lush, spellbinding tale about a tenacious young woman who must harness her family’s dangerous magic to put a stop to the sacrifices they’ve been making for more than a century

Twenty-five-year-old Raven Wynn knows that the ancient plant magic running through her veins brings nothing but destruction. It doomed her Welsh ancestors. It killed her mother. It’s the reason she’s now bound by a painful curse—one that will destroy her if she can’t find a way to break its hold.

When her estranged Aunt Delilah bursts into her life promising a cure, Raven seizes the chance. However, her freedom comes at a steep price: Once her magic is fully unleashed, she is more powerful—and more dangerous—than anyone thought possible.

Desperate to tame powers she never wanted, Raven makes a pact with Delilah: In exchange for learning to control her magic, Raven will capture one of the spirits that roam Delilah’s hometown on May’s Eve so that it may grant Delilah’s secret wish. With the help of an enigmatic new friend, Cherry, as well as an infuriatingly handsome stoneworker, Idris, Raven learns that her task is even more perilous than she imagined—one false move and the spirits could trap her soul—forever.

A sumptuous escape into a world of Celtic spirits and botanical magic, Siren Says is a bewitching story of the unbreakable bonds between women, the interplay between goodness and power, and the capacity of love to mend our very souls.

Visit Jennifer Herrera's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Pastoral’s End"

New from the University of Chicago Press: Pastoral’s End: Art, Ecology, and Catastrophe in Renaissance Italy by James Pilgrim.

About the book, from the publisher:

How early modern Italian painting addressed the ways humans shape and are shaped by their environments.

In the sixteenth century, Italian artist Jacopo Bassano painted pictures of herdsmen and animals moving through dark and muddy landscapes. But he also participated in the agricultural development of the region in which he lived, producing topographical maps of local mountains and forests, inventing new methods of drainage and irrigation, and studying the latest techniques of crop rotation and fertilization. The relationship between Bassano’s rustic art and his participation in environmental transformation has, however, never been explored.

One of the first studies of Italian Renaissance art to grapple with the connections between visual culture and the environment, Pastoral’s End explores this crucial, formative relationship. James Pilgrim looks at Bassano’s career holistically, demonstrating how his involvement in a world marked by agricultural expansion, industrialization, resource extraction, environmental degradation, social transformation, and radical philosophical development informed his paintings of country life. Introducing new archival and visual evidence of Bassano’s knowledge of hydrology, agronomy, husbandry, and architecture, Pastoral’s End argues that he transformed the more placid rustic imagery of previous Renaissance artists into visions of dangerous ecological instability.

Visit James Pilgrim's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Untamed Coast"

Coming soon from Ballantine Books: Untamed Coast: A Novel by Kevin C. Morris.

About the book, from the publisher:

A late-night mayday call drives a grieving man to embark on an unexpected journey along the wild Alaskan coast, unraveling a decades-old mystery of stolen gold, missing women, and murder in this atmospheric and propulsive debut novel, perfect for fans of William Kent Krueger and Peter Heller.

After the loss of his wife, Marconi Franco is content drifting alone on his boat through the isolated waters of Southeast Alaska with no real destination in mind. But when a mysterious distress signal cuts through the static on his radio one sleepless night, Marco feels an overwhelming pull to help the woman whose plea he heard—a pull he can't explain or ignore.

His search for the missing woman draws him to Radioville, an abandoned 1930s communication outpost now decaying on an uninhabited island off the coast of Alaska. There, Marco begins uncovering fragments of a story long forgotten: a Depression-era theft, a shattered marriage, and a disturbing pattern of disappearances. As he sifts through the past, his own grief starts to mirror the tragedies that echo across decades, and his search draws the attention of someone determined to keep the truth buried.

Told across three evocative timelines—a radio operator in 1938 collecting more than just telegrams, a young woman in the 1980s fighting to survive her abusive husband, and Marco in the present day searching for a voice in the static—Untamed Coast is a story of fierce determination, missed signals, loneliness and connection, and the unseen ripples that reverberate across generations, standing the test of time and the tides.

Visit Kevin C. Morris's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Town of Dollars"

New from the University of Washington Press: Town of Dollars: Ambient Violence and Everyday Dispossession in the Philippines by Dada Docot.

About the book, from the publisher:

Colonial aftermaths linger quietly, revealing violence woven into the fabric of daily life

What does violence look like when it is not spectacular but quiet and routine? In this intimate ethnography, anthropologist Dada Docot introduces readers to her hometown of Nabua, located in the Bicol region of the Philippines. The site of her study is a rural locale nicknamed the “Town of Dollars” thanks to the Nabueño men who served in the lowest ranks of the US Navy. Performing tasks considered beneath white sailors, these men introduced American dollars into the local economy and transformed perceptions of the good life. Docot explores this and other manifestations of the Philippines’ four centuries of colonization through stories of ritual, family, migration, and labor. She reveals how everyday struggles―from flooding rice fields and precarious wage work to political patronage and overseas migration―are shaped by the layered histories of Spanish, US, and Japanese colonization and contemporary dispossession. These forms of “ambient violence,” she theorizes, are neither extraordinary nor rare but harmful realities sedimented into the ordinary, becoming the atmosphere in which life unfolds.

Blending hometown ethnography, historical research, and autoethnographic reflection, Town of Dollars introduces a new lens for understanding colonial aftermaths and the quiet endurance of inequality in the rural Global South. Both intimate and rigorously analytical, the book challenges romanticized notions of Filipino resilience, instead illuminating the unviable conditions that contour everyday aspirations. Essential for scholars of anthropology, postcolonial studies, and Asian and diaspora studies, as well as readers seeking a deeper understanding of Philippine life, Town of Dollars exposes how violence lingers not in moments of crisis but in the ordinary persistence of survival.

Visit Dada Docot's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"My Sister Is Going to Kill Me"

New from William Morrow: My Sister Is Going to Kill Me: A Novel by Nina Simon.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the New York Times bestselling author of the runaway hit Mother-Daughter Murder Night, a Reese’s Book Club pick, comes another fun, family-centered whodunnit about two sisters who work together to find a killer as they raft down the rapids of the Grand Canyon.

What's a family vacation without a little murder?

Liv and Mandy Chisholm’s yearly sister trip is a sacred tradition, an attempt to bond as their lives increasingly diverge. Liv, the ever-practical older sister, packs the color-coded itineraries. Mandy, a bedazzled human tumbleweed, brings the spontaneity.

This year, the sisters take off for a rafting adventure through the breathtaking depths of the Grand Canyon with a group of strangers. But beyond the terrors of whitewater rapids, sibling squabbles, and rogue reptiles, the ferocious beauty of the river carries a darker undercurrent, and an unexpected guest: a murderer in their midst.

When a fellow traveler is found dead and another corpse hits the water, the rafting trip flips from idyllic sister vacation to high-stakes murder investigation. Every suspect has a secret, every clue is drenched in mystery, and Liv and Mandy can hardly trust each other, let alone their own instincts. With the river raging and danger around every bend, the Chisholm sisters must work together to catch a killer—and keep their relationship from capsizing—before it’s too late.

Visit Nina Simon's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Reproductive Justice, Queerly"

New from the University of California Press: Reproductive Justice, Queerly by Carly Thomsen.

About the book, from the publisher:

An invitation into doing reproductive justice queerly.

Queer theory and reproductive justice need each other―now more than ever. As liberals and leftists increasingly frame reproductive justice in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, often adopting the language of “queerness,” it has become difficult to see that their political demands and strategies are often quite conservative. In Reproductive Justice, Queerly, Carly Thomsen examines typical reproductive justice issues―including abortion, surrogacy, crisis pregnancy centers, paid parental leave, and parenting―in queer ways. She shows what can happen when we bring queer theory and reproductive justice together: a queerer, more powerful articulation of what we are fighting for.

Visit Carly Thomsen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Devil Knows Her Name"

Coming soon from Berkley: The Devil Knows Her Name by C.N. Vair.

About the book, from the publisher:

A hundred years ago, a witch sold her soul to save her life—but now she must stop the devil from collecting his due in this gripping and nuanced debut horror novel.

The devil was as my mother and grandmother had always described him: polite enough that you might forget yourself, so beautiful that you’d want to, so dangerous if you did.

Attacked by the man she desired and at the brink of death, Tess Wynne vowed she would do anything to live—and the devil heard her. Their bargain meant she would remain ageless and tethered to the land she nearly died on, at the edge of the isolated Appalachian town of Burrsville. Her home is now a wildlife sanctuary, and the spells she’s woven keep the land and community safe.

But then Tess rescues an orphaned fawn with unnatural appetites, and her instinct to protect this strange creature puts her at odds with Burrsville’s residents. And when a new pastor comes to town and begins chipping away at the trust she’s gained, threatening the sanctuary and its animals, the careful edges of Tess’s world begin to fray.

The devil whispers in her ear that he can save the sanctuary if she’ll just pay his price, and Tess must decide if she’ll trust in her own magic to save what she loves—or surrender to his will.

Visit C.N. Vair's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Black Activism in the Red Party"

New from Cambridge University Press: Black Activism in the Red Party: Race, Discrimination, and the Cuban Communist Party, 1925-1962 by Kaitlyn D. Henderson.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the 1920s to the 1960s in Cuba, against the backdrop of revolutions, new constitutions, and rampant inequality, the Cuban Communist Party stood out as an unparalleled space for Black political leadership, activism, and advocacy. This party, led by Black political actors, including labor leaders, members of Black fraternal organizations and the Black intelligentsia, fought for an end to racial discrimination and used their voices to advocate for true equality. Analyzing US government surveillance records, Cuban newspapers, government records, party pamphlets, and more, Kaitlyn D. Henderson illustrates how the Cuban Communist Party created a unique space for an expression of Cuban Black nationalism and how communist parties in the western hemisphere strayed from traditional Marxist ideology. An important corrective, this book sheds light on the overlooked history of Black Communist leaders who fought for equality before the Revolution changed everything.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Crocodilopolis"

New from Bloomsbury: Crocodilopolis: A Novel by John Manuel Arias.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the author of national bestseller Where There Was Fire comes a gripping tale of sibling rivalry, family secrets, and the fate of a nation.

Once a powerful, cold-blooded politician in Costa Rica, Seth Oreamundo is now living in exile in Washington, DC – and his younger brother Osario is to blame. Born into a corrupt political dynasty and raised on a seemingly idyllic coffee estate, the Oreamundo brothers were destined for greatness. But a dark family secret and a scandalous double crossing sent their lives into a tailspin, changing the country forever.

Osario must pay, and Seth decides the only way to do so is to return home to Costa Rica and feed his brother to the infamous river of crocodiles from their childhood. What follows is a spellbinding story of revenge alternating between Seth's murderous plans and memories of the brothers' upbringing. With the wisdom of biblical myth and the soapy wit of a telenovela, Crocodilopolis is a masterful interrogation of power, masculinity, destiny, and legacy from a literary star on the rise.

Visit John Manuel Arias's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Poetics of Incivility"

New from Cornell University Press: The Poetics of Incivility: Satire and Subversion in Modern Arab Culture by Emily Sibley.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Poetics of Incivility explores impolite modes of expression―satire, crude humor, and rudeness―as a critical lens for both aesthetic innovation and sociopolitical critique. In the Arab world―from Cairo's Tahrir Square and the thoroughfares of Beirut to war-torn Gaza―political demands have been framed by satirical cartoons and graffiti or in subversive poetry and song. Emily Sibley shows that these forms of resistance are not new to Arab culture but return to mid-nineteenth-century debates over literary propriety.

In case studies concerning women's education in 1850s' Beirut, the satirical press in colonial Egypt, colloquial theater in the era of decolonization, street art and graphic novels during and after the 2011 Egyptian protests, Sibley follows the threads of an expressive culture that announces and celebrates its own impropriety. Concluding with analyses of Gaza poetry on the internet as a space where the stakes of incivility are acutely visible, The Poetics of Incivility offers a timely consideration of incivility as an aesthetic resource for authors and artists engaging with some of the most controversial issues of their times―and ours.

--Marshal Zeringue