Jacob M. Appel 181 pages Black Lawrence Press (2016)
Read this if you like: Robert Olen Butler, Matthew Cheney, Juan Villoro
tl;dr summary: A study in the craft of writing short stories, with 10 stories that each have a different lesson to teach.
Oliver K. Langmead 223 pages Titan Books (2024)
Read this if you like: novels-in-verse, Ursula K. LeGuin, Jeff VanderMeer
tl;dr summary: Colony ship engineer wakes from stasis to learn she slept through a war and is one of the few experts left to complete their mission.
Dorene O’Brien 156 pages Baobab Press (2019)
Read this if you like: Karen Russell, Carmen Maria Machado, quirky short fiction tl;dr summary: Collection of (mostly) literary stories in which characters hope, for better or worse (mostly worse).
Adrian Tchaikovsky 388 pages Orbit (2024)
Read this if you like: unique alien ecosystems, Rick Claypool, Vernor Vinge
tl;dr summary: Political prisoners in an Orwellian dystopia are sent to a labor camp on Kiln, a planet where the life is aggressively symbiotic and potentially sentient.
Carrie Gessner 419 pages Self-Published (2016)
Read this if you like: The Wheel of Time, David Eddings, character-driven high fantasy tl;dr summary: Three magic users in a world where magic is dying set out to avert war, solve a murder, and avoid bringing about a prophecied doom.
Leech Girl Lives Rick Claypool 307 pages Space Boy Books (2017)
Read this if you like: Philip K. Dick, high-tech dystopias, creature horror
tl;dr summary: Woman on far-future fungus-infested Earth gets leeches for arms, uses them to save humanity.
Rios de la Luz 143 pages Broken River Books (2017)
Read this if you like: Isabel Allende, V. Castro, Arundhati Roy
tl;dr summary: A pair of sisters in a magical family navigate the grief of losing their Abuelita, grow up
Isabelle Allende 443 pages Vintage Español (2011)
Read this if you like: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Chilean history, genre-blurring coming-of-age novels
tl;dr summary: Teenager on the LAM finds refuge in a small village in Chile and learns about both herself and her family’s history in the process.
Anthony Veasna So 260 pages Ecco (2021)
Read this if you like: Karen Russell, Jennifer Egan, Alan Heathcock
Tl;dr summary: Various views of the day-to-day lives of Cambodian refugees in California.
Ann Leckie 407 pages Orbit Books (2019)
Read this if you like: Kerstin Hall’s Star Eater, N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy, fantasy with unique voice & POVs
tl;dr summary: Fantasy-mystery-thriller narrated by an ancient god who shares highlights from his very, very long life along the way.
