"Liberal Arts"

New from TriQuarterly: Liberal Arts: A Novel by David McGlynn.

About the book, from the publisher:

A kaleidoscopic novel-in-stories set at a fictional Midwest college

Two centuries old and covered in ivy, Wisconsin’s Buchanan College is populated by an eclectic mix of students, staff, and professors hailing from the nearby suburbs to the far corners of the globe. From the outside, Buchanan seems an idyllic world of higher learning. Yet behind its bucolic exterior, a series of interconnected dramas play out: a slew of first-year students mysteriously disappear within days of moving in; an injured hockey star discovers an unlikely fountain of youth; an alumna returns to campus after fifty years in the hope of reconnecting with a former love. And throughout the novel we follow the story of Jenny Ramirez, a social worker and the wife of a popular professor, who commits an act that alters how the college sees her, and how she sees herself. Over a span of four years, from orientation to graduation, the characters in Liberal Arts are forced to weigh their ideals and aspirations against the harsh and often ridiculous realities of the world, and are left asking what, if anything, a liberal arts education has left to teach them.

Visit David McGlynn's website.

Writers Read: David McGlynn (September 2025).

Q&A with David McGlynn.

The Page 69 Test: Everything We Could Do.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Reindeer"

New from Yale University Press: Reindeer: A Tale of Nature and Survival in a Changing North by Nancy Langston.

About the book, from the publisher:

A global history of human relationships with reindeer, and how wildlife relocation can preserve both reindeer populations and cultural heritage

Across the Arctic and the boreal north, reindeer populations are dwindling as our ever developing planet grows warmer. Reindeer range is roughly half what it was in the nineteenth century, and populations have dropped by more than half in the past ten years alone. However, we have a conservation tool at hand for this crisis: wildlife translocation, or moving animals to more suitable habitats.

In this book, the first popular global history of reindeer, Nancy Langston interweaves historical research with accounts of her fieldwork in northern Scandinavia, Iceland, North America, Mongolia, and elsewhere. She details the history of struggles faced by communities that have relied on reindeer hunting and herding and engages with the scientific debates about the need to move northern wildlife to viable habitats because of human activities. She also addresses the challenges―logistical, ethical, and societal―of moving large animals in a world with complex geopolitical boundaries.

Enhanced by the author’s own artwork, this passionate, informed, and surprisingly hopeful volume sheds light on the complicated past and possible futures of reindeer and the cultures surrounding them.

Visit Nancy Langston's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Mark of Moriarty"

Coming November 10 from Crooked Lane Books: The Mark of Moriarty: Sherlock Holmes Is Dead but his Nemesis Is Not (Book 2 of 2: Moriarty Mystery) by Jack Anderson.

About the book, from the publisher:

This enthralling sequel to The Return of Moriarty is perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz and Laurie R. King.

Here is a mystery fit for the late Sherlock Holmes, and his surviving nemesis, Professor James Moriarty, is just the shadowy genius to take it on.

Disgraced socialite Viola Bellman is found barefoot in a snowy New York alleyway. There is no sign of how she got there, and she is too traumatized to speak. The only clue is the twelve-word note scribbled in the King James Bible she’s clutching: “The Arcane Society of New York holds close the fortune you seek.” But what is the Arcane Society?

The puzzle intrigues young Dr. Clara Mendel. She decides to join the Sabel Club, whose members are devoted to solving the riddle of Viola Bellman. Clara takes Viola on as her first official patient and is determined to help her speak again—with or without the assistance of her old sparring partner, Professor James Moriarty.

But when Moriarty returns and the Arcane Society strikes, Clara must fight to protect her friends and patient. In the mounting chaos, she also faces a disturbing question: Is she more like James Moriarty than she’d like to believe?

The Mark of Moriarty is a delectable treat for Sherlock Holmes fans everywhere.

Visit Jack Anderson's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Pink Crime"

New from The New Press: Pink Crime: Fighting Against the Criminalization of Motherhood, Pregnancy, and Queer Identity by Valena Beety.

About the book, from the publisher:

When your identity is the crime, innocence is no defense

A woman miscarries—and is charged with murder. A new mother tests positive for a drug her hospital administered—and loses custody of her newborn. Four women are convicted of horrific crimes against children they never touched, based on junk science and homophobia—and spend nearly twenty years in prison before being exonerated. A queer teenager takes a photo of a child’s diaper rash at work—and is sentenced to 126 years. These cases are not aberrations. They are symptoms of a system that punishes women and queer people not for what they have done, but for who they are.

In the United States, nearly three-quarters of all wrongly convicted women were convicted of crimes that never occurred at all. Valena Beety, co-founder of the Indiana Innocence Project and award-winning legal scholar cited by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, reveals how ordinary tragedies—a child’s sudden death, a husband who dies in his sleep—are transformed by prosecutors into murders that never happened. These “no crime” convictions disproportionately target women and queer people, whose identities are recast as evidence of guilt through bias, junk science, and entrenched stereotypes.

Drawing on devastating real-life cases, Beety exposes how prosecutorial overreach, flawed forensic science, and cultural panic converge—and how fetal personhood laws, the fall of Roe v. Wade, and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation have dramatically expanded the reach of criminal law. What emerges is a chilling portrait of a legal system that increasingly criminalizes pregnancy outcomes, motherhood, and queer identity itself.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Queen's Witch"

Coming November 1 from 47North: The Queen's Witch (The Tudor Witches) by Nancy Kress.

About the book, from the publisher:

From award-winning author Nancy Kress comes a lush historical fantasy that reimagines the life of Anne Boleyn from the lens of the witch who helps guide her in courtly rise―an enchanted tale of sisterhood, power, and a dangerous bid for the throne.

Alysoun Rowe descends from an ancient line of cunning women―healers and hedge witches whose full power only awakens when they bond with their destined Third. But after a spell goes frightfully wrong, she discovers her familiar is no ordinary object or animal. It’s a distant kinswoman: Anne Boleyn, a brilliant young lady on the rise in King Henry VIII’s luminous yet treacherous court.

Anne will do anything to wear the crown of England. And Alysoun will go just as far to unlock the wild magick spiraling inside her, even if it means breaking her coven’s age-old rules.

As the king’s desire morphs into a dangerous obsession and a ruthless witch hunt closes in, the two women form a reluctant truce. Bound by fate in a realm of lust, rivalry, and betrayal, they each face a choice. But how far will they go to seize power in a world that would gladly watch them burn?

Visit Nancy Kress's website, and follow her on Facebook.

The Page 69 Test: Dogs.

The Page 69 Test: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall.

The Page 69 Test: Tomorrow's Kin.

The Page 69 Test: If Tomorrow Comes.

The Page 69 Test: Terran Tomorrow.

My Book, The Movie: Terran Tomorrow.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Bringing Wreck"

New from the University of Texas Press: Bringing Wreck: Megan Thee Stallion, Monica Roberts, and Other Houston Hurricanes by Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley.

About the book, from the publisher:

A whirling exploration of how Megan Thee Stallion inspires Black women and femmes like the late Monica Roberts, framed by the storm-making work of both.

While rap megastar Megan Thee Stallion needs no introduction, fewer will be familiar with Monica Roberts, a Houston journalist, community historian, and trans activist with the popular blog TransGriot. Though the two women never met, their work has inspired Black LGBTQ+ activists to love, resist violence, speak truth to power, and dance like life depends on it. With a written energy that’s infectious, Omise’eke Tinsley highlights just how intertwined these artists are.

An incisive look at the impactful sisterhood between Black women and femmes, Bringing Wreck is a book of empowerment. From Megan’s first performance on Saturday Night Live calling to “Protect Black Women,” to Roberts’s use of Hurricane Hanna to poke fun at Donald Trump’s border wall, Tinsley digs into the world-changing power of disruption and joyful expression in the face of racial injustice, anti-trans and queer violence, mental health crises, and community disparities. Reveling in both women’s love of Houston, calling-out of gendered violence, penchant for political humor, and staunch mental health advocacy, Bringing Wreck is an ode to the Bayou City, Black music, and the difference that one woman’s voice can make when we listen carefully.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Legally Yours, Violet Lopez"

New from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers: Legally Yours, Violet Lopez by Elba Luz.

About the book, from the publisher:

A serious and studious teen reluctantly agrees to defend her elite private school’s lazy golden boy in this young adult rom-com with courtroom intrigue, an opposites attract romance, and witty banter.

Violet Lopez has planned exactly how her life will go: She’ll graduate valedictorian, attend Harvard, and become a big shot lawyer, all so that her injury-prone single dad can finally take a break.

As a member of her elite private school’s law society, Violet is proud to hold a near-perfect record of defending students against the disciplinary board. But when the popular and infuriatingly charming Theo Hudson is accused of a prank he swears he didn’t commit, Violet recuses herself from his case on the grounds of despising the school’s privileged golden boy, and not even a couple classmates’ offer of a four-figure payout to purposely tank his trial can change her mind.

Then Theo uncovers a secret Violet wants to keep under wraps and blackmails her into representing him. Sick of being pushed around by rich kids, Violet decides she can get sweet revenge on the arrogant jock and some much-needed cash at the same time. She’ll twist his alibi, lose key evidence, mislead witnesses—all while playing the perfect lawyer on the surface. Theo goes down, and Violet gets paid.

But the closer Violet gets to Theo, the more she sees beneath his devil-may-care attitude to someone caring and surprisingly sensitive…who she’s been planning to sabotage. Is it too late to change her mind? And even if she does, would Theo ever forgive her?

Violet can object to falling in love all she wants, but her heart overrules every time.

Visit Elba Luz's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The God Notes"

New from HarperOne: The God Notes: How Sound Creates the World by Lynne McTaggart.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the author who proved our intentions shape our reality, an awe-inspiring scientific detective story revealing the mysteries of sound—impacting everything within and around us, from our cells and brains to other living things, our relationships and even the cosmos.

Specific sounds create major effects on the human mind and body, and there are both "good" sounds (or "God notes") capable of instantly transporting human beings into an altered state, or healing all manner of illness, and "bad notes" (such as from seismic rumblings, container ships, solar flares or wind turbines), causing distress or illness.

The God Notes takes readers through a mind-expanding and paradigm-busting scientific detective story of the universe as one intergalactic sonic superorganism, revealing that

• Rhythm, vibration and sound are responsible for many molecular functions in the body, from chemical reactions and nervous system messengering to the activity of proteins and collective brain activity.

• Plants can "hear"; certain sounds help them grow and also ward off predators.

• The sun, the planets, pulsars and even black holes emit rhythmic sounds now thought to contribute to the growth of entire galaxies and to have a profound effect on life on earth.

• A hidden "musical score," based on the work of the British mathematical code-buster Alan Turing, underpins every part of our vibrating universe, a vast physical patterning across all natural phenomena.

The God Notes is first book to explain just how the sounds around us and the sounds we make affect our lives, and the tools it offers can bring peace, balance, and harmony into our lives.

Visit Lynne McTaggart's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Your Boyfriend Needs an Exorcist"

New from Bloomsbury YA: Your Boyfriend Needs an Exorcist by Justine Pucella Winans.

About the book, from the publisher:

Jennifer's Body meets The Weight of Blood in this horror-comedy about an evil spirit looking for a second chance at love and life.

Just because Schuyler is a bloodthirsty evil spirit doesn't mean she can't fall in love. Ever since Wren Castillo moved into the house Schuyler haunts, Schuyler has been crushing hard. But Wren has a boyfriend, Enzo, and he's the worst. Schuyler has no choice but to watch as Enzo treats Wren terribly-until she accidentally possesses him.

With Enzo's spirit nowhere to be found, Schuyler must pretend to be him until she can set things right. But Schuyler feels more at home in Enzo's body than she ever did in her own, and as she grows closer to his family and friends-including Wren-she starts to wonder if this could all be for keeps.

Maintaining a possession is harder than Schuyler expected, though, and it might just take some spilled blood to keep her new body going strong. Worse, it turns out she's not the only one interested in stealing Enzo's body. When another evil spirit threatens everyone Schuyler now holds dear, she must decide just how far she's willing to go to secure her second chance at love-and life.

Visit Justine Pucella Winans's website.

Q&A with Justine Pucella Winans.

--Marshal Zeringue

"American Romanticism and the Evolutionary Idea"

New from Stanford University Press: American Romanticism and the Evolutionary Idea by Jennifer J. Baker.

About the book, from the publisher:

Evolutionary thought transformed nineteenth-century American intellectual life. This book details how it shaped literature in the middle decades of the century and intersected with Romantic conceptions of selfhood, society, and the history of life. Jennifer J. Baker reads the era's Romanticism in relation to Darwin as well as naturalists, embryologists, ethnologists, anthropologists, and even Biblical creationists who used evolutionary frameworks to understand the past and future. The "evolutionary idea" encompassed much more than Darwinism, she argues, and even Darwinism in these decades was variously understood and not necessarily the secular, mechanistic, and deterministic thinking we now associate with the Gilded Age. Baker uncovers an earlier, Romantic evolutionism in writing about self-culture, social reform, racial uplift, prehistoric life and cultures, and the creation of art.

Baker proposes that American Romanticism was itself a way of thinking about the human condition in the terms of evolutionary process. She draws on an extensive literary archive, including works by Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, Douglass, Delany, Dickinson, Whitman, Melville, Hawthorne, and Poe, to detail how writers understood change and innovation as the product of teleology, chance, social organization, environmental pressures, and, not least of all, the past.

--Marshal Zeringue