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Amal El-Mohtar

A Monk And A Robot Meet In A Forest ... And Talk Philosophy In This New Novel

A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers Tordotcom hide caption

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Tordotcom

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A Monk And A Robot Meet In A Forest ... And Talk Philosophy In This New Novel

July 18, 2021 • Becky Chambers comes down to earth for her new series, about a world where humans and robots diverged so long ago that now each group is just a myth to the other, and robots propagate themselves.

A Year Of Falling Stars, Evening Swims And Friendship: Animal Crossing Turns One

Wish on stars in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the next morning, jewel-bright star fragments will wash up on your beaches. Screenshot by Amal El-Mohtar/Nintendo hide caption

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Screenshot by Amal El-Mohtar/Nintendo

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A Year Of Falling Stars, Evening Swims And Friendship: Animal Crossing Turns One

March 27, 2021 • Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out a year ago and quickly became the game of the pandemic era, offering a candy-colored fantasy world where the occasional bug bite is the worst that can happen.

The World Of 'Elatsoe' Mixes Humor And Horror (And Ghost Dogs)

Levine Querido

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The World Of 'Elatsoe' Mixes Humor And Horror (And Ghost Dogs)

September 5, 2020 • Darcie Little Badger's warm, spooky debut novel is set in a world just slightly off our own, where ghosts and fairies are real, and an Apache girl can pal around with the spirit of her childhood dog.

'Finna' Warns: Beware Of The Fuzzy Chairs

Finna, by Nino Cipri Tor.com hide caption

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Tor.com

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'Finna' Warns: Beware Of The Fuzzy Chairs

February 29, 2020 • Nino Cipri's magical multiworld adventure is set in a Swedish big box furniture store — no, not that one — where the showroom floor is prone to interdimensional wormholes that swallow shoppers.

Sprawling 'Revisionaries' Impresses And Exasperates In Equal Measure

Melville House

Books

Sprawling 'Revisionaries' Impresses And Exasperates In Equal Measure

December 8, 2019 • A.R. Moxon's surreal, inexplicable novel is a literary puzzle box that takes place across at least four levels of reality, in at least five typefaces — and yet, it's compulsively readable.

You'll Float Away On The Warm Waters Of 'The Starless Sea'

Doubleday

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You'll Float Away On The Warm Waters Of 'The Starless Sea'

November 3, 2019 • Erin Morgenstern's long-awaited followup to The Night Circus imagines a world of magical doors leading to a literal underground sea — surrounded by layers of pleasurable mystery and mythography.

'Palestine + 100' Explores Contested Territory, Past And Future

Comma Press

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'Palestine + 100' Explores Contested Territory, Past And Future

August 31, 2019 • A new anthology invites Palestinian writers to imagine their homeland in 2048 — 100 years after the creation of Israel. The stories are inventive, dextrous, painful, and even sometimes playful.

A Renaissance Fanatic Is Reborn — Again And Again — In 'Lent'

Tor

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A Renaissance Fanatic Is Reborn — Again And Again — In 'Lent'

June 1, 2019 • Jo Walton's new novel imagines the Florentine friar Girolamo Savonarola, living life over and over again in an attempt to change his course, save his city, his friends — and himself from damnation.

Building A Home Of Stories In 'The Bird King'

Grove Press

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Building A Home Of Stories In 'The Bird King'

March 17, 2019 • G. Willow Wilson's luminous new novel is set during the last days of Muslim Granada, and follows a royal concubine and her mapmaker friend as they flee the Inquisition for a place that may not exist.

'Tram Car 015' Is A Delightful Ride

Patrick Jarenwattananon/NPR

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'Tram Car 015' Is A Delightful Ride

February 18, 2019 • P. Djèlí Clark's novella about about two supernatural investigators on the trail of a malign spirit in a magical alternate Cairo packs wonderful characters into a thoughtfully-built world.

'Black Leopard, Red Wolf' Is A Beast Of A Book

Olivia Sun/NPR

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'Black Leopard, Red Wolf' Is A Beast Of A Book

February 8, 2019 • Our critic likens reading Marlon James' new epic fantasy to being slowly eaten by a bear that occasionally cracks jokes — painful and strange, but upsettingly beautiful for all that.

Gorgeous 'Black Future Month' Tracks A Writer's Development

Review

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Gorgeous 'Black Future Month' Tracks A Writer's Development

November 29, 2018 • N.K. Jemisin's new story collection is a story in itself, a chronicle of her career that has the seeds of her award-winning novels, but also lovely and thought-provoking stand-alone work.

'Little' Considers Power, Personhood, And Wax Artistry

Cameron Pollack/NPR

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'Little' Considers Power, Personhood, And Wax Artistry

October 28, 2018 • Edward Carey's new novel is about the life of wax museum pioneer Madame Tussaud — but it's also about the French Revolution, about humans, bodies, art and loneliness, and it's deeply, painfully sad.

'Silver' Spins Gold From The Moldiest Of Old Straw

Books

'Silver' Spins Gold From The Moldiest Of Old Straw

July 17, 2018 • Naomi Novik's new reimagining of "Rumpelstiltskin" digs deep into the anti-Semitism of the original story and drags out a warm, solid story about the nature of debt, friendship and hospitality.

Deep, Compassionate 'Tess Of The Road' Contains A Whole World

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Random House Books for Young Readers

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Deep, Compassionate 'Tess Of The Road' Contains A Whole World

March 3, 2018 • Rachel Hartman follows up Seraphina and Shadow Scale with the story of Tess, a rebellious young woman who runs away to escape being sent to a nunnery, and finds pain and growth along her road.

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