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Farah Ali’s The River, The Town is a gorgeous first novel about a Pakistani family navigating poverty, drought, and generational trauma. Farah and I spoke on September 27 about climate disaster around the world, how desperate circumstances lead her characters to make unexpected choices, and the idea that it’s not just food and water that’s needed for survival, but hope, care, and community.

Read what we said here: bit.ly/HFFarahAli

I wrote about Jackal and a deliciously creepy POV: bit.ly/JackalPOV

Skin Thief is a collection that is both luscious and terrifying, full of shapeshifting women, Trinidadian ghosts, and gothic horror. Skin becomes a startling and often gruesome metaphor for identity as queer women transform into deer, snakes, and douens. They are made monstrous, but they glory in that monstrosity.

The collection draws on classic literature, folklore, and even includes a steampunk homage to Phantom of the Opera. It persistently subverts and recenters these stories to reflect the spine-tingling horror of our world. Yet it creates tenderness in unexpected places, too.

AND I got to talk to her about it! Here's the interview: bit.ly/49dTqgF

I wrote about Siddhartha Deb's LIGHT AT THE END OF THE WORLD and a dreamy couple of sentences:

bit.ly/3tfVNQC

I wrote about this book and an awe-inspiring passage that is told through a child's perspective:

bit.ly/4bbnoUc

I wrote about Siddhartha Deb's LIGHT AT THE END OF THE WORLD and a dreamy couple of sentences:

https://bit.ly/3tfVNQC

I wrote about Jackal and a deliciously creepy POV: bit.ly/JackalPOV

Kelly Sather’s debut story collection, Small in Real Life, is reflective sunglasses, the smack of flip flops, stardom that is out of reach. The characters include makeup artists, paparazzi, and script girls. Surfaces glitter and deceive. It’s Southern California. And even in its insistence—especially in its insistence—on examining the shallow and petty, it goes deep and gets weird in a very good way.

Read the rest of my review in Tupelo Quarterly: bit.ly/49EvuUu

I wrote about a really gorgeous bit of imagery and how to helps to build up the horror:

https://bit.ly/BlackTeethHorror

Amazing book. I wrote about just one (also amazing) sentence: bit.ly/NightbitchDualSens

I wrote about just one of this book's compelling and haunting characters: bit.ly/unwieldyvuln