"Trafficking Rhetoric"

New from Ohio State University Press: Trafficking Rhetoric: Race, Migration, and the Making of Modern-Day Slavery by Annie Hill.

About the book, from the publisher:

Human trafficking has generated intense global concern, with stories of sex slavery and images of women forced into prostitution so persuasive that states have raced to respond ahead of empirical data and clear definitions of the crime. In Trafficking Rhetoric, Annie Hill analyzes the entanglement of state veneration and state violence by tracking how the United Kingdom points to the alleged crimes of others in order to celebrate itself and conceal its own aggression. Hill compares the UK’s acclaimed rescue approach to human trafficking with its hostile approach to migration, arguing that they are two sides of the same coin—one that relies on rhetorical constructions of “trafficked women” and “illegal migrants” to materialize the UK as an Anglo-white space.

Drawing from official estimates, policy papers, NGO reports, news stories, and awareness campaigns and situating them in the broader EU context, Hill accounts for why the UK’s antitrafficking agenda emerged with such rhetorical force in the early twenty-first century. Trafficking Rhetoric reframes controversies over labor, citizenship, and migration while challenging the continued traction of race-baiting and gender bias in determining who has the right to live, work, and belong in the nation.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King"

New from Bramble: The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King: Book 2 of the Nightborn Duet (Crowns of Nyaxia, Volume 2) by Carissa Broadbent.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the New York Times bestselling author Carissa Broadbent, comes The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King, the gutting second installment of the Crowns of Nyaxia series, full of heartbreak, redemption, blood intrigue and heart-pounding action.

Love is a sacrifice at the altar of power.

In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.

Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a

slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.

When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingd

om–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.

But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future,

Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power—and the devastating love that could be her downfall.

Visit Carissa Broadbent's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Storytelling in Motion"

New from Oxford University Press: Storytelling in Motion: Cinematic Choreography and the Film Musical by Jenny Oyallon-Koloski.

About the book, from the publisher:

How do filmmakers guide viewer attention through the frame using the movement of bodies on screen? What do they seek to communicate with their cinematic choreography, and how were those choices shaped by the industrial conditions available to them?

Storytelling in motion: Cinematic Choreography and the Film Musical demonstrates how figure movement can serve as a versatile strategy of meaning-making, particularly when filmmakers attend to the relationship between choreographed movement and film style. Using Franco-American film musicals as case studies, this book analyses the narrative and stylistic impact of figure movement in cinema and the subtle power of cinematic choreography, those moments when filmmakers deliberately combine the strengths of film style and organized figure movement to convey narrative meaning through motion. Cinematic choreography emphasizes musical conventions in Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952), prejudiced conflict in West Side Story (Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, 1961), aesthetic play in Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (Jacques Demy, 1967), generic discomfort in Trois places pour le 26 (Jacques Demy, 1988), the politics of illness in Jeanne et le garçon formidable (Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, 1998), and decision-making in La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016).

Integrating vocabularies and analytical systems from Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies, film studies, and related fields to parse cinematic figure movement on multiple formal levels, this book uses performative research methods from videographic criticism to show the poetic and oblique connections between films through videographic as well as written chapters. Storytelling in Motion centers the crucial material conditions needed to make figure movement a significant component of narrative filmmaking: time, money, rehearsal space, industrial support, and performers and crew with the necessary embodied and institutional knowledge. The films discussed tell a clear story of how cinematic choreography was used by French and American filmmakers to innovate storytelling through figure movement, inspired by their predecessors' aesthetics while working within differing industrial conditions.

Visit Jenny Oyallon-Koloski's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Swift River"

New from Simon & Schuster: Swift River by Essie Chambers.

About the book, from the publisher:

A story of family mythology and coming-of-age that you won't want to put down. We can't wait to read what Essie Chambers writes next.

It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop’s been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.

But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she’s never met, key elements of Pop’s life are uncovered, and she is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion. As pieces of their shared past become clearer, Diamond gains a sense of her place in the world and in her family. But how will what she’s learned of the past change her future?

A story of first friendships, family secrets, and finding the courage to let go, Swift River is a sensational debut about how history shapes us and heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent.

Visit Essie Chambers's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Propaganda and Ideology in the Russian–Ukrainian War"

New from Cambridge University Press: Propaganda and Ideology in the Russian–Ukrainian War by Jon Roozenbeek.

About the book, from the publisher:

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is one of the most important conflicts of the twenty-first century. With the start of military hostilities in 2014 also came an onslaught of propaganda, to both convince and confuse audiences worldwide about the war's historical and ideological underpinnings. Based on extensive research drawing on tens of thousands of news articles and hundreds of pages of legal documents and internal correspondence, this book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the role of propaganda, ideology, and identity in the Russian-Ukrainian war. It argues that, despite Russia's efforts to set up a media machine at home and abroad with eight years of propaganda legitimising Russia's presence in eastern Ukraine, Russia failed to vocalise a convincing alternative to Ukrainian nationhood. Instead, Russian propaganda backfired: Ukraine is now more united than ever before.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Burn It All"

New from Crooked Lane Books: Burn It All: A Novel by Maggie Auffarth.

About the book, from the publisher:

This propulsive debut psychological thriller set in small-town Georgia explores rage, redemption, and the many layers of toxic friendship, perfect for fans of Andrea Bartz and Rachel Hawkins.

Marley Henderson is having the worst year of her life. First, a drunken mistake costs her everything, including her engagement and her closest friend, Thea. Then, a series of cruel rumors make her an outcast in the small Georgia community she calls home. Finally, a string of vicious arsons rip through town, leaving unchecked destruction—and Thea’s body—in their wake.

To the police, the case is cut-and-dry. Thea Wright was an unstable woman with a troubled history, and with no evidence to suggest otherwise, it seems clear that she was responsible—not only for her own death but for dozens of arsons in the months preceding it. To Marley, though, the truth is less obvious.

Reeling from the loss, Marley teams up with her ex-fiancé to uncover the truth, but the deeper she digs into the night of Thea’s death, the murkier the truth becomes, not just about the fires that have been raging through town all summer, but about the woman she thought she knew. To get to the truth, Marley will have to face Thea’s lies, as well as the darkness she thought she put behind her long ago.

Told in alternating POVs and dual timelines, Burn It All will have suspense fans flying through each twist and turn to reach the stunning conclusion.

Visit Maggie Auffarth's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Invisible Labor"

New from Ecco: Invisible Labor: The Untold Story of the Cesarean Section by Rachel Somerstein.

About the book, from the publisher:

An incisive yet personal look at the science and history of the most common surgery performed in America—the cesarean section—and an exposé on the disturbing state of maternal medical care

When Rachel Somerstein had an unplanned C-section with her first child, the experience was anything but the “routine” operation her doctor described. A series of errors by her clinicians led to a real-life nightmare: surgery without anesthesia. The ensuing mental and physical complications left her traumatized and desperate for answers about how things could have gone so wrong.

In the United States, one in three babies is born via C-section, a rate that has grown exponentially over the past fifty years. And while in most cases the procedure is “safe,” it is not without significant, sometimes life-changing consequences, with its burdens falling disproportionately on people of color. Mothers are often left to navigate these complications alone, with C-sections all but invisible in popular culture, pregnancy guides, and even standard medical advice.

In Invisible Labor, Somerstein weaves personal narrative and investigative journalism with medical, social, and cultural history to reveal the operation’s surprising evolution, from its days being practiced on enslaved women to the ways modern medical technology promotes its overuse. And she uncovers the current-day failures of the medical system, showing how pregnant people’s pain and agency is often disregarded by physicians who, motivated by fear of litigation or a hospital’s commitment to efficiency, make consequential and deeply personal decisions on behalf of their patients.

Candid, raw, and illuminating, Invisible Labor lifts the veil on C-sections so that mothers can navigate future pregnancies and births with more knowledge about surgical birth’s risks, benefits, and alternatives—a corrective to the ongoing curtailment of reproductive rights. Writing with deep feeling and authority, Somerstein offers support and camaraderie to others who have had difficult or traumatic birth experiences, as well as hope for new forms of reproductive justice.

Visit Rachel Somerstein's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Such a Bad Influence"

New from Quirk Books: Such a Bad Influence by Olivia Muenter.

About the book, from the publisher:

For fans of Ashley Winstead, Jessica Knoll, and Jo Piazza, an electric debut thriller about what happens when one of the first child stars of the social media age grows up . . . and goes missing.

Hazel Davis is drifting: she’s stalled in her career, living in a city she hates, and less successful than her younger sister, @evelyn, a mega-popular lifestyle influencer. Evie came of age online, having gone viral at five years old for a heart-tugging daddy-daughter dance. Ten years older and spotlight-averse, Hazel managed to dodge the family YouTube channel—so although she can barely afford her apartment, at least she made her own way.

Evie is eighteen now, with a multimillion-dollar career and unlimited opportunities, but Hazel is still protective of her little sister and skeptical of the way everyone seems to want a piece of her: Evie’s followers, her YouTuber boyfriend and influencer frenemies, and their opportunistic mother. So when Evie disappears one day—during an unsettling live stream that cuts out midsentence—Hazel is horrified to have her worst instincts proven right.

As theories about Evie’s disappearance tear through the internet, inspiring hashtags, Reddit threads, podcast episodes, and scorn, Hazel throws herself into the darkest parts of her sister’s world to untangle the threads of truth. After all, Hazel knows Evie better than anyone else . . . doesn’t she?

Visit Olivia Muenter's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"When Women Ran Fifth Avenue"

New from Doubleday: When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Julie Satow.

About the book, from the publisher:

A glittering portrait of the golden age of American department stores and of three visionary women who led them, from the award-winning author of The Plaza.

The twentieth century American department store: a palace of consumption where every wish could be met under one roof – afternoon tea, a stroll through the latest fashions, a wedding (or funeral) planned. It was a place where women, shopper and shopgirl alike, could stake out a newfound independence. Whether in New York or Chicago or on Main Street, USA, men owned the buildings, but inside, women ruled.

In this hothouse atmosphere, three women rose to the top. In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller came to her husband's department store as a housewife tasked with attracting more shoppers like herself, and wound up running the company. Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor championed American designers during World War II—before which US fashions were almost exclusively Parisian copies—becoming the first businesswoman to earn a $1 million salary. And in the 1960s Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel re-invented the look of the modern department store. With a preternatural sense for trends, she inspired a devoted following of ultra-chic shoppers as well as decades of copycats.

In When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps. This stylish account, rich with personal drama and trade secrets, captures the department store in all its glitz, decadence, and fun, and showcases the women who made that beautifully curated world go round.

Visit Julie Satow's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Stranger in the Library"

New from Crooked Lane Books: The Stranger in the Library by Eva Gates.

About the book, from the publisher:

Outer Banks librarian Lucy is working on an art show at the library when paintings–and people–start to go missing, in this 11th Lighthouse Library mystery from national bestselling author Eva Gates.

When a traveling show of impressionist art comes to Nags Head, North Carolina, librarian Lucy and the staff at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library are inspired to create an educational display about art history. Their launch of the display is a huge success, but the morning after, they discover that a reproduction of a famous painting has gone missing.

No one knows why anyone would bother stealing it: the picture is of no value–the real, priceless painting is under lock and key at the art show itself. Lucy gets an invite to the glitzy opening night for the real show, where she notices unusual tension among the show’s organizers. Then, the man scheduled to give the welcoming speech fails to arrive, and a party-goer is discovered drowned in a fish pond.

Meanwhile, Louise Jane is totally captivated by Tom Reilly, a handsome, charming art dealer lurking at the edges of the receptions on both nights. Tom slipped away from the party early, and he cannot be located by the police. Who, Lucy asks, is Tom Reilly, the shadowy figure threatening to break Louise Jane’s heart?

Something is afoot in Nags Head, and it’s up to Lucy and her friends to get to the bottom of it before it’s not just paintings being framed.

Follow Eva Gates on Twitter and visit Vicki Delany's website.

The Page 69 Test: Death By Beach Read.

Writers Read: Eva Gates (June 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Death Knells and Wedding Bells.

Writers Read: Eva Gates (June 2023).

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Originalism Trap"

New from Random House: The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back by Madiba K. Dennie.

About the book, from the publisher:

A rallying cry for a more just approach to the law that bolsters social justice movements by throwing out originalism—the theory that judges should interpret the Constitution exactly as conservatives say the Founders meant it

There is no one true way to interpret the Constitution, but that’s not what originalists want you to think. They’d rather we be held hostage to their “objective” theory that our rights and liberties are bound by history—an idea that was once confined to the fringes of academia. Americans saw just how subjective originalism can be when the Supreme Court cherry-picked the past to deny bodily autonomy to millions of Americans in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. Though originalism is supposed to be a serious intellectual theory, a closer look reveals its many inherent faults, as it deliberately over-emphasizes a version of history that treats civil rights gains as categorically suspect. According to Madiba K. Dennie, it’s time to let it go.

Dennie discards originalism in favor of a new approach that serves everyone: inclusive constitutionalism. She disentangles the Constitution’s ideals from originalist ideology and underscores the ambition of the Reconstruction Amendments, which were adopted in the wake of the Civil War and sought to build a democracy with equal membership for marginalized persons. The Originalism Trap argues that the law must serve to make that promise of democracy real.

Seamlessly blending scholarship with sass and written for law people and laypeople alike, The Originalism Trap shows readers that the Constitution belongs to them and how, by understanding its possibilities, they can use it to fight for their rights. As courts—and the Constitution—increasingly become political battlegrounds, The Originalism Trap is a necessary guide to what’s at stake and a vision for a more just future.

Visit Madiba K. Dennie's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Last Note of Warning"

New from Minotaur Books: The Last Note of Warning: A Mystery (The Nightingale Mysteries, Volume 3) by Katharine Schellman.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Last Note of Warning is the third in the luscious, mysterious, and queer Nightingale mystery series by Katharine Schellman, set in 1920s New York.

Prohibition is a dangerous time to be a working-class woman in New York City, but Vivian Kelly has finally found some measure of stability and freedom. By day, she’s a respectable shop assistant, delivering luxurious dresses to the city’s wealthy and elite. At night, she joins the madcap revelry of New York’s underworld, serving illegal drinks and dancing into the morning at a secretive, back-alley speakeasy known as the Nightingale. She's found, if not love, then something like it with her bootlegger sweetheart, Leo, even if she can't quite forget the allure of the Nightingale's sultry owner, Honor Huxley.

Then the husband of a wealthy client is discovered dead in his study, and Vivian was the last known person to see him alive. With the police and the press both eager to name a culprit in the high-profile case, she finds herself the primary murder suspect.

She can’t flee town without endangering the people she loves, but Vivian isn’t the sort of girl to go down without a fight. She'll cash in every favor she has from the criminals she calls friends to prove she had no connection to the dead man. But she can't prove what isn't true.

The more Vivian digs into the man’s life, and as the police close in on her, the harder it is to avoid the truth: someone she knows wanted him dead. And the best way to get away with murder is to set up a girl like Vivian to take the fall.

Visit Katharine Schellman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"When the Bombs Stopped"

New from Princeton University Press: When the Bombs Stopped: The Legacy of War in Rural Cambodia by Erin Lin.

About the book, from the publisher:

How undetonated bombs from a war that ended more than fifty years ago still affect Cambodian farmers and their land

Over the course of the Vietnam War, the United States dropped 500,000 tons of bombs over Cambodia—more than the combined weight of every man, woman, and child in the country. What began as a secret CIA infiltration of Laos eventually expanded into Cambodia and escalated into a nine-year war over the Ho Chi Minh trail fought primarily with bombs. Fifty years after the last sortie, residents of rural Cambodia are still coping with the unexploded ordnance that covers their land. In When the Bombs Stopped, Erin Lin investigates the consequences of the US bombing campaign across postconflict Cambodia.

Drawing on interviews, original econometric analysis, and extensive fieldwork, Lin upends the usual scholarly perspective on the war and its aftermath, presenting the viewpoint of those who suffered the bombing rather than those who dropped the bombs. She shows that Cambodian farmers stay at a subsistence level because much of their land is too dangerous to cultivate—and yet, paradoxically, the same bombs that endanger and impoverish farming communities also protect them, deterring predatory elites from grabbing and commodifying their land. Lin argues that the half-century legacy of American bombs has sedimented the war into the layers of contemporary Cambodian society. Policies aimed at developing or modernizing Cambodia, whether economic liberalization or authoritarian consolidation, must be realized in an environment haunted by the violence of the past. As the stories Lin captures show, the bombing served as a critical juncture in these farming villages, marking the place in time where development stopped.

Visit Erin Lin's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"All the Summers In Between"

New from Gallery Books: All the Summers In Between by Brooke Lea Foster.

About the book, from the publisher:

“If you’re looking to dive into historical fiction this summer, look no further than” (Town & Country) the acclaimed author of Summer Darlings and On Gin Lane and her latest page-turning novel about two estranged friends whose unexpected reconnection in the Hamptons forces them to finally confront the terrible event that drove them apart.

When wealthy, impulsive summer girl Margot meets hardworking and steady local girl Thea in the summer of 1967, the unlikely pair become fast friends, working alongside one another in a record store and spending every spare moment together. But after an unspeakable incident on one devastating August night, they don’t see one another for ten years...until Margot suddenly reappears in Thea’s life, begging for help and harboring more than one dangerous secret. Thea can’t bring herself to refuse her beloved friend—but she also knows she can’t fully trust her either.

Unfulfilled as a housewife, Thea enjoys the dazzling sense of adventure Margot brings to her life, but will the truth of what happened to them that fateful summer ruin everything? Testing the boundaries of how far she’ll go for a friend, Thea is forced to reckon with her uncertain future while trying to decide if some friends are meant to remain in the past.

Set in the dual timelines of 1967 and 1977, All the Summers In Between is at once a mesmerizing portrait of a complex friendship, a delicious glimpse into a bygone Hamptons, and a powerful coming-of-age for two young women during a transformative era.

Visit Brooke Lea Foster's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Truth About Immigration"

New from St. Martin's Press: The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers by Zeke Hernandez.

About the book, from the publisher:

The go-to book on immigration: fact-based, comprehensive, and nonpartisan.

Immigration is one of the most controversial topics in the United States and everywhere else. Pundits, politicians, and the public usually depict immigrants as either villains or victims. The villain narrative is that immigrants pose a threat—to our economy because they steal our jobs; our way of life because they change our culture; and to our safety and laws because of their criminality. The victim argument tells us that immigrants are needy outsiders—the poor, huddled masses whom we must help at our own cost if necessary. But the data clearly debunks both narratives. From jobs, investment, and innovation to cultural vitality and national security, more immigration has an overwhelmingly positive impact on everything that makes a society successful.

In The Truth About Immigration, Wharton professor Zeke Hernandez draws from nearly 20 years of research to answer all the big questions about immigration. He combines moving personal stories with rigorous research to offer an accessible, apolitical, and evidence-based look at how newcomers affect our local communities and our nation. You'll learn about the overlooked impact of immigrants on investment and job creation; realize how much we take for granted the novel technologies, products, and businesses newcomers create; get the facts straight about perennial concerns like jobs, crime, and undocumented immigrants; and gain new perspectives on misunderstood issues such as the border, taxes, and assimilation.

Most books making a case for immigration tell you that immigration is good for immigrants. This book is all about how newcomers benefit you, your community, and your country. Skeptics fear that newcomers compete economically with locals because of their similarities and fail to socially assimilate because of their differences. You'll see that it's exactly the opposite: newcomers bring enduring economic benefits because of their differences and contribute positively to society because of their similarities. Destined to become the go-to book on one of the most important issues of our time, this book turns fear into hope by proving a simple truth: immigrants are essential for economically prosperous and socially vibrant nations.

Visit Zeke Hernandez's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet"

New from Wednesday Books: Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet: A Novel by Molly Morris.

About the book, from the publisher:

Every ten years in the strange little town of Lennon, California, one person is chosen to return from the dead…

Wilson Moss entered the town’s top-secret contest in the hopes of resurrecting her ex-best friend Annie LeBlanc, but that doesn’t mean she thought she’d actually win. Now Annie’s back and Wil’s ecstatic—does it even really matter that Annie ghosted her a year before she died…?

But like any contest, there are rules, and the town’s resurrected dead can only return for thirty days. When Wil discovers a loophole that means Annie might be able to stay for good, she’s desperate to keep her alive. The potential key? Their third best friend, Ryan. Forget the fact that Ryan openly hates them both, or that she and Wilson have barely spoken since that awkward time they kissed. Wil can put it aside for one month; she just needs to stop thinking about it first.

Because Wil has one summer to permanently put an end to her loneliness—it’s that, or lose her only friends…again. But along the way, she might have to face some difficult truths about Annie’s past and their friendship that, so far, she’s left buried.

Visit Molly Morris's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Modernism and Finance Capital"

New from Cambridge University Press: Modernism and Finance Capital: British Literature, 1870–1940 by Regina Martin.

About the book, from the publisher:

Modernism and Finance Capital interprets modernism as a historical moment of financial crisis. It expands the definition of finance capital beyond mode of capital accumulation and value form to include a complex of historical processes during the modernist period, which includes the growth of the professional classes, the rise of the modern corporation, the economic turn toward London, and the emergence of affect as economic and literary value form. The book thereby locates the origins of twenty-first century affective economy in the turn-of-the-twentieth century modernist and financial revolutions. Scholars working at the crossroads of economic and cultural studies will find a model for how to interpret literature and other cultural artifacts as participating in economic processes of finance capital even when they do not engage explicitly with such issues.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Where Water Lies"

Coming soon from Lake Union: Where Water Lies by Hilary Tailor.

About the book, from the publisher:

How long would you let someone else’s secret control your life?

Eliza has lived two lives – one before she fell into an obsessive teenage friendship with Eric and Maggie, and the one after it was destroyed in a single afternoon. To Eliza, Eric and Maggie were irreplaceable, so she hasn’t. Instead, drifting through life alone, she spends every morning diving into her memories as she swims in Hampstead Ponds, her guilt never far below the surface.

Twenty years might have passed, yet Eliza still can’t help searching for Maggie everywhere. Then one day she spots a woman who looks just like her. Eliza has spent half her life wondering what really happened that afternoon and if Maggie’s back, will it help her finally get answers?

But memories are like ripples on water, and can be deceptive. As the past and present collide, Eliza begins to wonder: will learning the truth set her free – or will it only drag her down deeper?

Visit Hilary Tailor's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Well-Connected Animal"

New from the University of Chicago Press: The Well-Connected Animal: Social Networks and the Wondrous Complexity of Animal Societies by Lee Alan Dugatkin.

About the book, from the publisher:

An engaging exploration of the wondrous social webs that permeate life in animal societies around the world.

It’s all about who you know. Whether vampire bats sharing blood meals for survival, field crickets remembering champion fighters, macaque monkeys forming grooming pacts after a deadly hurricane, or great tit birds learning the best way to steal milk—it pays to be well connected.

In this tour of the animal kingdom, evolutionary biologist Lee Alan Dugatkin reveals a new field of study, uncovering social networks that existed long before the dawn of human social media. He accessibly describes the latest findings from animal behavior, evolution, computer science, psychology, anthropology, genetics, and neurobiology, and incorporates interviews and insights from researchers he finds swimming with manta rays, avoiding pigeon poop, and stopping monkeys from stealing iPads. With Dugatkin as our guide, we investigate social networks in giraffes, elephants, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, whales, bats, and more. From animal networks in Australia and Asia to Africa, Europe, and the Americas, The Well-Connected Animal is an eye-opening exposé of wild friends, enemies, and everything in between.

Visit Lee Alan Dugatkin's website.

The Page 99 Test: Power in the Wild.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Through a Clouded Mirror"

New from Balzer + Bray: Through a Clouded Mirror by Miya T. Beck.

About the book, from the publisher:

Inspired by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and set in a magical imperial Japan, this is a breathtaking fantasy adventure from the acclaimed author of The Pearl Hunter.

Yuki Snow wishes she were anywhere but here.

She hates Santa Dolores, where her mom and stepdad just moved the family. Her BFF back home, Julio, has already forgotten his promise to stay in touch—and worse, he like likes Yuki’s mortal enemy. At her new school, the kids think she’s either invisible or a know-it-all nerd.

The only friend she’s made so far is the shopkeeper at a Japanese antiques store. Among the treasures there is an ancient brass mirror supposedly once owned by celebrated Japanese writer Sei Shonagon. It’s also rumored to be a portal to Shonagon’s world, which opens every hundred years. So when a woman with long jet-black hair and flowing silk robes appears in the glass, beckoning, Yuki knows there’s only one thing to do—step through to the unknown….

Visit Miya T. Beck's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Spanning the Gilded Age"

New from the Johns Hopkins University Press: Spanning the Gilded Age: James Eads and the Great Steel Bridge by John K. Brown.

About the book, from the publisher:

The fascinating history of the St. Louis Bridge, the first steel structure in the world.

In Spanning the Gilded Age, John K. Brown tells the daring, improbable story of the construction of the St. Louis Bridge, known popularly as the Eads Bridge. Completed in 1874, it was the first structure of any kind—anywhere in the world—built of steel. This history details the origins, design, construction, and enduring impact of a unique feat of engineering, and it illustrates how Americans built their urban infrastructure during the nineteenth century.

With three graceful arches spanning the Mississippi River, the Eads Bridge's twin decks carried a broad boulevard above a dual-track railroad. To place its stone piers on bedrock, engineer James Eads pioneered daring innovations that allowed excavators to work one hundred feet beneath the river. With construction scarcely begun, Eads circulated a prospectus—offering a 400 percent return on investment—that attracted wealthy investors, including J. Pierpont Morgan in New York and his father, Junius, in London. This record-breaking design, which employed a novel method to lay its foundations and an untried metal for its arches, was projected by a steamboat man who had never before designed a bridge.

By detailing influential figures such as James Eads, the Morgans, Andrew Carnegie, and Jay Gould, Spanning the Gilded Age offers new perspectives on an era that saw profound changes in business, engineering, governance, and society. Beyond the bridge itself, Brown explores a broader story: how America became urban, industrial, and interconnected. This triumph of engineering reflects the Gilded Age's grand ambitions, and the bridge remains a vital transportation artery today.

Visit the Spanning the Gilded Age website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"youthjuice"

New from Hell’s Hundred: youthjuice by E.K. Sathue.

About the book, from the publisher:

American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada: outrageous body horror for the goop generation

A 29-year-old copywriter realizes that beauty is possible—at a terrible cost—in this surreal, satirical send-up of NYC It-girl culture.

From Sophia Bannion’s first day on the Storytelling team at HEBE (hee-bee), a luxury skincare/wellness company based in New York’s trendy SoHo neighborhood and named after the Greek goddess of youth, it’s clear something is deeply amiss. But Sophia, pushing thirty, has plenty of skeletons in her closet next to the designer knockoffs and doesn’t care. Though she leads an outwardly charmed life, she aches for a deeper meaning to her flat existence—and a cure for her brutal nail-biting habit. She finds it all and more at HEBE, and with Tree Whitestone, HEBE’s charismatic founder and CEO.

Soon, Sophia is addicted to her HEBE lifestyle—especially youthjuice, the fatty, soothing moisturizer Tree has asked Sophia to test. But when cracks in HEBE’s infrastructure start to worsen—and Sophia learns the gruesome secret ingredient at the heart of youthjuice—she has to decide how far she’s willing to go to stay beautiful forever.

Glittering with ominous flashes of Sophia’s coming-of-rage story, former beauty editor E.K. Sathue’s horror debut is as incisive as it is stomach-churning in its portrayal of all-consuming female friendship and the beauty industry’s short attention span. youthjuice does to skincare influencers what Bret Easton Ellis did to yuppies. You’ll never moisturize the same way again.

Visit E.K. Sathue's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Disabled Ecologies"

New from the University of California Press: Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert by Sunaura Taylor.

About the book, from the publisher:

A powerful analysis and call to action that reveals disability as one of the defining features of environmental devastation and resistance.

Deep below the ground in Tucson, Arizona, lies an aquifer forever altered by the detritus of a postwar Superfund site. Disabled Ecologies tells the story of this contamination and its ripple effects through the largely Mexican American community living above. Drawing on her own complex relationship to this long-ago injured landscape, Sunaura Taylor takes us with her to follow the site's disabled ecology—the networks of disability, both human and wild, that are created when ecosystems are corrupted and profoundly altered.

What Taylor finds is a story of entanglements that reach far beyond the Sonoran Desert. These stories tell of debilitating and sometimes life-ending injuries, but they also map out alternative modes of connection, solidarity, and resistance—an environmentalism of the injured. An original and deeply personal reflection on what disability means in an era of increasing multispecies disablement, Disabled Ecologies is a powerful call to reflect on the kinds of care, treatment, and assistance this age of disability requires.

--Marshal Zeringue

"But How Are You, Really"

Coming soon from Dutton: But How Are You, Really: A Novel by Ella Dawson.

About the book, from the publisher:

A burned-out bisexual confronts old demons, her estranged chosen family, and the ex she maybe shouldn’t have walked away from when she attends her five-year college reunion.

Charlotte Thorne does not want to go back to Hein University. Her life postcollege isn’t what she expected—her career in media is stalled, her passion for drawing has fallen by the wayside, and she’s done a terrible job keeping in touch with her queer chosen family since graduation day. Willingly spend a full weekend with her incredibly successful classmates? Hard pass.

But when her demanding boss, tech journalist Roger Ludermore, is invited to give the commencement address at this year’s graduation—which falls on the same weekend as her five-year reunion—Charlotte has no choice but to return to campus.

The minute she steps foot on Hein property, the past comes crawling back in its glory and cringe: disco parties at the LGBTQIA+ program house, sleeping in a twin XL bed, and her chemistry with Reece Krueger, the hockey player she rebounded with after a traumatic breakup. Suddenly the weekend Charlotte has dreaded for months feels like an opportunity to go back in time. Determined to have some fun, Charlotte dodges her best friend’s questions about her mental health, ignores her boss’s constant Slack messages, and tries to avoid the truth about why she ghosted Reece five years ago. But can she really outrun her past and get her life together in seventy-two hours?

Visit Ella Dawson's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Holding It Together"

New from Portfolio: Holding It Together: How Women Became America's Safety Net by Jessica Calarco.

About the book, from the publisher:

Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women. Holding It Together chronicles the causes and dire consequences.

America runs on women—women who are tasked with holding society together at the seams and fixing it when things fall apart. In this tour de force, acclaimed Sociologist Jessica Calarco lays bare the devastating consequences of our status quo.

Holding It Together draws on five years of research in which Calarco surveyed over 4000 parents and conducted more than 400 hours of interviews with women who bear the brunt of our broken system. A widowed single mother struggles to patch together meager public benefits while working three jobs; an aunt is pushed into caring for her niece and nephew at age fifteen once their family is shattered by the opioid epidemic; a daughter becomes the backstop caregiver for her mother, her husband, and her child because of the perceived flexibility of her job; a well-to-do couple grapples with the moral dilemma of leaning on overworked, underpaid childcare providers to achieve their egalitarian ideals. Stories of grief and guilt abound. Yet, they are more than individual tragedies.

Tracing present-day policies back to their roots, Calarco reveals a systematic agreement to dismantle our country’s social safety net and persuade citizens to accept precarity while women bear the brunt. She leads us to see women's labor as the reason we've gone so long without the support systems that our peer nations take for granted, and how women’s work maintains the illusion that we don't need a net.

Weaving eye-opening original research with revelatory sociological narrative, Holding It Together is a bold call to demand the institutional change that each of us deserves, and a warning about the perils of living without it.

Visit Jessica Calarco's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Unwedding"

New from Grand Central Publishing: The Unwedding by Ally Condie.

About the book, from the publisher:

The White Lotus meets Agatha Christie in this bold novel from a #1 New York Times bestselling author: a recent divorcee's exclusive Big Sur resort vacation unravels when she discovers a dead body on the day of a wedding, in this “clever, witty and fast-paced whodunit.” (Harlan Coben)

Ellery Wainwright is alone at the edge of the world.

She and her husband, Luke, were supposed to spend their twentieth wedding anniversary together at the luxurious Resort at Broken Point in Big Sur, California. Where better to celebrate a marriage, a family, and a life together than at one of the most stunning places on earth?

But now she’s traveling solo.

To add insult to injury, there’s a wedding at Broken Point scheduled during her stay. Ellery remembers how it felt to be on the cusp of everything new and wonderful, with a loved and certain future glimmering just ahead. Now, she isn’t certain of anything except for her love for her kids and her growing realization that this place, though beautiful, is unsettling.

When Ellery discovers the body of the groom floating in the pool in the rain, she realizes that she is not the only one whose future is no longer guaranteed. Before the police can reach Broken Point, a mudslide takes out the road to the resort, leaving the guests trapped. When another guest dies, it’s clear something horrible is brewing.

Everyone at Broken Point has a secret. And everyone has a shadow. Including Ellery.

Visit Ally Condie's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Unruly Domestication"

New from the University of Texas Press: Unruly Domestication: Poverty, Family, and Statecraft in Urban Peru by Kristin Skrabut.

About the book, from the publisher:

How the international war on poverty shapes identities, relationships, politics, and urban space in Peru.

Unruly Domestication investigates how Peru’s ongoing, internationally endorsed "war on poverty" shapes politics, intimate identities, and urban space in Lima. Drawing on a decade of embedded, ethnographic research in Lima’s largest and most recently founded “extreme poverty zone,” Kristin Skrabut demonstrates how Peru’s efforts to fight poverty by formalizing property, identity, and family status perpetuate environmentally unsustainable urban sprawl, deepen discrimination against single mothers, and undermine Peruvians’ faith in public officials and in one another. In the process, Skrabut reveals myriad entanglements of poverty, statecraft, and private life, exploring how families are made and unmade through political practices, how gender inequalities are perpetuated through policy, and how Peruvians’ everyday pursuits of state-sanctioned domestic ideals reproduce informality and landscapes of poverty in the urban periphery.

The only full-length ethnography written about Lima’s iconic and policy-inspiring shantytowns in thirty years, Unruly Domestication provides valuable insight into the dynamics of housing and urban development in the Global South, elucidating the most intimate and profound effects of global efforts to do good.

Visit Kristin Skrabut's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Just Some Stupid Love Story"

Coming soon from Flatiron Books: Just Some Stupid Love Story: A Novel by Katelyn Doyle.

About the book, from the publisher:

For fans of Emily Henry, a debut about a rom-com screenwriter who doesn't believe in love and a divorce attorney who does, forced together at their high school reunion fifteen years after their breakup

Molly Marks writes Hollywood rom-coms for a living—which is how she knows “romance” is a racket. The one and only time she was naive enough to fall in love was with her high school boyfriend, Seth—who she ghosted on the eve of graduation and hasn’t seen in fifteen years.

Seth Rubinstein believes in love, the grand, fated kind, despite his job as, well…one of Chicago’s most successful divorce attorneys. Over the last decade, he’s sought “the one” in countless bad dates and rushed relationships. He knows his soulmate is out there. But so far, no one can compare to Molly Marks, the first girl who broke his heart.

When Molly’s friends drag her to Florida for their fifteenth high school reunion, it is poetic justice that she’s forced to sit with Seth. Too many martinis and a drunken hookup later, they decide to make a bet: whoever can predict the fate of five couples before the next reunion must declare that the other is right about true love. The catch? The fifth couple is the two of them.

Molly assures Seth they are a tale of timeless heartbreak. Seth promises she’ll end up hopelessly in love with him. She thinks he’s delusional. He has five years to prove her wrong.

Wickedly funny, sexy, and brimming with laughs and heart like the best romantic comedies, Just Some Stupid Love Story is for everyone who believes in soulmates—even if they would never admit it.

Visit Katelyn Doyle's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Silencing Citizens"

New from Cambridge University Press: Silencing Citizens: How Criminal Groups Create Vacuums of Justice by Andrew Cesare Miller.

About the book, from the publisher:

Criminal groups, like mafias and gangs, often get away with murder. States are responsible for providing justice but struggle to end this impunity, in part because these groups prevent witnesses from coming forward with information. Silencing Citizens explains how criminal groups constrain cooperation with the police not just by threatening retaliation but also by shaping citizens' perceptions of community support for cooperation. The book details a social psychological process through which criminal group violence makes community support for cooperation appear weaker than it is and thus reduces witnesses' willingness to share information with the police. The book draws on a wealth of data including original surveys in two contrasting cities - Baltimore, Maryland in the Global North and Lagos, Nigeria in the Global South.

Visit Andrew Cesare Miller's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities"

New from Greenwillow Books: Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities by Casey Lyall.

About the book, from the publisher:

Sometimes it’s hard to rest in peace. A young trainee witch, a family power gone haywire, a dearly departed grandma, an undead boy, and an evil witch—that’s a recipe for the perfect summer vacation. Both hilarious and heartfelt, this fast-paced mystery about life and death (and afterlife) is for fans of Spirit Hunters and The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl.

Twelve-year-old Kimmy Jones wants to excel at the unique (and secret) aspect of her family’s funeral home business. Under the watchful eye of Grandma Bev, Kimmy learns how to raise the recently deceased, request their last wish, and break the connection to send them on. But when Grandma unexpectedly dies herself, Kimmy can’t reach her spirit, and nothing seems like it’s ever going to be right again.

Then a boy dies under mysterious circumstances on the night of a meteor shower. With no witnesses, Kimmy’s the only one who can get answers about what happened. So she breaks into the hospital morgue, and for the first time in months, her power works. She Wakes the boy up. Except then Kimmy can’t break the connection and so he stays Awake. Even worse, the boy has no memory of what happened to him. As Kimmy works to unravel the mystery, she discovers secrets about her heritage and learns about a witch who has been wreaking havoc for centuries.

Casey Lyall’s supernatural mystery is heartfelt, thrilling, and hilarious. Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities is perfect for fans of Avi’s School of the Dead and Suzanne Young’s What Stays Buried.

Visit Casey Lyall's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Laws of the Spirit"

New from Stanford University Press: Laws of the Spirit by Ariel Evan Mayse.

About the book, from the publisher:

The compelling vision of religious life and practice found in Hasidic sources has made it the most enduring and successful Jewish movement of spiritual renewal of all time. In this book, Ariel Evan Mayse grapples with one of Hasidism's most vexing questions: how did a religious movement known for its radical views about immanence, revelation, and the imperative to serve God with joy simultaneously produce strict adherence to the structures and obligations of Jewish law? Exploring the movement from its emergence in the mid-1700s until 1815, Mayse argues that the exceptionality of Hasidism lies not in whether its leaders broke or upheld rabbinic norms, but in the movement's vivid attempt to rethink the purpose of Jewish ritual and practice. Rather than focusing on the commandments as law, he turns to the methods and vocabulary of ritual studies as a more productive way to reckon with the contradictions and tensions of this religious movement as well as its remarkable intellectual vitality. Mayse examines the full range of Hasidic texts from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, from homilies and theological treatises to hagiography, letters, and legal writings, reading them together with contemporary theories of ritual. Arguing against the notion that spiritual integrity requires unshackling oneself from tradition, Laws of the Spirit is a sweeping attempt to rethink the meaning and significance of religious practice in early Hasidism.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Knife River"

New from The Dial Press: Knife River: A Novel by Justine Champine.

About the book, from the publisher:

A compelling story of family, home, and the bond between sisters that asks: Who do you believe when you can’t even trust yourself?

When Jess was thirteen, her mother went for a walk and never returned. Jess and her older sister, Liz, never found out what happened. Instead, they did what they hoped their mother had done: survive. As soon as she was old enough, Jess fled their small town of Knife River, wandering from girlfriend to girlfriend like a ghost in her own life, aimless in her attempts to outrun grief and confusion. But one morning, fifteen years after their mother’s disappearance, she gets the call she’s been bracing for: Her mother’s remains have been found.

Jess returns to find Knife River—and her sister—frozen in time. The town is as claustrophobic and rundown as ever. Liz still lives in their childhood home and has become obsessed with unsolved missing persons cases. Jess plans to stay only until they get some answers, but their mother’s bones, exposed to the elements for so long, just leave them with more questions. As Jess gets caught up in the case and falls back into an entanglement with her high school girlfriend, her understanding of the past, of Liz, of their mother, and of herself become more complicated—and the list of theories more ominous.

Knife River is a tense, intimate, and heartrending portrayal of how deeply and imperfectly women love one another: in romantic relationships, in friendships, and especially as sisters.

Visit Justine Champine's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Proper Women"

New from Temple University Press: Proper Women: Feminism and the Politics of Respectability in Iran by Fae Chubin.

About the book, from the publisher:

Proper Women tells the unprecedented story of an NGO-led “women’s empowerment” program in Tehran that was created to serve young, impoverished Iranians and Afghan refugees. Fae Chubin recounts the well-intentioned efforts of cosmopolitan NGO administrators whose loyalty to liberal feminist principles of individualism, sexual autonomy, and anti-traditionalism complicated their objective of empowering marginalized women.

Chubin brings attention to the varying class, ethnic, religious, and national identities of NGO staff and clients that shaped their differing understandings of oppression and justice. Her examination of the tensions within the organization reveals why the efforts of the NGO workers failed to gain purchase among the intended beneficiaries.

Proper Women concludes by encouraging feminist activists to not only examine the role of local politics and transnational connections in shaping their definitions of empowerment, but also consider the advantages of a justice-enhancing practice as opposed to justice monism for their target populations.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Quince Project"

New from Wednesday Books: The Quince Project: A Novel by Jessica Parra.

About the book, from the publisher:

Castillo Torres, Student Body Association event chair and serial planner, could use a fairy godmother. After a disastrous mishap at her sister’s quinceañera and her mother's unexpected passing, all of Cas’s plans are crumbling. So when a local lifestyle-guru-slash-party-planner opens up applications for the internship of her dreams, Cas sees it as the perfect opportunity to learn every trick in the book so that things never go wrong again.

The only catch is that she needs more party planning experience before she can apply. When she books a quinceañera for a teen Disneyland vlogger, Cas thinks her plan is taking off… until she discovers that the party is just a publicity stunt—and she begins catching feelings for the chambelán.

As her agenda starts to go way off-script Cas finds that real life may be more complicated than a fairy tale. But maybe Happily Ever Afters aren’t just for the movies. Can Cas go from planner to participant in her own life? Or will this would-be princess turn into a pumpkin at the end of the ball?

Visit Jessica Parra's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Keeping Women in Their Digital Place"

New from Penn State University Press: Keeping Women in Their Digital Place: The Maintenance of Jewish Gender Norms Online by Ruth Tsuria.

About the book, from the publisher:

Since its inception, the internet has been theorized as a democratic force, a public sphere in which hierarchies are flattened. But the internet is not a neutral tool; it has the power to amplify and mirror certain opinions and, as a result, can concretize social norms. So what happens when matters of religious practice and gender identity collide in these―often unregulated―online spaces?

In Keeping Women in Their Digital Place, Ruth Tsuria explores how Orthodox Jewish communities in the United States and Israel have used “digital enclaves”―online safe havens created specifically for their denominations―to renegotiate traditional values in the face of taboo discourse encountered online. Combining a personal narrative with years of qualitative analysis, Tsuria examines how discussions in blogs and forums and on social media navigate issues of modesty, dating, marriage, intimacy, motherhood, and feminism. Unpacking the complexity of religious uses of the internet, Tsuria shows how the participatory qualities of digital spaces have been used both to challenge accepted norms and―more pervasively―to reinforce traditional and even extreme attitudes toward gender and sexuality.

Original and engaging, this book will appeal to media, feminist, and religious studies scholars and students, particularly those interested in religion in the digital age and Orthodox Jewish communities.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Allow Me to Introduce Myself"

New from Graydon House Books: Allow Me to Introduce Myself: A Novel by Onyi Nwabineli.

About the book, from the publisher:

Her life. Her rules. Finally.

Anuri Chinasa has had enough. And really, who can blame her? She was the unwilling star of her stepmother’s social media empire before “momfluencers” were even a thing. For years, Ophelia documented every birthday, every skinned knee, every milestone and meltdown for millions of strangers to fawn over and pick apart.

Now, at twenty-five, Anuri is desperate to put her way-too-public past behind her and start living on her own terms. But it’s not going so great. She can barely walk down the street without someone recognizing her, and the fraught relationship with her father has fallen apart. Then there’s her PhD application (still unfinished) and her drinking problem (still going strong). When every detail of her childhood was so intensely scrutinized, how can she tell what she really wants?

Still, Ophelia is never far away and has made it clear she won’t go down without a fight. With Noelle, Anuri’s five-year-old half sister now being forced down the same path, Anuri discovers she has a new mission in life…

To take back control of the family narrative.

Through biting wit and heartfelt introspection, this darkly humorous story dives deep into the deceptive allure of a picture-perfect existence, the overexposure of children in social media and the excitement of self-discovery.

Visit Onyi Nwabineli's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Networked Bollywood"

New from Cambridge University Press: Networked Bollywood: How Star Power Globalized Hindi Cinema by Swapnil Rai.

About the book, from the publisher:

Networked Bollywood provides interdisciplinary analysis of the role of the stars in the transformation of Hindi cinema into a global entertainment industry. The first Indian film was made in 1913. However, filmmaking was recognized as an industry almost a hundred years later. Yet, Indian films have been circulating globally since their inception. This book unearths this oft-elided history of Bollywood's globalization through multilingual, transnational research and discursive cultural analysis. The author illustrates how over the decades, a handful of primarily male megastars, as the heads of the industry's most prominent productions and corporations, combined overwhelming charismatic affect with unparalleled business influence. Through their “star switching power,” theorized here as a deeply gendered phenomenon and manifesting broader social inequalities, India's most prominent stars instigated new flows of cinema, industrial collaborations, structured distinctive business models, influenced state policy and diplomatic exchange, thereby defining the future of Bollywood's globalization.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Last to Pie"

New from Crooked Lane Books: The Last to Pie (A Pies Before Guys Mystery) by Misha Popp.

About the book, from the publisher:

Perfect for fans of Mia P. Manansala and Elle Cosimano, in Misha Popp’s third Pies Before Guys mystery, the pies are deadlier than ever when Daisy receives a request for revenge against an abusive cop.

Daisy Ellery is back to doing what she does best: making pies and killing guys. And it’s about to get more dangerous than ever. Daisy knows the statistic–domestic violence perpetrated by cops is rampant. It was only a matter of time before she was called in to help. But when this request arrives in her inbox, it isn’t accompanied by the required referral and that makes Daisy nervous. Is this really a woman trapped in a violent relationship, or is it a shady cop trying to uncover Daisy’s murdery side hustle?

Daisy hesitates to accept the job–until the woman who left the request goes missing and it’s clear her boyfriend is responsible. Knowing the boyfriend’s work buddies won’t be any help with the investigation, Daisy sets out to find the woman and plans a little justice of her own. When Daisy finds evidence that the boyfriend wasn’t just a monster in private, but corrupt at work too, things get even more perilous.

Feeling guilty that she hesitated to help the woman, Daisy is determined to find her and get her justice–whatever it takes.

Visit Misha Popp's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Afterlife of Data"

New from the University of Chicago Press: The Afterlife of Data: What Happens to Your Information When You Die and Why You Should Care by Carl Öhman.

About the book, from the publisher:

A short, thought-provoking book about what happens to our online identities after we die.

These days, so much of our lives takes place online—but what about our afterlives? Thanks to the digital trails that we leave behind, our identities can now be reconstructed after our death. In fact, AI technology is already enabling us to “interact” with the departed. Sooner than we think, the dead will outnumber the living on Facebook. In this thought-provoking book, Carl Öhman explores the increasingly urgent question of what we should do with all this data and whether our digital afterlives are really our own—and if not, who should have the right to decide what happens to our data.

The stakes could hardly be higher. In the next thirty years alone, about two billion people will die. Those of us who remain will inherit the digital remains of an entire generation of humanity—the first digital citizens. Whoever ends up controlling these archives will also effectively control future access to our collective digital past, and this power will have vast political consequences. The fate of our digital remains should be of concern to everyone—past, present, and future. Rising to these challenges, Öhman explains, will require a collective reshaping of our economic and technical systems to reflect more than just the monetary value of digital remains.

As we stand before a period of deep civilizational change, The Afterlife of Data will be an essential guide to understanding why and how we as a human race must gain control of our collective digital past—before it is too late.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Head Full of Lies"

New from Thomas & Mercer: Head Full of Lies (Harlan Winter) by Jordan Farmer.

About the book, from the publisher:

The southbound trail of a stolen spell book becomes a nightmare road trip in a propulsive novel about the unrelenting power of evil by the author of Lighthouse Burning.

Harlan Winter has returned to his corner of Appalachia, where his fiery history with a depraved cult has made him a legend. All Harlan wants is to run his occult bookshop and get on with his life―if only his unsettling visions would let him. But when a fellow devotee of the dark arts moves to Coopersville and Harlan’s coveted grimoire is stolen, he’s pulled into a world deadlier than the one that already scarred his soul.

The foolish thieves are two local teenagers hightailing it out of Appalachia in a stolen car and heading south to Florida where a buyer for the coveted grimoire is waiting. They have no idea what evil lies on the road ahead. But Harlan does. Blood has already been spilled. He’s following them mile by mile on a mission to save them before it’s too late. Because once their prized possession is in the wrong hands, there will be hell to pay.

Learn more about The Poison Flood.

Q&A with Jordan Farmer.

--Marshal Zeringue