"This Knight Topples Empires"

New from The Dial Press: This Knight Topples Empires: A Minor Character on a Major Quest: A Novel (The Minor Character Chronicles) by Ry Herman.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this raucous, tongue-in-cheek spin on the Eastern European fairy tale “The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy,” a knight attempts to thwart an invasion, save the most beautiful woman in the world, and finally get away from their sisters.

Jules is tired of running low-stakes errands with their five magically mismatched sisters, whose skills include killing plants, inducing sneezing, and making smaller windows . . . slightly larger. Blessed with a poorly controlled ability to make flowers bloom, Jules longs for a mission where they can actually prove themself. And when the siblings stumble upon a rival kingdom’s plot to overthrow their royal family, Jules sees an opportunity.

What follows is a whirlwind of botched disguises, accidental heroics, talking animals with surprisingly strong opinions, and one very inconvenient crush on the most sought-after princess in the land. And through all this, Jules learns that happy endings are indeed possible, even if you’re not quite Prince Charming. A cozy yet epic retelling of a Romanian fairy-tale, This Knight Topples Empires proves that the greatest victories of all are love and self-acceptance.

Visit Ry Herman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"This Came to You from Chicago"

New from Syracuse University Press: This Came to You from Chicago: Local Television in the Twentieth Century by Jason J. Nebergall.

About the book, from the publisher:

This Came to You from Chicago explores the unique traits, style, and practices of “Chicago Television” from World War II to the 1990s. Jason J. Nebergall traces how, unlike mainstream stations, city-based broadcasters, who often worked day jobs, provided a platform for underrepresented groups to share their perspectives and allowed citizens to experiment with storytelling, representation, and engagement. In analyzing the idea and follow-through of “to and from Chicagoans,” Nebergall also illuminates how Chicago Television promoted civic engagement, fostered a sense of belonging and solidarity among residents, and contributed to the evolution of technological advances through the artistic risks of local and independent producers. This Came to You from Chicago presents an ideological framework that analyzes Chicago Television as being deeply rooted in the political beliefs of its creators. Issues involving labor rights, women’s liberation, the civil rights struggle, LGBTQ+ communities, and anti-capitalist activism appeared throughout the history of television in the Windy City. By bringing attention to the locality and widespread function of this programming system, Nebergall reveals how independent television developed with the vibrancy and diversity of Chicago’s cultural landscape and local advocacy for social justice.

Visit Jason J. Nebergall's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Murder Unabridged"

Coming December 1 from Minotaur Books: Murder Unabridged: An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery by P. J. Nelson.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Old Juniper Bookstore is the scene for an unexpected mystery when a late night visitor confesses to a long-ago unsolved murder, then turns up dead by morning.

Madeline Brimley is still getting used to running The Old Juniper Bookstore in Enigma, Georgia. When she inherited it from her aunt, it came at an opportune time. Madeline's acting career had slowed down to the point that it was exhibiting no signs of life so returning home to the small Georgia college town of Enigma actually sounded like a good idea. And, except for a murder, arson, and a long-dead body found in the front garden, it's actually turned out well. But when an old man, claiming to be a distant relative named Trilby, shows up in the middle of the night, then confesses to an unremembered murder that happened in the Victorian house that is now The Old Juniper Bookstore, Madeline is...to put it mildly...poleaxed. Given the inclement weather and time of night, Madeline puts him up for the night, hoping to turn him over to the local police in the morning. A plan that goes wrong when, next morning, Trilby is found to have died overnight. And not of natural causes - he was poisoned. Now the bookstore is a crime scene and Madeline a possible suspect.

Now Madeline has both an old and a new mystery to solve if she is to clear her own name before she finds herself taking the fall for this unusual and unexpected death.

My Book, The Movie: All My Bones.

The Page 69 Test: All My Bones.

Q&A with P. J. Nelson.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Imitation Is Suicide"

New from Princeton University Press: Imitation Is Suicide - Teachers & Students from the Romantic by Marc Gotlieb.

About the book, from the publisher:

A groundbreaking cultural history of calamitous teacher-student relationships at the heart of nineteenth-century French painting and efforts to fix them

The suicides of painters Léopold Robert and Antoine-Jean Gros in 1835 left a deep imprint on the European imagination. Imitation Is Suicide examines a rash of notorious artist suicides that saw wide publicity in the Romantic era, showing how observers of the period—from visual artists to novelists, art critics, biographers, and numerous others—at once commemorated those deaths and traced their origins to teacher-student relationships gone catastrophically wrong.

Marc Gotlieb also sheds light on figures like Eugène Delacroix—who controversially argued against the authority of tradition in art education and sought to dismantle the prestige of the teacher. And he also explores the pioneering instruction of Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, an influential art teacher who viewed education as recuperative, designed to protect students from external forces that hindered their natural development. Gotlieb traces how the relationship between teacher and student emerged as newly charged and frequently contested terrain, not simply in the teaching studio but also long after instruction had ended. Against the classic scenario that saw masters instruct pupils in their own manner, it now fell to teachers to discourage such imitations. Gotlieb looks at real and fictionalized quarrels between teachers and students, including idealizing imagery around art education that made the case the teacher should stand aside. And he pairs such imagery with accounts of last paintings—works completed prior to an artist’s suicide and thought to betray clues as to the pedagogical character of the crisis that brought an artist’s career to a violent terminus.

With new findings on familiar and lesser-known artists, Imitation Is Suicide demonstrates how the circumstances of an artist’s death, no less than their artistic education, could profoundly shape how their lives and works were interpreted and imbued with meaning.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Squatters"

New from The Dial Press: The Squatters: A Novel by Saba Brelvi.

About the book, from the publisher:

Two families collide in this provocative debut about motherhood, migration, and the distance between who we are and who we want to be.

How far are you willing to go to help someone in need?

Surrey is a quiet, affluent area just outside of London, replete with tree-lined streets, great schools, and friendly neighbors. Though she and her husband embody second-generation immigrant success, Dalia Waheed has never quite felt like she belongs.

While volunteering at a local nonprofit called Refugee Resettlement, Dalia meets the very pregnant Hajira and her husband, who are seeking asylum in the UK. In Hajira, Dalia feels a kinship she can’t quite explain. So, when Hajira asks for help finding an alternative to their grim government housing, Dalia knows she will not ignore her plea. Helping another mother secure a safer place to live seems less like charity than duty.

But what begins as a simple act of compassion quickly spirals into something far more treacherous. Soon, Dalia finds herself engulfed in a political firestorm that forces her to confront what she's truly willing to risk—for her ideals, her family, and for a woman who has already lost everything.

Visit Saba Brelvi's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Holding On to Home"

New from the University of California Press: Holding On to Home: Immigrant Women and the Promise of Sanctuary by Sarah Bruhn.

About the book, from the publisher:

Over twenty million Americans live in cities that have passed sanctuary policies to protect the rights of immigrants and their families. However, contentious public conversations surrounding sanctuary obscure what these policies actually mean to the immigrants they purport to serve, making it hard to see what strengthens the power of sanctuary and what undermines its protections.

Holding On to Home, based on five years of fieldwork and over one hundred in-depth interviews, illuminates how immigrant women’s care work―in their families, schools, and communities―makes real the promise of sanctuary. Through their resistive care work, immigrant women weave together an enduring fabric of protection that transforms inclusive policies into meaningful practices that support immigrant mothers as they nurture their children and loved ones. Holding On to Home reveals how these women confront both overt threats to sanctuary―anti-immigrant policies and increasingly violent and arbitrary immigration enforcement―alongside a less obvious threat to sanctuary, but one that widens inequality in our urban landscapes: gentrification. Tracing the meaning of sanctuary across shifting political contexts, Sarah Bruhn powerfully demonstrates how immigrant women resist these forces of exclusion to lay claim to their right to create a home and to belong in our shared cities.

Visit Sarah Bruhn's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Bear Brawl"

New from Blackstone: Bear Brawl: A Novel by Jon Finkel.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Fight Club meets The Revenant in Bear Brawl, a heartfelt revenge-and-redemption story that asks, Could a man really take on a bear?

Brick Bridger is a two-time NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion and the winner of eight UFC fights before retiring. One summer night, running late to his mom’s barbecue, disaster strikes. A rogue black bear goes on a rampage, breaks into the cabin, kills his mom, and puts his brother in a wheelchair. Devastated, Brick knows that had he been there, he could have stopped the bear. With the help of a top zoologist, his old wrestling coach, and his training partner, Brick vows to get revenge.

Bear Brawl takes readers on a blockbuster adventure from the first page, with a cast of unforgettable characters you’ll root for like you’re watching your favorite action movie.

Visit Jon Finkel's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Mary Kay"

New from Columbia Unversity Press: Mary Kay: How a Cosmetics Empire Transformed Women’s Work in America by Cassandra L. Yacovazzi.

About the book, from the publisher:

When Mary Kay Ash founded her company, Beauty by Mary Kay, in 1963, women had limited options in a male-dominated business world. By the 1970s, the cosmetics and skincare company had a salesforce of tens of thousands and became the first woman-founded firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Mary Kay and the pink Cadillac turned into cultural icons, and the company remains a billion-dollar global business. Often dismissed as a lipstick-selling side hustle or labeled a predatory multilevel marketing scheme, Mary Kay drove a major and surprising shift in women’s economic opportunities outside the office.

This book tells the story of Mary Kay Ash and the cosmetics firm that bears her name, from its founding and growth to the distinctive gendered corporate culture she cultivated. Ash combined direct sales and multilevel marketing strategies with workplace flexibility, a rhetoric of “be your own boss,” and a sense of community and recognition for American women as they entered the workplace. She monetized women’s social networks and fostered a lifestyle brand built on values of faith, family, and free enterprise. Cassandra L. Yacovazzi explores how women in Mary Kay have navigated opportunity, structural constraints, and shifting gender norms, showing how they are sometimes empowered and sometimes exploited. She also considers Mary Kay Ash’s complex personal life and carefully constructed public image, simultaneously a maternal icon and a driven executive. In this nuanced view of Mary Kay that elevates the voices of the women who participated, we find new insights into the history of the beauty industry, female entrepreneurship, and women’s work in the United States.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Meaning of Daughter"

New from the University of Iowa Press: The Meaning of Daughter by Alexia Nader.

About the novel, from the publisher:

After immigrating from Lebanon to Haiti as a young girl, Merjan comes of age in an insular, conservative community, where it seems as though her sole escape is marriage. Striking a bargain with a young art dealer, she marries and dreams of becoming a painter, only to discover her husband’s support tethered with expectations.

In the late 1970s, Merjan’s daughter Yvonne is a young woman on the cusp of a marriage of convenience. Though resentful of her mother, Yvonne dreams of establishing a Haitian art gallery in New York with the help of a well-connected older man—but her time there ends disastrously, creating a deep rift between her and her family.

In the present day, Yvonne’s daughter Eva is a student whose art draws inspiration from her grandmother Merjan’s largely undiscovered work. When Eva becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she moves back to her childhood home in Miami to sort out her ambivalent feelings, where she finds her family upended by feuds. An intimate family saga, The Meaning of Daughter explores questions about maternal ambivalence, ambition, artmaking, and how desire resists gendered expectations.

Visit Alexia Nader's website.

See Alexia Nader's seven books that weigh the choice of motherhood.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Forces of Creolization"

New from the University of Virginia Press: Forces of Creolization: Glissant and a Decolonial Feminist Aperture by Ruthanne Soohee Kim.

About the book, from the publisher:

A groundbreaking feminist and decolonial reading of Édouard Glissant

Forces of Creolization reads Édouard Glissant’s poetic and philosophical work through a feminist, decolonial lens, foregrounding creolization as a force of resistance, relationality, and submerged becoming. Drawing on Caribbean poststructuralism, Black feminist thought, and Global South epistemologies, Ruthanne Soohee Kim unveils a method of reading Glissant that centers diffraction, opacity, and errantry―not merely as metaphors but as political and poetic strategies.

Reading Glissant alongside Luce Irigaray, Sylvia Wynter, Saidiya Hartman, and Kamau Brathwaite, Kim shows how creolization resists colonial genealogies, racial essentialism, and patriarchal closure. With her close readings of Glissant’s novels, essays, and theoretical writings, Kim theorizes the abyss, the open boat, and the Medusing shoreline as sites where historical trauma becomes creative insurgency. Here, chaos, revolt, and carnival emerge as generative forces of world-making. Forces of Creolization offers an interdisciplinary framework for rethinking kinship, identity, and futurity, and contributes a necessary feminist aperture to Caribbean thought.

Follow Ruthanne Soohee Kim on Instagram.

--Marshal Zeringue