Gustavo Bondoni 281 pages Guardbridge Books (2017) 

tl;dr summary: Intergalactic expats return to Earth to find its humans now live entirely in a simulation.

Read this if you like: The Matrix, Vernor Vinge, Ann Leckie

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Joanna Acevedo 196 pages Flexible Press (2021)

Read this if you like: Jennifer Wortman, Susan Minot, Alice Munroe

tl;dr summary: Glimpses in the lives of thirteen people who are all very bad at love each in their own unique way.

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Matthew Cheney 270 pages Third Man Books (2023) 

tl;dr summary: Genre-spanning and blurring collection that is a study in crafting voice and balancing realism against absurdity.

Read this if you like: Juan Villoro, David Foster Wallace, literary horror

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Christine Stroud 58 pages Disorder Press (2017)

Read this if you like: hybrid stories, fragmented narratives, grief and loss narratives

tl;dr summary: Twin grieves and remembers her sister in the aftermath of her suicide

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Jason DeYoung 44 pages The Cupboard Pamphlet (Volume 42, 2020)

Read this if you like: Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Carmen Maria Machado, character-driven apocalyptic horror

tl;dr summary: Three people survive together during a quiet apocalypse

See the book on The Cupboard’s website

 

Brandon O’Brien 64 pages Interstellar Flight Press (2021) 

Tl;dr summary: Eldritch horror meets pop culture meets Blackness meets black humor, all mixed together and with line breaks

Read this if you like: Elwin Cotman, speculative poetry, hip hop culture

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Corey McCullough 326 pages 2018 (Self-published)

Read this if you like: The Chronicles of Narnia, Dragonlance, Wheel of Time

tl;dr summary: Western PA teenager is pulled into a magical alternate dimension in a good-vs-evil-quest meets coming-of-age adventure.

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V. Castro 141 pages Creature Publishing (2021) 

Tl;dr summary: Teenage girl gets possessed by sin-eating Aztec goddess

Read this if you like: Mesoamerican mythology, folk tales and fairy tales, spiritual horror

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Toshikazu Kawaguchi 272 pages Hanover Square Press (2019) 

Tl;dr summary: Intersecting stories of the employees and patrons of a café with a time travel seat.

Read this if you like: Haruki Murakami, Twin Peaks, magical realism

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Elwin Cotman 89 pages Nomadic Press (2023)

Read this if you like: mythic fantasy, punk poetry, Haruki Murakami tl;dr summary: Combination poetry collection and story about a galaxy-traveling wizard

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