Zoé Mahfouz | Fiction Satire

Few books capture the chaos of a restless mind quite like ADHD in D Minor, Zoé Mahfouz's new and compelling collection of satirical short fiction. The book delivers forty-one short stories and skewers everything from literary elitism to Hollywood gatekeeping, TED Talks, wellness culture, and the endless noise that populates pop culture, to WhatsApp group chats. These are told through the enthralling voice of a neurodivergent narrator who refuses to apologize for taking up space. The stories gleefully shapeshift between forms: a fake news report on an actress faking Italian heritage, a BBC motivation letter stitched entirely from show titles, a Nobel Prize application from a proudly childless...

D.J. Paolini | Romance - Historical

D.J. Paolini's The Paladin of Rimini is a compelling multi-generational saga spanning from 1982 to 2017. Angelina Fabrizzi is a woman burdened by severe family abuse and financial ruin. After her mother, Isabella, was forced into marriage and died from cancer, Angelina suffered through an abusive union with Giovanni until her godmother, Valentina, a fierce former carabinieri, finally intervened. In 2017, widowed and in heavy debt, Angelina meets Benjamin LaRocca, an American travel writer, on a train to Rimini. Benjamin becomes her tenant, and their shared kindness quickly blossoms into romance. As Valentina protects them from the past, she must reckon with her secrets as well. While Angelin...

Mark Swanson | Literature & Fiction

Set against the backdrop of late '60s and early '70s Iowa, Red Wine and Jazz follows young musician Luke Abrams as he pursues his passion for music in a world increasingly enamored with rock. As he strives to earn his electric guitar from his jazz-loving mother, the story develops into a rich canvas of family ties, personal ambition, and the intoxicating lure of music. Luke's journey is not just about achieving his dreams; it's an exploration of love, identity, and the struggles of handling old alliances and new relationships. What happens after Luke succeeds: signing a record deal and experiencing fame for the first time? This book speaks to anyone familiar with the spark of creat...

Dottie Lee | Literary Fiction

Dottie Lee’s In the Mountain drops readers into a top-secret facility buried deep inside a mountain. After a catastrophic earthquake, the central Tube collapses, the glass shatters, and floors slide into the abyss, killing most of the staff and leaving a handful of survivors, including Trace, Paul, Pearl, and Joseph, who escape through an emergency exit into the suffocating darkness beyond the Wall. What follows is a struggle for survival as the group, later dubbed the “Dislocated Family,” discovers a subterranean stream, faces pitch-black ruins, and scavenges supplies from locker rooms and broken offices. Along the way, they experience painful losses: driven by despair, Pearl vanishes into...

AJ Streator | Poetry - General

AJ Streator’s From the Shallow End to the Deep End is a gorgeous collection of ninety-five sonnets that capture the author’s experiences, psyche, and autobiographical journey through varying shades of life. Structured clearly into three sections—The Shallow End, Middle of the Pool, and The Deep End—the collection features themes ranging from nostalgic childhood memories and family bonds to the painful experiences of divorce, mental health struggles, and aging. The poems are a reflective ledger, examining the author's intimate relationships with his mother, father, siblings, and children, while exploring resilience, faith, and redemption. Rather than adhering strictly to traditional romantic...

Florenz Dombey | Literary Fiction

Florenz Dombey’s The Long Run to Love is the sixth installment of The Willow Chronicles, an expansive historical romance spanning 1963 to 1969, set against the turbulent backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement and Seattle’s maritime culture. The novel follows Willow “Billie” Benton, a tall, fiercely independent shipping magnate who built the container empire Pinctada Holdings, and Sidai “Sid” Ackroyd, a brilliant six-foot-tall Maasai economist appointed to an endowed chair at the University of Washington. Their chance meeting at the Olympic Hotel ignites a passionate, clandestine romance that defies era taboos regarding race, gender, and sexuality. From their adjacent houseboats on Portage Bay...

Oliver Libby | Non-Fiction - Government/Politics

Strong Floor, No Ceiling: A Bold Plan to Rebuild the American Dream—for Everyone by Oliver Libby offers a radically moderate blueprint for a fractured nation. Entrepreneur and policy innovator Oliver B. Libby urges us to move beyond division with a pragmatic vision rooted in both tradition and innovation, equity and growth. Libby’s “Strong Floor” approach ensures every American has access to healthcare, education, and opportunity—while his “No Ceiling” philosophy champions the limitless ambitions that drive progress. Inside, you’ll find actionable strategies to restore trust in institutions and elections, a new model for bipartisan cooperation, and a call to civic renewal. Learn how capital...

Alan J. Hesse | Children-Educational

It was supposed to be an easy, delightful journey to return Penguin to Antarctica, but Captain Polo and her clever sidekick, Penguin, are drawn into perils they never anticipated. Tex Greedyman is a ruthless oil tycoon with devastating plans for the Amazon, and from the rainforest's heart to Rio’s enchanting streets, Captain Polo and Penguin are on a whirlwind adventure packed with action and discovery. They'll scale Sugar Loaf Mountain's cable car, dodge a furious bull at a southern cattle auction, and uncover nature-based climate solutions in the Atlantic Forest. Along the way, they confront pressing environmental crises while discovering inspiring community-driven innovations. Will they m...

Clay M. Grayson | Non-Fiction - Business/Finance

College athletics is stuck in the in-between, no longer amateur, not yet fully professional, and Clay M. Grayson's Semi-Pro is the definitive, timely guide to address that uneasy middle ground. If you love college sports—the fight songs, the tailgates, the Saturdays that feel like family reunions—this book will speak straight to your heart. Clay M. Grayson has spent over twenty years helping universities manage change, and in Semi-Pro he tackles the question that keeps fans and leaders up at night: how can college athletics survive going professional without losing its soul? He offers a surprisingly hopeful answer to the question. Universities, he argues, already own everything they need: lo...

Laurel Colless | Children - Adventure

Knights Unite is the fourth book in the Peter Blue Series by Laurel Colless, and it follows Riva du Lac, who is determined to uphold her promise to avoid detentions at Spiral Hall. But a sea cleanup reveals Shem, a mythical fish boy, and a surprise honor from the Spiral Knights forces her to choose between rules and friendship. Meanwhile, Peter Blue has a vision of a water-dwelling monster. Can their unlikely alliance save the knights—and the world? Laurel Colless captures the delicate balance of environmental activism and adolescent adventure through the eyes of Riva, the determined twelve-year-old protagonist. The character development is both nuanced and engaging, particularly in Riva’s j...

Martyn Rhys Vaughan | Science Fiction & Fantasy

Martyn Rhys Vaughan’s No Truce with the Vampires: Those Who Endure transplants gothic horror into the sun-scorched Australian outback to conclude its trilogy. In a future where vampires have conquered Earth after humanity nearly destroyed it, the surviving human race is exiled to “Stralia” and infantilized into docile farmers. The story follows Greg Ferguson, a hardy sheepherder in the Red Centre, who discovers from his dying mother’s hidden documents that their world is a prison. Alongside the mysterious Allira, he uncovers the truth about vampire rule, only to be captured by the sadistic scientists Gronz and Theondra. Their ordeal escalates from rustic mystery to interdimensional conflict....

Colin Dodds | Fiction - Literary

The Reign of the Anti-Santas by Colin Dodds is a unique and audacious Christmas tale that takes readers on a rollercoaster ride through a world where the holiday spirit collides head-on with corporate greed, scandal, and societal change. The story is narrated by Elvin, an elf with a front-row seat to the evolution and devolution of Christmas. Elvin's journey begins when he unwittingly accompanies Santa Claus on a Christmas Eve trip, setting the stage for a decades-long adventure filled with intrigue and danger. Dodds creates a narrative that includes Santa's secret affairs, the PR scandal that catapults Rudolph to fame, and the encroachment of humanity on the North Pole. What makes this book...