Staff Fiction Favorites

A new mom breastfeeds the devil. Lady thieves dance with ghosts. A school boy falls in love with a 2,000-year-old bog mummy. Every story in Karen Russell's new book thrills me. The close cooperation of the mundane and the fantastic feeds a witty, insightful perspective on humans and our inner worlds.  - Clara

Perfect for fans of Cormac McCarthy and Paolo Bacigalupi, this gripping, atmospheric, and sparsely beautiful sci-fi novel imagines a near-future Mississippi Gulf Coast ravaged by climate change. The narrative Smith constructs is a bleak one, but this novel features outstanding worldbuilding, fine details, and deeply human characters. - Stuart

A novel in the form of recommendation letters? Sounds like a literary stunt but Schumacher absolutely nails it. While maintaining the book’s formal conceit, she perfectly blends satire and genuine human emotion, offering a hilarious commentary on modern academia through one professor’s tired pen and fading sanity. I unreservedly recommend (!) this book. - Rico

People calls this book a “Pride & Prejudice-like send-up”, and that’s what this is: Kevin Kwan has channeled Jane Austen to write a witty, satirical rom-com told from an American-Born Chinese traversing the rarified (and often ridiculous) air of the upper echelons of Kwan’s native Singapore. Pick this up for the love story, pick it up for the drama, the incredible side characters, or just the crazy richness – this book is guaranteed to transport and entertain. - Jocelyn

I want to be Vivian Liao when I grow up. Tech genius, revolutionary subversive and chosen by a god, she is at the center of a whirlwind adventure across the galaxy to save space, time and autonomy. I loved the unique, brash characters running around in Gladstone's magic and computer-science-based world. So fun! - Clara

A tattoo artist and budding CEO, haunted by their shared past, are given a second change – at love, but more importantly at their own lives. I was pulled in from the start to this taut tale of redemption, betrayal, sex, and romance. With complex characters, sizzling tension, juicy drama, and intricate tattoos (and desert) I finished this book fully satisfied – but ready for Alisha Rai’s next installment. - Jocelyn

Ted Chiang is one of the best modern speculative fiction writers, and his writing encompasses the breadth of the human experience. The stories in this collection are subtle, introspective, and incredibly smart, and Chiang masterfully explores themes of science, theology, fate, heartbreak, and love. I can’t recommend this highly enough for fans of literary science fiction. - Stuart

Katie moves from Ohio to help her aunt and uncle start a bakery only to find out that her aunt's gaggle of biddies is actually a coven! Katie, the coven, and various animal familiars must band together to solve a murder that happens on the bakery's opening day, with Katie's uncle as the prime suspect! - J Gallo

A kaleidoscope of colors permeates this creative coming of age story.  Jason, age 13, has synesthesia and face blindness. He sees colors instead of hearing sounds. He can only identify people by the color of their voice and the clothes they wear. When police discover the body of his neighbor, Jason believes he may have been witness to a murder. This is a fascinating and unique mystery. - Trey

Amberlough delighted me and broke me and did it all over again. A Jazz-age alternate world of queer spy-vs-spy shenanigans and cat-and-mouse politics, featuring the rise of a conservative facist government in a diverse and throbbingly alive world. Possibly a little too real in our current real-world, but author Lara Elena Donnelly kept me hoping against reason for the characters, even as she broke me down. Fair warning: you will immediately need to pick up the sequel. - Jocelyn