Ried (author of Five Ferries) masterfully weaves a compelling thriller that confronts climate change, corporate greed, and the preservation of the planet. The narrative unfolds with gripping intensity as it delves into the life of Daniel Lazaro, an attorney entangled with a questionable employer and the Big Oil Institute. Daniel is blinded by the pursuit of profits without regard for environmental damage, and his own infidelity risking his marriage.

Tragedy tears Daniel’s world apart when the Guadalupe river floods and rips through his family home stealing away his wife Bree and daughter Annabelle to a watery death. Remorse, guilt, and sorrow traumatizes Daniel so deeply he can barely look at a glass of water without being haunted by the ghosts of his actions. Reeling from these events, he seeks psychiatric help while awakening to the humanitarian efforts of Anthro, a subversive environmental protection group. Anthro challenges the established order of the corrupt oil business Daniel had so faithfully served. Led by Eco and Verde, their discreet clandestine activities permeate Daniel’s consciousness, opening his eyes to the suffering his actions caused to his family, and the entire planet. His soul-searching journey is slow and methodical as he realizes he has already lost his world.

He tries to earn his way into Anthro through small tasks he must diligently fulfill. Working through the chaos of giving up his life and income, his actions threaten those who mentored him yet he realizes there is no going back. Ried exposes the harsh reality of sexist and misogynistic mentalities, the looming threat of global warming, and the formidable power of lobbyists, attorneys, and unscrupulous politicians. Against this persuasively disheartening backdrop, Two Degrees combines suspense, environmental activism, and personal redemption. Daniel’s challenge captivates the reader, prompting reflection on the real-world implications of our choices, leaving no doubt that the ongoing battle to preserve our planet for future generations is in our hands.

Takeaway: Searing thriller of an attorney, big oil, and the planet’s climate tipping point.

Comparable Titles: Ryan Steck’s Fields of Fire, Feargus O’Connor Greenwood’s 180 Degrees.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Upbeat but clear-eyed about the challenges of climate change, wealth inequality, and an increasingly “feudal” economy where “nobility has been replaced by billionaires, vassals by white-collar corporate employees, and villeins and serfs by blue-collar workers,” this impassioned call for change from Katakam (author of The Power of Micro Money Transfers) urges readers toward a shift in mindsets about money, regulation, and our connectedness to others. “We need holistic change that revamps our current economic system, curtails emissions of greenhouse gasses, and rethinks the way we educate our kids,” Katakam writes, while offering both compelling examples of the possibilities and ample evidence of how, since Reagan and Thatcher, the world has seen “a massive shift in global wealth” where “everyone but the upper-income households have suffered significantly.”

Katakam writes with buoyant spirits despite the grim realities he exhaustively outlines. A capitalist who rejects socialism in favor of an inclusive economics that “prioritize[s] inclusive growth and social justice,” he calls for individual and societal change, making the case that the former, as seen in “conscious” consumers embracing “abundance mindset”s and a spirit of interconnectedness, will spur the latter. Rather than tear down current systems, he advocates for improving, regulating, and restoring an inclusive version of the capitalism that once “drove innovation, created products and services for the good of society, reduced poverty, increased the standard of living, and made a modest profit along the way.”

This inclusive capitalism—embracing growth, participation, opportunity, stability, and sustainability rather than “superprofits”—might strike readers as fanciful, but Katakam argues with persuasive power that the very act of imagining it, and manifesting it on an individual basis, is the crucial first step to making change. The book is nonpartisan, as quick to quote David Brooks as Robert Reich, and at times rambles, but Katakam’s critique is as unstinting as his belief in positive change is inspiring.

Takeaway: Impassioned call for an inclusive economy that leaves no person or planet behind.

Comparable Titles: Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac’s The Future We Choose, Mariana Mazzucato’s Mission Economy.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A

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Kimble continues his Mr. Mouthful series (after Mr. Mouthful Learns His Lesson) with this rollicking romp of adventure, excitement, and, above all, the pleasure of learning unusual words. This time, Mr. Mouthful, “our favorite fancy-pants,” is moseying through town with his sidekick, a pet monkey named Dupree, in an effort to show off their spiffy new threads—an admirable pastime, to be sure. The flashy pair soon attracts oodles of attention, garnering them their own retinue of admirers, but when a soccer game gone awry puts Dupree in harm’s way, Mr. Mouthful and his entourage must come together for a daring rescue.

Young readers will revel in Kimble’s evocative language as Mr. Mouthful expresses himself in the most fanciful terms possible. When a pothole threatens their walk, he cautions Dupree “Such a perilous situation! For your personal safety and comfort, take heed,” and when Dupree breaks out into a dance, Mr. Mouthful sings “Disport, disport. Strut your stuff.” The neighborhood kids who can’t get enough of the pair make merry in their own way, though accidents abound as they lag behind: an open paint can becomes a tripping hazard (“a most unfortunate outcome,” according to the story’s star), and when the children join in the chase to rescue Dupree from the local ne’er-do-wells, a bike crash stops them in their tracks.

Just as Kimble delivers loads of effusive entertainment, Bell’s sprightly illustrations—showcasing the characters as they stumble, dance, and scamper after Mr. Mouthful—overflow with subtle amusement. A pair of thieves kidnapping Dupree sport underwear emblazoned with hearts, the “youth brigade” saves the day with juice box projectiles, and Mr. Mouthful’s green bowtie and matching plaid pants steal the spotlight. In the end, Dupree’s rescue leaves Mr. Mouthful a bit tongue-tied, as he thanks the youngsters with his least extravagant speech yet: “Thank you, kids. You saved my pal.”

Takeaway: Charming adventures with a “fancy-pants” and his pet monkey.

Comparable Titles: Hudson Talbott’s A Walk in the Words, Anya Glazer’s Thesaurus Has a Secret.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A-
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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This inspired literary fantasy offers an audacious blend of science, metaphysics, romance, cult weirdness, and the rich textures of American life over the upheavals of the second half of the 20th century, years made even more bumptious, here, by astral assassins and other uncanny inventions. As the1960s crash to an end, Arby Keeling is conceived under most unusual circumstances when his mother, a nomadic hippie, falls in with The Children of Pan, a cult searching for the perfect vessel. Later, adult Arby’s nomadic life as a geologist is upended by a devastating phone call from his mother. Flying back home, he meets Elaina, a woman whose eyes never open, and forges an instant connection. Amid much chaos involving bomings, Elaina reveals to Arby that she has a special power—a “Talent”—just as he discovers that he does, too. As he falls in with Elaina and her motley crew of "people of our kind,” Arby learns more about his destiny, his power, and the enemy that seeks to harm him and everyone he loves.

Isaak crafts a riveting contemporary urban fantasy with inventive world building, rich language, crisp dialogue, and out-of-this-world but entirely believable characters. Featuring mages, giants, and astral planes, Arby's heroic journey is an intricate adventure that explores growth, destiny, and acceptance of things one can not control in life. As Arby learns more about his allies, their powers, and the potential evil he must face, he must place faith in himself and learn to trust those around him as he prepares for a battle with an enemy that could mean life or death for the physical world.

Isaak smartly updates classic hero's journey tales for the complexities of real life, as spunk, awkward Arby believes, in a relatable way, that he is anything but a hero. This genre-blending story, published posthumously, captivates as Isaak weaves readers in and out of the physical planes and rewards them with surprises, insights, and scintillating prose.

Takeaway: Smart, surprising literary fantasy of cults, “Talents,” and an unlikely hero.

Comparable Titles: Aleatha Romig's Into the Light, Lev Grossman’s The Magicians.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Attorney Green draws on her legal experience in this emotionally rich narrative about one man’s quest for justice as a survivor of child sexual abuse. In 2019, after California changed its laws to enable childhood sexual abuse victims to sue on old claims, attorney Atticus “Ace” Elbridge contacts Robbie Santos, his childhood soccer teammate, to tell him that he can now sue the Athletic Association for Young Americans (AAYA), the organization that ran their soccer club and was responsible for Robbie being raped by an assistant coach. Through use of a dual timeline, Green alternates between the 2019 trial where Ace represents Robbie in his suit against AAYA and 1998, when Robbie’s dreams of being a soccer star were stalled after his coach’s nephew sexually assaulted him and his team was disbanded.

Green adds authenticity to the depiction of the trial, legal procedural elements and the advice Ace gives to Robbie about the potentially painful nature of his testimony. With the focus on coaching and the nature of the relationship between a coach and a child team member, the author is spot-on, not only with the element of vulnerability as a potential for abuse, but the prevalence of sexual abuse in sports.

As the author establishes the timeline for the incidences of abuse, she intersperses these horrific incidents with the believable reactions of the parents when faced with the idea that their children were harmed, from disbelief to horror that their child was a victim. With incisive empathy, Green explores cycles of trauma, as one of the elements that acts to compel the plotline forward is the suggestion that a significant event in the past of Ace’s father, Steve, led to his possible alcoholism, fractured relationship with Ace’s mother, and to Steve’s inability to cope with either. This debut is distinguished by both Green’s legal acuity and clear-eyed humanity.

Takeaway: Emotional story of childhood sexual abuse and a quest for justice years later

Comparable Titles: Kate Walbert’s His Favorites, Vikki Petraitis’s The Unbelieved.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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Fourth-grader Sparky is struggling with writer’s block for her English story assignment, and, worse yet, she still hasn’t learned how to swim, a serious problem given her affinity for visiting the local pool. While she frets about being stuck in the baby pool forever, her mom offers some sage advice: “Only fish, pirates, or a hippopotamus need to worry about being able to swim.” That wisdom kindles creativity for Sparky, and the minute her mother turns her back, three pirates—Gobble, Bobble, and Wobble—explode out of the pool drain and offer to train her in nothing less than the art of piracy.

That premise and Sparky’s rich imagination will wow young readers in this rollicking adventure from Antonino (author of (ShBeep the Unique Sheep), as the hero sets sail to encounter rough seas, savage enemies, new friends, and delightful place names. When Sparky makes a deal with her pirate pals—in exchange for learning how to become a pirate herself, she’ll teach them nice manners—her creative juices really start flowing. Before long, she has a fun-filled story ready to present to her English class, and fans will enjoy hearing the tale alongside Sparky’s classmates. As Sparky—and the pirates—sally forth into the water pipes at the pool, she learns exciting new pirate tricks and words along the way—like why a williwaw can help move a ship in the right direction, or just how dangerous landlubber fever can be.

The group eventually run aground on Jerky Turkey Island, headed by King Fry, a larger-than-life turkey sporting a crown who threatens to peck holes in their ship, but even that doesn’t stop Sparky’s thirst for adventure. Readers will cheer when an unlikely rescue by a baby sea hippopotamus saves the day, prompting Sparky’s English teacher to declare “that was one wonderful story.” Antonino includes black and white sketches throughout that add to the merriment, making this a rousing good time for young readers.

Takeaway: Pirates, imagination, and rollicking good times combine in this high seas adventure.

Comparable Titles: Peter Bently’s Captain Jack and the Pirates, Melody J. Bremen’s The Boy Who Painted the World.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: B
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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Set before and after a singularity that, at first, no one cares about or even much notice, this captivating science fiction novel from Lester (author of the story collection Continum) offers a surprising and resonant story of technological advancements, the bonds of family, born and found, and most urgently the ways tech and power can change humanity. Belle is a young woman stuck in her small Alaska hometown until she receives a life-changing job opportunity working for Sophia Eccleston of the world famous tech company, Eccleston Evolution. Upon meeting the 70 year old woman—who doesn't “look a day over twenty”—Belle is tasked with being a caregiver to Sophia’s eight-year-old daughter, Juno, who’s hidden away from a world Belle worries soon will be aflame. Meanwhile, Seth Johnson is a hardworking warehouse worker until a life altering accident and machines put him out of work and a devastating tragedy befalls his family after a work accident results in chemicals in his system.

Told through the narratives of Belle, Sophia, and Seth, Titan’s Tears conjures a near-future where miraculous breakthroughs, like deliverybots and cloned mammoths, quickly are regarded as mundane. The story builds to a crescendo with climatic tension and a plot line that intricately weaves each character’s lives together, eventually bringing them to Eccleston’s remote island of ancient beasts, bleeding-edge wonders, and literal “murder-machines.” The mysteries and suspense entice, while Lester digs deeper than simple thrills, capturing the textures of life in this future.

Especially provocative: through journal entries, readers learn more about Sophia as she reflects on curing diseases such as Parkinson's, her heart-breaking relationship with a previous business partner, Lucas, and her vision for a brand new beginning. Lester deftly ties it all together into a layered, eerie puzzle. Fans of ensemble narratives and thoughtful thrillers with truly jolting twists will relish this trio’s journey into a stranger, newer world—and this novel that, as it looks forward, playfully engages with some SF classics of the past.

Takeaway: Eerie, deftly envisioned near-future thriller of life in the singularity.

Comparable Titles: Nick Harkaway, Charles Stross.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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A refusal to shy away from the horrors of the past adds urgency to the climactic third entry in Graham’s saga of young Britons emigrating to the Americas—especially Philadelphia—just after the Revolutionary War. This volume, following Voices Whisper, finds Liam Brock, the orphaned Scot, now just a test away from being a Philly lawyer. His thoughts, however, are as always on women, specifically Rhiannon Ross, now married to an old wealthy plantation owner, Albert, who has spirited her away to Jamaica and can’t bring himself to visit her bed at night. At the Fain Hill plantation, Rhiannon quails at the “harsh human suffering” of slavery, and she yearns to be useful, even visiting the understaffed “hothouse” to try to help tend to ill slaves. Her heart, though, is in Philly, Liam, and the inn that she has, through some complex financial cleverness, trusted Liam to secure for her, in the hope that one day she can get Albert to settle there.

Complicating matters, of course, are the horrors of slavery. Rhiannon’s interventions when slaves face cruel punishments tend to make matters worse, she exhibits grace for Albert’s out-of-wedlock son and his enslaved mother, and as hints of a revolt rock Jamaica as surely as the earthquakes, Rhiannon’s feelings for Fain Hill are complicated, and not just because of the centipedes. Liam, meanwhile, is soon en route to Jamaica as chaperone to a prickly young woman (“Even her curls appeared tightly wound,” Graham writes). His real mission, of course,is to see Rhiannon. One delicious twist: rather than find the young man, an abolitionist, a threat, Albert hires him on.

Graham spins the tale with brisk, engaging prose, palpable longing, and a strong sense of intrigue and gathering dread. The novel builds to inevitable but surprising tragedies but also a satisfying ending that does not diminish the weight of the history. Like Rhiannon, Graham abounds in grace, with even that tightly wound young woman proving, in the end, a compelling and nuanced creation.

Takeaway:Humane historical novel of love, law, and the horrors of slavery in the Americas.

Comparable Titles: Natasha Boyd’s The Indigo Girl, Sarah Lark’s Island of a Thousand Springs.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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In this provocative SF adventure, humans and advanced AI must work together to save Earth from the catastrophic damage of climate change. State-of-the-art Andronaut Zaylen is the first autonomous android designed for deep space exploration. With a human crew at the helm, Zaylen and his team must traverse a volatile alien planet and secure Tridisiom, an isotope with the ability to restore Earth. Tensions rise over the crew’s divided attitude toward dependance on AI, all as Zaylen wrestles with his growing need for acceptance from his human colleagues. Meanwhile, Earth’s fate rests in the ability of man and machine bridging a partnership, but embracing new complex technology proves more challenging than anticipated.

Scott creates fast-paced action that volleys between efforts to save Earth, protect the lives of the crew from various unforeseen perils, and, for Zalen, understand an android’s place within human society. Scott employs this repetitive pattern to build empathy between readers and the Andronaut by providing Zaylen ample nail-biting opportunities to prove his importance to humanity. Shocking twists keep readers engaged while Scott quickly escalates the tension between humans and AI. On the page, a palpable divide grows with some characters embracing the impressive tech abilities presented by Zaylen and others expressing their fearful and suspicious concerns of the Andronaut’s enhanced skills. Zaylen serves as a compelling catalyst to incisive and in-depth debates revolving around the complexities of machines’ integration into civilization.

Scott’s passion regarding innovative technological advancements shines through the narrative and sparks meaningful questions readers will feel compelled to investigate long after the final page. Several intriguing topics are explored such as will humanity eventually be replaced by androids and what if androids develop the ability to reject their code and go rogue? Readers interested in exploring the role of AI integrating with humanity will enjoy this compelling story.

Takeaway: A provocative adventure diving into AI’s role in human civilization.

Comparable Titles: Tony Laplume’s Sapo Saga, Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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In this tense, funny novel, Sarah Morris, a 49 year-old editor, faces upheaval at the publishing company, Quill Pen Press, where she's worked for the past 21 years. Though there is no change in her job title or pay, all of her job responsibilities are now different and she is forced to do overtime without pay for new daily tasks that she hates. With a recession ravaging hopes of economic stability, and finding herself her family’s sole income-earner following her husband’s dismissal from his banking job, Sarah must decide what steps she needs to take in her career to find her way back to being happy in the workplace. Does she dare a job search, as she puts it, “In middle age. In a crappy job market … that’s hostile to older people like me”?

Sarah exemplifies the emotional turmoil many feel when facing discontent in the workplace as Jones delves into self-doubt, the fear of starting over, and being complacent in a dead-end job. With wit, snark, and a striking sense of all-too-real realism, Jones writes a relatable and personable narrative about being pigeon-holed and feeling stuck with work that is no longer fulfilling or providing the space or opportunity for advancement. Exploring toxic work cultures, micromanagers, and workplace favoritism, The War on Sarah Morris is punchy and pained, outraged and comic, offering much that readers—especially women working in troubled industries—will find resonant. While set in 2011, the novel feels pointedly of the moment.

Jones convincingly captures the inner workings of a publisher and the ever-increasing responsibilities that fall onto lower level staffers, plus the indignities of a job search, from “biographical resumes” to pop-quiz writing assignments in job interviews. In this, Jones blends the engagingly dishy with sharp-elbowed analysis of power dynamics. Readers who have ever worked under tyrannical managers or for companies who only care about how much money is coming in will be impacted and feel a personal connection to Sarah's struggle.

Takeaway: Sharp-elbowed novel of a woman facing a job hunt after 20 years in publishing.

Comparable Titles: Lisa Owens’s Not Working, Liz Talley's Adulting.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Inspirational life coach and podcaster McAfee debuts with a warm, inspired, and polished Christian new-adult romance that overflows with grace as its heroine strives for perfection. Away from her small South Carolina hometown, UNC freshman Gabby falls hard for a bad-boy guitarist during her first week of nursing school. Her grades nosedive as the couple moves in together and marries, much against her loving sister’s wishes. Despite Adderall addiction, losing a coveted internship, and divorce, Gabby claws her way out of depression into the arms of firefighter Griffin Gerardi. But her toxic insecurities threaten to shatter their love as bumps in the road to becoming a nurse challenge her perfectionism.

Thoroughly realistic in its representation of new-college student challenges, this cautionary tale depicts the temptations of parties and romance, which distract Gabby from her academic goals. Luckily, her modern, laid-back faith strengthens her. Voices of reason come in the forms of rock-song lyrics and a radio DJ, as well as her sister, who steady Gabby when she most needs direction. The Christian element does not slow the pace or dominate the narrative, and it’s unlikely to deter secular readers, as many of the novel’s resonant gems of wisdom belong to no one tradition. Gabby embodies the classic picture of a college girl, sporting crop tops and drinking with the opposite sex. Love scenes remain implicit.

An action-packed prologue hooks the reader and offers a sneak peek at how Gabby and Griffin meet. First-person point-of-view in present tense lends an active voice to quieter passages and showcases Gabby’s diamond-in-the-rough, courageous character. Likewise, the conversational writing style promotes a sense of intimacy between protagonist and reader. Poetic prose matches swoon-worthy characters, like the bad boy with “a laugh that makes his whiskey-colored eyes bloom to sunburst.” Burning Hope’s satisfying narrative and characters will uplift fans of contemporary, sweet love stories.

Takeaway: Warm, realistic, uplifting romance with nuanced messages of faith.

Comparable Titles: Jessica Park’s Flat-Out Love, Jill Penrod’s Girls Aglow series.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Burning Hope

In this genre-blending future thriller, FBI agents Zahra Washington and Mason Deane, a mind hacker, team up to "rescue the world from certain destruction" after investigating multiple cases with mysterious murders and a new case where the suspect swears she's been framed. Set in an imaginative future of hologram news, underwater colonies, and a United States that’s no longer united, Powers’s debut pits the agents against a high-tech mind-controlling killer named Moloch, “king of the mindhackers,” who’s bent on taking over the world one host at a time, making everyone a drone under his control. “You’re reasonably intelligent,” Moloch tells Deane, early on. “That will make your brain easier to rewire.” Then Moloch divides into an army and rushes for him.

Inventive and unsettling scenes like that power Dreaming Under an Electric Moon, a fast-paced, impossible-to-predict ride starring two sharp-witted FBI agents each equipped with their own special set of skills. Powers pushes the narrative forward with surprising action, laugh-out-loud banter, and a tense storyline that takes full advantage of its future setting. Teaming up with software expert Ernestine Paul and her "black market guy", Garrett, the agents and their assembled team search both virtually online and multiple real-world locations to find Edward Blunt, the mysterious and supposedly dead creator of the vU, the virtual-reality "universe," in the hopes that he can help them stop Moloch, who is gathering countless drones.

In their race to save humanity, the team encounters characters from vNovels, aliens, ghoul-clowns, and Moloch himself in multiple hosts, creating a creepy level of distrust and uncertainty over who is an ally and who is the enemy. Blending shoe-leather procedural work, bursts of crisp but wild action, a viral update on super villainy, and a concluding reminder of the temptations of abusing cheat codes, this tech-run-amok plot will please fans of stories of investigating disturbing VR futures.

Takeaway: Inventive SF crime thriller pitting feds against “the king of the mindhackers.”

Comparable Titles: Caitlin Starling's The Luminous Dead Simon Jimenez's The Vanished Birds.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

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This upbeat guidebook to strengthening and maintaining relationships from Chaleff (author of The Wounded Healer) goes beyond the romantic to explore how to spark genuine, substantial, enduring connections with others in all different types of relationships, from friends to family to collaborators and beyond. Urging readers to understand the importance of trust and respect when forming bonds, and offering clear-eyed insight and exercises to develop the self-awareness it takes to be supportive, less judgemental, and better at not taking things personally, The Connection Playbook is an invitation to transform how readers relate to others, resolve conflicts, and above all embrace authentic connections where all involved feel supported, respected, and capable of navigating difficult conversations without defensiveness.

The Connection Playbook advises not only on how to become the person one wants to be, seeing those one cares about through the “lens of love” and communicating with intent and clarity, but also how to avoid perpetuating unhealthy cycles. “If we’re not conscious of what lies behind our triggers, we can turn into the very people we try our best not to be,” Chaleff notes. To that end, Chaleff offers original strategies, techniques, and clarifying examples exploring how to face challenging moments in relationships—like flashpoint interactions that could lead to conflict—with grace and empathy. Relevant and practical exercises are found at the end of each chapter, reinforcing concepts like viewing mistakes as “moments to create connection.”

This warm, illuminating guide is a toolbox for building relationships, enhancing professional connections, and simply understanding more of the world around you–and understanding your own triggers, defensiveness, and responsibilities in relationships as well. Chaleff persuasively argues that “if we can’t see how we create barriers between ourselves and others, we have no way of dealing with those barriers.” With clear eyes and an open heart, The Connection Playbook deftly demonstrates how to create healthy attachment styles at a time when people feel increasingly distant.

Takeaway: Original, informative guide to building relationships on trust and respect.

Comparable Titles: David Bradford and Carole Robin’s Connect, Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas’s When Sorry Isn’t Enough.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Warm, clever, and balancing playful narrative ambition with the traditional pleasures of its genre, Goldsmith’s ambitious fantasy, her debut, centers storytelling itself as an act of heroism, bringing pleasure and imagination to those who dwell in the novel’s many taverns but also something deeper. “Language and music are magic in themselves,” says the Rooke, a man robed in red, the last of his kind, dispatched on a most unlikely quest: to reawaken love of stories and the truth about a mythic, dragon-rich past in those oppressed by imperial rule. Stories spun by rookes—and then re-told by the people moved to reach into a rooke’s robes for a coin—also have a traditional side effect: soothing those dragons, who aren’t so mythic after all. They’re only sleeping.

Salvation Taverns offers a classic quest narrative, complete with a party of do-gooders, accumulated over chapters, pursued by strange creatures and elite soldiers (here, Spytes and the Scarlet Bans) and facing overwhelming odds, in this case an empire that bans books and demands citizens wear metal sleeves denoting each individual’s trade and standing. But Goldsmith balances the escapes, travels, friend-making, and betrayals with the tales of the Rooke, who in each chapter visits a tavern (The Dragon’s Toenail; The Glittering Raptor) and unspools a yarn. These awaken something in the listeners, reveal urgent backstory, and give Goldsmith opportunity to play in a host of fantasy subgenres.

The stories feature demons, pirates, purple foxes, and a host of figures of legend. Their narratives often are connected, with characters making multiple appearances. Before the Rooke regales a tavern, Goldsmith often devotes a perspective section to new characters who will become embroiled in the cause. This fills out the cast and world, but—combined with the storytelling—comes at the expense of narrative momentum. But Goldsmith’s fantasy asks readers to dig in deeper than most page-turners: it’s about gathering, sharing a tale, and making one’s own magic in the world.

Takeaway: Fantasy of storytelling deftly blending the epic and the cozy.

Comparable Titles: Ellen Kushner’s Thomas the Rhymer, Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

Click here for more about Salvation Taverns

This ambitious, genre-blending series starter from Springett (author of The Lions from Kiev) centers, a millennia now, on something like an idealized vision of the pastoral past: Matthew Stone, often on horseback, safeguards a Shenandoah Valley that, through dedicated reforestation, now looks like it must have when “man first discovered it many thousands of years earlier.” There, Matthew, a warden, ensures the security of the kingdom ruled by his brother, the Alliance leader Michael Stone. But Springett’s unique tale unfolds not on a fallen Earth but one where humanity has expanded into the solar system, with colonies on Mars, several moons, and multiple stations orbiting the other planets—and humanity, as is its wont, is divided into factions with competing interests. While the Stones maintain their kingdom and an antiquated lifestyle subtly supported by modern technology, a rogue AI and others will soon embroil the Valley in conflict.

Springett immerses readers in Shenandoah Valley's everyday life as Matthew returns to his brother’s castle on his horse for his niece's “name day,” but also in engaging political intrigue rooted in the flaws and future of humanity itself. The narrative gains momentum when assailants wielding banned Outer Rings weaponry target Matthew’s brother-in-law, exposing a conspiracy involving Earth’s Ambassador, the AI Statera, and a mysterious group called the Destiny Project. Forced to journey to the Alliance's capital, Copernicus, on the Moon. Stone survives attacks on the embassy and its Diplomatic Dome, where ambassadors from across humanity soon convene to face the danger. There Stone unearths a grand conspiracy.

Matthew encounters a host of interesting characters, establishing the richness of this future. The thoughtful story of diplomacy and secret machinations often leans on conversations rather than action, an approach that Springett executes with suspense. This vision of humanity’s future is smart and surprising, but always plausible and even revealing of who we’ve always been—and likely always will be. The conclusion this all builds to is a touch less exciting than the hints at what’s to come in the next installment.

Takeaway: Smart space opera pitting the warden of the Shenandoah Valley vs. a system-spanning conspiracy.

Comparable Titles: S.B. Divya’s Machinehood, James S.A. Corey

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Two of the most terrifying words in English: “Personnel changes.” LaPierre’s sprawling debut, a drama of succession, business, and love centered on a wealthy Ontario family and a small software company in early 2000s, builds to those words with pained suspense, the lives of its rich, poor, and in-between characters surging towards tragedy amid soirees, job interviews, not-quite-affairs, and a hotshot investment banker’s insistence that the best way to run a business is to “Get on top of a wave and sell. Don’t ride the wave to shore.” The Equity of Love examines the cost in human lives of such thinking, as LaPierre pins down his milieu with persuasive power, charting the aspirations, machinations, and life-upending lusts of the Hardich family’s two privileged but reckless adult children, and the beleaguered team at Enigma Solutions.

Chief among that staff is Richard Earning, whose resonant name and love of Dickens suggests something of LaPierre’s ambitions and approach. After the senior Hardich dies, his offspring Xavier and Augusta become the chief investors in Enigma, and Xavier, taking an interest in the company despite his lack of experience, spends much time with Richard, spouting vagaries about taking Enigma “to the next level.” Richard meets and soon falls for Augusta, a grad student whose progressive sloganeering doesn’t disguise her cynicism. “We’re self-interested,” she confesses, in a discussion of humanity itself. “I see how we all use each other for our own ends.”

Humanist Richard, though, believes in happy endings, but LaPierre is savvier than that, as Richard’s love yields painful dividends. Meanwhile, LaPierre, a Dickens fan himself, spins an intriguing subplot involving the executor of the Hardich estate and the young woman he feels obliged to assist—and to warn away from Xavier. Entertaining despite a protracted length and a tendency toward rumination, The Equity of Love is precise in its characterization, alive with memorable dialogue, animated with moral purpose, and jolting in its revelations and reversals.

Takeaway: Engaging Dickensian novel of an Ontario software company.

Comparable Titles: Susan Rieger’s The Heirs, Sharon English’s Night in the World.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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