Graywolf Acquires Two New Books from Brandon Taylor and More Book News!
We’re coming off the weekend, but book news rests for no one. So even if you had a nice, restful weekend and you’re simply easing into the week, we’ve got a lot of book content to get through. I hope you’re ready. Slap on your safety goggles and let’s go.
Book Deals and Reveals
Deborah Harkness has shared an excerpt of her latest novel, The Black Bird Oracle. The 5th book in Harkness’ All Souls series will be out tomorrow, July 16. But why not read a bit of it now?
Story Prize winner and Booker Prize finalist Brandon Taylor has two new nonfiction books coming out from Graywolf Press. The first book, which will be Taylor’s nonfiction debut, will be a “work of cultural and literary critique by one of the most significant young novelists of his generation,” according to Graywolf. Both books are not yet titled.
Random House Publishing Group will acquire comic book, graphic novel and licensed storytelling publisher and studio, Boom! Studios. Boom! Studios will join the Random House Worlds portfolio of imprints alongside Del Rey, Inklore and the RH Worlds licensing program.
Patrick Stewart and Sam Claflin are set to star in Netflix’s Barbaric, a TV series adaptation of the best-selling Vault comic. Michael Bay is in talks to direct.
Here’s the cover of Victorian Psycho, a novel by Virginia Feito, the author of Mrs. March. The book, which the author describes as “Fleabag meets A Christmas Carol,” will be out on February 4, 2025.
Here’s another excerpt you’ll want to check out, and it’s from Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s historical fiction novel Happy Land, a story about a real-life Black American kingdom. It’s out from Berkley on April 8, 2025.
Check out the cover of Emily Carpenter’s Gothictown. This southern Gothic novel hits shelves on March 25, 2025.
A new Zora Neale Hurston novel is coming out in 2025! On January 7, 2025, the day that would have been Zora Neale Hurston’s 134th birthday, The Life of Herod the Great will be published by HarperOne imprint Amistad. Hurston was still working on this book when she died in 1960.
Here are the best debut books of the summer, according to indie booksellers. What are your favorite books that have come out this summer so far?
Book Riot Recommends
Hi, welcome to everyone’s favorite segment of Book Radar called Book Riot Recommends. This is where I’ll talk to you about all the books I’m reading, the books I’m loving, and the books I can’t wait to read and love in the near future. I think you’re going to love them too!
Prepare Your Shelves!
It Came from the Trees by Ally Russell (Delacorte, July 30)
Raise your hand if you were in scouts when you were a kid! Yep, I was a Girl Scout. And as a Girl Scout and a fan of horror with an active imagination, I had a lot of horrifying thoughts pop into my mind on those hikes and camping trips in the dark, dark woods. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, for the sake of a good story), nothing truly scary ever happened to me in the woods. I mean, besides finding a scorpion in my tent that one time. The scouts in Ally Russell’s It Came from the Trees, however? They weren’t so lucky.
It Came from the Trees is Ally Russell’s debut novel. It follows Jenna, a girl who knows her way around the woods. After all, her Pap was the first Black park ranger at Sturbridge Reservation. Still, nothing from her family’s experiences or from the Owlet Survival Handbook could have prepared Jenna for encountering a cryptid.
Even though Jenna knows her best friend Reese was abducted by a strange creature in the woods, nobody will listen to her. Her parents think she’s playing around, and police are following all the wrong leads. Frustrated, Jenna decides to take matters into her own hands, joining a local scout troop to go back into the woods and find Reese.
It doesn’t take long for the troop to find evidence of a bigfoot-like creature in the forest: strange, large human-ish footprints. Now Jenna will have to trust her new friends to help her find Jenna and get them all out of there alive. This middle grade novel is so much fun and it will certainly give you the creeps, whether you were a scout as a kid or not. You’ll never look at the woods the same way ever again.
What I’m Reading This Week
Looking for a Sign by Susie Dumond
Sociopath by Patric Gagne
Grim Root by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen
Here for the Wrong Reasons by Annabel Paulson and Lydia Wang
I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
Monday Memes
Girlhood is a spectrum, right? Here’s some nice bookish versions of this popular meme. Enjoy!
And Here’s A Cat Picture!
Today, I leave you with the most glorious sight anyone could ever wish to see: a cat in a box. Quick story. While my husband was undergoing radiation therapy, he wore a lot of cat shirts (why does he have so many cat shirts? a story for another day). His fashion statements caught the attention of another patient and his wife, and they soon became fast friends. A few weeks later, we got this little cat scratch box in the mail. So, thank you to Ben’s friends at radiation! This little gift made our day. It made Murray’s day. And hopefully, now it’ll bring you a little bit of happiness, too.
Have a wonderful week, friends. We’ll talk again on Thursday!
