F. G. Haghenbeck 282 pages Oceano (2018)

Read this if you like: Magical realism, Mexican culture, speculative non-fiction

tl;dr summary: Frida Kahlo’s life story, mostly.

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Juan Villoro (trans. Kimi Traubb) 136 pages George Braziller, Inc. (2015)

Read this if you like: Denis Johnson, Roberto Bolaño, Mexican culture

tl;dr summary: Magical realism without the magic in modern Mexico

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Charlotte Perkins Gilman 120 pages (Herland), 117 pages (With Her in Ourland) The Forerunner (1915-1916)

Read this if you like: Mark Twain, Gulliver’s Travels, utopias

tl;dr summary: Women do things better, and that includes building a civilization.

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Jennifer Wortman 167 pages Split/Lip Press (2019) 

Read this if you like: Susan Minot, Kristen Roupenian, writing flash fiction

Tl;dr summary: Stories of people trying to find and show love and mostly failing, but in a funny, beautifully-written way.

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Nicky Drayden 313 pages Harper Voyager (2021)

Read this if you like: Vernor Vinge, unique worldbuilding, interpersonal and political intrigue tl;dr summary: Far future humans living inside giant space creatures navigate personal and political upheaval in their aim to live more symbiotically with their host.

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Octavia E. Butler 264 pages Beacon Press (1979)

Read this if you like: Time travel sci-fi, Afro-horror, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Doomsday Book series by Connie Willis tl;dr summary: Modern black woman is pulled back in time to save her slaveholding ancestor.

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Sarah Gerard 166 pages Two Dollar Radio (2015)

Read this if you like: Experimental literary fiction

tl;dr summary: Bulimic woman struggles with co-dependent relationship, astronomy, veganism.

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Gwendolyn Kiste 250 pages Trepidatio Publishing (2018)

Read this if you like: Atmospheric horror, Rust Belt narratives, sympathetic monsters

tl;dr summary: The girls of Denton Street rusted in the summer of 1980 and survivor Phoebe Shaw is back 30 years later to find out why.

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Kerstin Hall 436 pages Tor (2021)

Read this if you like: Unique magic systems, religious dystopias tl;dr summary: Young Acolyte living on a floating city is caught up in the intrigue of her cannibalistic magic sisterhood.

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Chris Tarry 128 pages Red Hen Press (2015)

Read this if you like: Kelly Link, Raymond Carver, Haruki Murakami tl;dr summary: Quirky merger of cryptids and fantasy with real-world settings and emotions.

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