"Jenny Will Eat You Now"

Coming September 29 from Gallery Books: Jenny Will Eat You Now: A Meat Cute by Gillian Daniels.

About the book, from the publisher:

Sometimes you want to eat the ones you love…right? In this gorgeous horror-romance, river monster Jenny Greenteeth stalks a handsome academic through Boston after a chance encounter leaves her hungry and curious about the world she’s been hiding from.

Jenny Greenteeth prefers to keep her own company beneath the streets of Boston, where she’s lived for hundreds of years. With a conviction that she is far superior to humans—who are petty, dangerous, and fragile—she has no qualms about satisfying her hunger with their flesh. That is, until she comes face to face with a human man who, for the first time, she doesn’t want to eat (but also…she kind of does). Confused by these conflicting feelings, Jenny is intrigued.

So, when two city-dwelling cryptids take up residence in her station, she (begrudgingly) asks them to help her find this mystery man. Along the way, Jenny experiences the modern world for the first time—discovering catcalling, pigeons, protests, fashion, friendship, and Dunkin’ Donuts. On her quest to find the man she couldn’t eat at first sight, Jenny finds herself falling in love. And as she falls in love, two conflicting hungers grow within her—the hunger to be seen and understood and the hunger for human flesh.

Visit Gillian Daniels's blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Tempting Fate"

New from Princeton University Press: Tempting Fate: A Philosophical Guide to Risk, Luck, and a Meaningful Life by Duncan Pritchard.

About the book, from the publisher:

A leading philosopher explains how risk-taking can help us live authentic and flourishing lives

We take risks every day—perhaps not the extreme, dangling-off-the-side-of-a-mountain kind of risks, but risks nonetheless, in decisions about careers, marriage, children, moving house, and other matters. Tempting fate is simply what we have to do from time to time in life. But how we should go about tempting fate in a reasonable way? In this illuminating book, philosopher Duncan Pritchard explains why risk-taking, even extreme risk-taking, can sometimes be both reasonable and admirable, and how it can play a crucial role in living an authentic life.

Using Alex Honnold’s famous free solo climb of El Capitan as a paradigm example of admirable risk-taking, Pritchard offers a completely new theory of risk, one that explains it in terms of fragility rather than probability. He shows how fragility can explain why skill and preparation are crucial to sensible risk-taking, even when the activity is unavoidably high risk. Fragility also makes clear that taking risks means riding one’s luck and why both risk and luck are vital to living an authentic and meaningful existence. Pritchard shows that his fragility theory of risk has practical implications for making sense of risk in law, arts, sports, and other domains. Tempting fate, in other words, is not merely thrill-seeking but essential for human flourishing.

Visit Duncan Pritchard's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"We Already Dug the Grave"

New from Poisoned Pen Press: We Already Dug the Grave: A Novel by Emma C. Wells.

About the novel, from the publisher:

From the USA Today bestselling author of This Girl's a Killer, comes a southern gothic thriller with the bite of Sharp Objects and a dash of Practical Magic, following two estranged sisters who will do anything to protect each other – even murder. Again.

Milly can't divine the future anymore, and maybe that's a good thing. Lately, her life has been bleak enough, she doesn't need the now-silent tea leaves to tell her. Meanwhile, her estranged younger sister thrives miles away in a shiny new life with a shiny new marriage. Milly doesn't blame Francis for wanting nothing to do with her. Not after what happened in that Tennessee meadow a decade before.

But when Francis shows up on Milly's doorstep with a black eye and a plea for help – Milly can't say no. Especially when the tea leaves are finally crystal clear: if the sisters don't kill Francis's husband, he'll kill her.

And if they're going to plot a murder, the sisters have no choice but to return to the one place they'd left behind. A place where another body – and a multitude of secrets – were buried. Because this isn't the first time the sisters have needed to dispose of a bad man. In fact, they might be pretty good at it.

Visit Emma C. Wells's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"New World Calculation"

New from Stanford University Press: New World Calculation: The Making of Numbers in Colonial America by Molly Farrell.

About the book, from the publisher:

Molly Farrell tells the story of colonial America as a testing ground for new ways of conceptualizing numbers, uncovering overlooked forms of numerical thinking to argue that colonialism and the rise of racial capitalism incited a struggle about what exactly a number is and what it can do. When English settlers began colonizing Indigenous lands, they confronted groups of people with very different beliefs about numbers. Meanwhile, Atlantic colonialism required tremendous accounting work, especially to support the trade in enslaved Africans. Numeracy, then, seems to be deeply complicit with the colonial project. Farrell, however, follows the circulation of arithmetic primers, cipher books, and other material traces to show how everyday people repurposed numeracy to serve their own ends—ranging from making a living as a fugitive from enslavement to measuring medicine for at-home abortion. Drawing on book history and Black feminist science and technology studies, New World Calculation argues that we need to restore the math book into its social space in order to disentangle the relationship between quantification and oppression in America's cultural history.

Visit Molly Farrell's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Palace Beneath the Sea"

New from Harper Voyager: The Palace Beneath the Sea: A Mermaid Fantasy by Lauren Wiesebron.

About the book, from the publisher:

The acclaimed author of House of Frost and Feathers returns with a sweeping, lyrical novel inspired by a mermaid folktale filled with exploration, love, adventure, and magic.

A GREAT LOVE. A MYSTERIOUS KINGDOM BENEATH THE WAVES. A DEVASTATING BETRAYAL.

A doomed love story created the city of Ys, it’s fitting that another one would end it...

Nolwenn is sure that her life’s purpose is to defend her beloved coastal city of Ys as a lighthouse keeper. But when a dangerous, unnatural tide threatens Ys, the queen instead tasks Nolwen with collecting enough rare seasilk to shield the city from the deadly monsters who lurk deep beneath the waves.

Determined to fulfill her task, Nolwenn recklessly puts her life in danger, only to be attacked by the very creatures she’s trying to defend her city against. She’s saved by Morvan, a member of the korrigez people, with the torso of a human and the tail of a fish. Against her will, Morvan drags her deeper into the ocean to the coral palace of Below-Ys. Although Nolwenn is terrified and homesick, Below-Ys is also strange and beautiful…as is Morvan. The more time Nolwenn spends below the surface, the less she is sure she wants to leave.

As danger draws ever nearer to her homeland and Ys remains precariously unprotected, Nolwenn must decide between her heart and her home.

Visit Lauren Wiesebron's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Beyond the War"

New from Cambridge University Press: Beyond the War: Argentines and Islanders in an Unknown Falklands by Sebastián Carassai.

About the book, from the publisher:

Beyond the War reconstructs the often-overlooked history of the Falkland Islands before the 1982 conflict. Drawing on impressions of Argentine travelers and the island community, as well as British and Argentine diplomacy and politics, it reveals a world of mutual suspicions and tensions, but also of exchanges and collaborations, challenging the notion that war was inevitable. The book situates the islands within the broader history of the British Empire's reconfiguration during the UN-driven decolonization era, showing how global changes resonated in this remote setting. It examines decisive episodes, from the unprecedented period opened by the 1971 Communications Agreement to the influence of Argentine popular music, while analyzing competing Argentine nationalisms that shaped an “emotional community” around the islands. Based on new and little-explored sources, it offers a fresh perspective on evolving relations between islanders and Argentines, as well as postwar transformations that continue to shape the islands' identity today.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Echo of Loss"

Coming soon from Lake Union: The Echo of Loss (Hallewell Trilogy) by Katherine Webb.

About the novel, from the publisher:

From Sunday Times bestseller Katherine Webb. A long-buried crime. A marriage built on lies. Could the truth be a second chance?

England, 1902. More than a decade has passed since a wrongful accusation sent a young man to the gallows, an injustice that shattered the lives of those left behind―including Theodora Hallewell and Toby Meriwether, whose chance at love died that same day.

Trapped in a violent marriage to an eminent doctor, Theo has endured the years in silence, while secretly pursuing a dangerous obsession with the past. Toby, burdened by guilt and grief, has built a respectable life as a journalist and prison reformer, though his own marriage has crumbled under the weight of things he cannot forget.

When their paths cross again, both are drawn back to the tragedy that shaped their youth. As Theo uncovers long-buried secrets about that fateful night, she discovers a truth more dangerous than she ever imagined. A truth that could destroy her―or finally set her free.

Spanning two decades from the dawn of the Edwardian era to the Great War, The Echo of Loss is a sweeping story exploring love, forgiveness and the courage to seek justice at any cost.

Visit Katherine Webb's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Rival Modernities"

New from Stanford University Press: Rival Modernities: Fin-de-Siècle Celebrity and the United States in the French National Imagination by Venita Datta.

About the book, from the publisher:

What do Buffalo Bill and Gustave Eiffel have in common? These celebrities are both part of Venita Datta's analysis of competing notions of modernity and French-American relations at the turn of the twentieth century. Fin-de-siècle France saw itself as the premier modern country. A pioneer in the aviation and cinema industries, its capital Paris was home to the cultural avant-garde. Nonetheless, the French harbored ambivalent feelings toward modernity and expressed their critiques of a certain type of modernity by denigrating it as "American." To understand this ambivalence, Datta effectively contrasts four pairs of exemplary French and American figures: inventor-entrepreneurs Gustave Eiffel and Thomas Edison, reporters Nellie Bly and Gaston Leroux, celebrity politicians Georges Boulanger and Theodore Roosevelt, and adventurers Buffalo Bill and the Marquis de Morès. Through an examination of the differences in French perceptions of these famous pairs, Datta illustrates that they highlight competing values rooted in national identity, and reflect each nation's struggles with democracy. Filled with fascinating characters and detail, Datta's book illuminates both the rivalries between France and the United States and their deep connections at an important yet understudied moment in history. The legacy of these complex Franco-American cultural relations is profoundly relevant to the challenges contemporary democracies face today.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Love Felt Like This"

New from Berkley: Love Felt Like This by Julie Olivia.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A grumpy rock star and a joyful children’s show creator revive television magic in this standalone, cozy small-town romance.

Griffin Harvey lives his life in the spotlight. Reluctantly. The brooding famous singer-songwriter is on the cusp of composing his sophomore album ... if only he could find the notes. But after gaining custody of his two-year-old daughter, the only music he’s writing is about shapes and counting to ten.

Enter Beverly, who lives her life in the background producing children’s television and laughter. Except joy is hard to find when her nonprofit loses funding. She sinks all of her savings to revive the children’s show by herself, but when her variety show appearance collides with Griffin’s, their banter and chemistry is caught on live television.

Suddenly, Griffin is singing a new tune. He needs a muse, and Beverly needs all the help she can get. With his secret daughter in tow, they hide out in her cozy mountain hometown, attempting to script, compose, and revive television magic. Their dynamic shouldn’t work. He’s all harsh tattoos and rough hands while she’s bright colors and gentle touches. Once their three months of work are done, they’ll return to their separate worlds. But what happens when it seems the true magic might be found in each other?

Visit Julie Olivia's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Doubting Thomas"

New from University of Notre Dame Press: Doubting Thomas: Early Franciscan Disputes with Aquinas by Brendan W. Case.

About the book, from the publisher:

Doubting Thomas presents a deep analysis of four key debates between Aquinas and his contemporaries, offering a fresh perspective on behalf of the saint’s major critics.

While Thomas Aquinas remains by far the most influential philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages, many of his contemporaries considered him a dangerous innovator whose enthusiasm for the newly rediscovered Aristotle at points led him astray. Some theologians of the Franciscan Order, especially, were vocal critics of his thought.

In Doubting Thomas, Brendan W. Case examines four interrelated critiques of Aquinas leveled by Franciscan theologians Bonaventure of Bagnoregio and his student Peter John Olivi over the nature of human knowledge, the proper way to understand how unity and trinity relate in God, the nature of time, and the nature of matter and its relation to spiritual beings. By arguing that the Franciscans had the better of Aquinas in each of these debates, Case offers a much-needed corrective to the one-sided focus on Aquinas’s thought in recent theology and philosophy.

--Marshal Zeringue