Ten literary SFF books that offer hope for the future

Chloe Benjamin is the author of The Immortalists, a New York Times bestseller, and The Anatomy of Dreams. A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, LibraryReads favorite, and #1 Indie Next pick, The Immortalists was named a best book of 2018 by NPR, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and others. The Anatomy of Dreams received the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award and was longlisted for the 2014 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Originally from San Francisco, CA, Benjamin is a graduate of Vassar College and the M.F.A. in fiction at the University of Wisconsin.

Her new novel is Under Story .

At Lit Hub the author tagged ten literary-leaning science fiction and fantasy titles that offer hope for the future. One title on the list:

Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go

My first novel, The Anatomy of Dreams, was inspired by this one. I was so arrested by Kathy’s voice—that sense of trouble under calm water, nostalgia pressured by melancholy—that some light turned on in my brain. I’ll be the first to say that Ishiguro did it better: Never Let Me Go explores issues of science, ethics, and creativity to heartbreaking effect. Ishiguro often blends literary and genre elements, from the off-kilter fantasy of THE BURIED GIANT to the noirish WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS. Indeed, the way he plays with memory makes it seem like a not-quite-realist genre of its own, wavy at the edges and unnervingly malleable.

Read about another book on Benjamin's list.

Never Let Me Go is on Tom Lamont's list of five books featuring unconventional families, Lauren Ling Brown's list of five dark academia novels by BIPOC authors, Costanza Casati's list of five of the best titles about literary threesomes, Sadi Muktadir's seven novels that give you hope before devastating you, Scott Alexander Howard's list of eight titles from across the world about isolation, Kat Sarfas's list of thirteen top dark academia titles, Raul Palma's list of seven stories about falling into debt, Akemi C. Brodsky's list of five academic novels that won’t make you want to return to school, Claire Fuller's list of seven top dystopian mysteries, Elizabeth Brooks's list of ten great novels with unreliable narrators, Lincoln Michel's top ten list of strange sci-fi dystopias, Amelia Morris's lits of ten of the most captivating fictional frenemies, Edward Ashton's eight titles about what it means to be human, Bethany Ball's list of the seven weirdest high schools in literature, Zak Salih's eight books about childhood pals—and the adults they become, Rachel Donohue's list of seven coming-of-age novels with elements of mystery or the supernatural, Chris Mooney's list of six top intelligent, page-turning, genre-bending classics, James Scudamore's top ten list of books about boarding school, Caroline Zancan's list of eight novels about students and teachers behaving badly, LitHub's list of the ten books that defined the 2000s, Meg Wolitzer's ten favorite books list, Jeff Somers's lists of nine science fiction novels that imagine the future of healthcare and "five pairs of books that have nothing to do with each other—and yet have everything to do with each other" and eight tales of technology run amok and top seven speculative works for those who think they hate speculative fiction, a list of five books that shaped Jason Gurley's Eleanor, Anne Charnock's list of five favorite books with fictitious works of art, Esther Inglis-Arkell's list of nine great science fiction books for people who don't like science fiction, Sabrina Rojas Weiss's list of ten favorite boarding school novels, Allegra Frazier's top four list of great dystopian novels that made it to the big screen, James Browning's top ten list of boarding school books, Jason Allen Ashlock and Mink Choi's top ten list of tragic love stories, Allegra Frazier's list of seven characters whose jobs are worse than yours, Shani Boianjiu's list of five top novels about coming of age, Karen Thompson Walker's list of five top "What If?" books, Lloyd Shepherd's top ten list of weird histories, and John Mullan's lists of ten of the best men writing as women in literature and ten of the best sentences as titles.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Vikki VanSickle

From my Q&A with Vikki VanSickle, author of The Mystic and the Missing Girl: A Mystery:

The entry begins:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The title The Mystic and the Missing Girl establishes two important elements of the book—it’s a mystery, and there’s an element of the supernatural. The title was very tricky to nail down! There are so many elements in the book (cold case, nineties, tarot, mystery, humour, small town setting, ensemble cast, contemporary) that it became very overwhelming. Because I was very much inspired by Nancy Drew, we ultimately went for a retro sounding title that includes two of the key hooks of the book- a mystic, implying a touch of the supernatural, and a mystery, implying the genre.

What's in a name?

I love...[read on]

Visit Vikki VanSickle's website.

Writers Read: Vikki VanSickle.

My Book, The Movie: The Mystic and the Missing Girl.

Q&A with Vikki VanSickle.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five great SFF books set at schools

At Book Riot Liberty Hardy tagged five top sci-fi and fantasy books set at school. One entry on the list:

Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko

While I love this book about an unusual academy, I wouldn’t want to go here! Sasha Samokhina thinks her future might be bright when she’s chosen to attend the Institute of Special Technologies. But the school is frightening, the work is almost impossible to do, and when students fail, their families are punished. Can Sasha manage to get past it all in order to be granted her wildest dreams?

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Emily Sibley's "The Poetics of Incivility"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Poetics of Incivility: Satire and Subversion in Modern Arab Culture by Emily Sibley.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Poetics of Incivility explores impolite modes of expression―satire, crude humor, and rudeness―as a critical lens for both aesthetic innovation and sociopolitical critique. In the Arab world―from Cairo's Tahrir Square and the thoroughfares of Beirut to war-torn Gaza―political demands have been framed by satirical cartoons and graffiti or in subversive poetry and song. Emily Sibley shows that these forms of resistance are not new to Arab culture but return to mid-nineteenth-century debates over literary propriety.

In case studies concerning women's education in 1850s' Beirut, the satirical press in colonial Egypt, colloquial theater in the era of decolonization, street art and graphic novels during and after the 2011 Egyptian protests, Sibley follows the threads of an expressive culture that announces and celebrates its own impropriety. Concluding with analyses of Gaza poetry on the internet as a space where the stakes of incivility are acutely visible, The Poetics of Incivility offers a timely consideration of incivility as an aesthetic resource for authors and artists engaging with some of the most controversial issues of their times―and ours.

Learn more about The Poetics of Incivility at the Cornell University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Poetics of Incivility.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Vicki Delany's "‘Tis the Season to be Scary"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: 'Tis the Season to Be Scary: A Year-Round Christmas Mystery by Vicki Delany.

About the book, from the publisher:

It’s time for spirits to come out and play in the ninth Year-Round Christmas mystery by national bestselling author Vicki Delany.

It’s Halloween, and the townsfolk of Rudolph, New York, are donning masks and costumes for the Yuletide Inn’s grand fundraising gala to support the local hospital. Shop owner Merry Wilkinson has yet another treat to celebrate: Her best friend, Vicky Casey, has a new cookbook set to publish. Vicky’s publishers, a prominent critic of her book, and a former opera star rumored to have been involved with Merry’s mother are all set to attend the gala.

As the drinks flow, the guests dance, and the canapés are served, things begin spiraling out of control. The book critic makes a scene, and tensions begin to rise. Then Merry realizes that she is not the only one who never actually paid for a gala ticket. But when someone drops dead after eating a cake pop from the lavish dessert buffet, everything comes to a head, and all eyes turn to Vicky, who made the treats. As it turns out, Vicky’s book might be doomed before it hits the shelves.

With her friend’s name and livelihood at stake and the fundraiser in serious danger, Merry must keep her wits about her. Surely she’s only imagining the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge watching her from the shadows.

Visit Vicki Delany's website, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

The Page 69 Test: Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen.

The Page 69 Test: A Scandal in Scarlet.

The Page 69 Test: Murder in a Teacup.

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (September 2021).

The Page 69 Test: Deadly Summer Nights.

The Page 69 Test: The Game is a Footnote.

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (January 2023).

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (January 2024).

The Page 69 Test: The Sign of Four Spirits.

The Page 69 Test: A Slay Ride Together With You.

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (December 2024).

The Page 69 Test: The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime.

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (July 2025).

The Page 69 Test: Tea with Jam & Dread.

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (October 2025).

The Page 69 Test: O, Deadly Night.

The Page 69 Test: 'Tis the Season to Be Scary.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Linda Kass reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Linda Kass, author of World News from Waverley High: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I recently finished back-to-back readings of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Colson Whitehead’s Cool Machine, third in his crime trilogy set in New York. I was left with an impression that Whitehead’s Ray Carney had some aligned traits, or at least parallels, with Morrison’s Mason Dead II, both Black businessmen who make property, commerce, and respectability central to their identities. But this is something I need to contemplate further. To review each:

Song of Solomon was written in 1977 and Morrison’s third novel after The Bluest Eye and Sula. It’s a deep and sprawling story that blends magical realism, folklore, and poetic prose. It follows Macon "Milkman" Dead III (Macon Dead II’s son) on a coming-of- age journey from his rustbelt city to the place of his family’s origins as it explores identity formation and evolution, intergenerational family trauma, and African American heritage. The characters are rich but flawed from Milkman and his self-absorbed youth to his estranged and mystical aunt Pilate and the complex women who carry the emotional weight of the narrative. I love Morrison’s attention to detail, especially in expressing tense emotion and speech. The novel covers nearly...[read on]

About World News from Waverley High, from the publisher:

A tale of identity, activism, and finding your voice in a world on fire, this coming-of-age novel set at an urban high school captures a singular moment in American history—through the eyes of one unforgettable girl.

1969. Lena Rosen is an intelligent, observant teenager torn between spontaneity and self-consciousness. During her junior year, she becomes attuned to the pulse of her times in her first-period Current History class, where rebellion, social change, and musical innovation of the 1960s dominate discussion. When Lena becomes the associate editor of the school newspaper The Beacon, she is drawn into the swirling discourse surrounding the Vietnam War, civil rights, environmental disasters, and campus protests—while also grappling with her growing attraction to Jack Stone, the paper’s editor.

As the year progresses and the antiwar movement gains momentum, the unrest builds at Waverley High. Lena wrestles with her own cultural and religious identity as a Jewish teen while she and her fellow students struggle to cope with racial discord, a bomb threat, and the emotional toll of a world that seems to be unraveling. When tragedy collapses the distance between headlines and Lena’s own life, she must decide what it means to stand for peace—and to hope for a better world.

Set during one school year against the backdrop of an America on the brink of change, World News from Waverley High reveals the crossroads of personal growth and national unrest.

Visit Linda Kass's website.

Writers Read: Linda Kass (June 2026).

Writers Read: Linda Kass (July 2026).

Writers Read: Linda Kass (August 2026).

My Book, The Movie: World News from Waverley High.

Q&A with Linda Kass.

Writers Read: Linda Kass.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Susanne Yuk-Ping Choi's "Queer Resistance"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Queer Resistance: Contesting State, Family, and Inequality in Post-Socialist China by Susanne Yuk-Ping Choi.

About the book, from the publisher:

Queer Resistance examines transformations in intimate lives in post-socialist China through the experiences and resistance of LGBTQ+ people. Drawing on ten years of research conducted between 2015 and 2025, and one of the largest qualitative datasets of its kind, Susanne Y.P. Choi traces the weakening of the state-society-family alliance and its capacity to enforce Confucian and heteronormative ideals, and shows how LGBTQ+ people build communities amid intensified state crackdowns, develop new forms of personhood that subvert collectivist frameworks, and renegotiate intergenerational contracts. They navigate sexual possibilities opened up by marketization and digitalization while confronting hierarchies of desirability structured by class inequality and gender norms. The book demonstrates that younger Chinese people’s efforts to resist traditional obligations and pursue nonnormative life projects are relational, partial, and intersectional, shaped through encounters with changing configurations of power and inequality at the intersection of global forces and local histories.

Visit Susanne Choi's faculty webpage.

The Page 99 Test: Queer Resistance.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven novels that reflect on 9/11 and its lasting impact

The She Reads Editors tagged seven "stories [that] remind us of not only what transpired, but the long-lasting ripple effects of 9/11." One novel on the list:

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

A Pakistani man named Changez is living what appears to be the American dream. Living as an immigrant, he is working for a high-value firm and falling in love with an elite, Manhattan socialite. Then, September 11th, 2001 changes the entire world and Changez must grapple with his identity in the wake of the tragedy as a sentiment shift occurs that challenges everything good in his life.

Read about another title on the list.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is among Flynn Berry's four top novels of subtle espionage, Abir Mukherjee's five top thrillers about terrorism, Ryan Lee Wong's ten best novels about Asian American politics, Maris Kreizman's top twenty-three short books, Colleen Kinder's ten books about chance encounters with strangers, Maris Kreizman's nineteen top short books and stories, Ian MacKenzie's ten top books about Americans abroad, Emily Temple's ten top contemporary novels by and about Muslims, Laila Lalami's eight top books about Muslim life for a nation that knows little about Islam, Porochista Khakpour's top ten novels about 9/11, Jimmy So's five best 9/11 novels, and Ahmede Hussain's five top books in recent South Asian literature.

The Page 69 Test: The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

--Marshal Zeringue

Vikki VanSickle's "The Mystic and the Missing Girl," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Mystic and the Missing Girl: A Mystery by Vikki VanSickle.

The entry begins:

The Mystic and the Missing Girl takes place in a small, lakeside town that seems charming on the surface, but is hiding some murky secrets—including the truth about seventeen-year-old Ginny Evans, who went missing in 1998. This is an ensemble piece that plays with small town stereotypes, dabbles in the supernatural, and offers numerous opportunities for character actors to shine. Think a cozy mystery in the hands of a screenwriter like Diablo Cody. Here are some of the main players:

Our hero is Drew Benson— a reluctant psychic and tarot reader turned sleuth. A former teenage Goth, Drew is a little messy with a quick wit and a vulnerable side. She is unsure of her path or where she belongs. I would cast a quirky, fast-talking brunette like Cristin Miliotti or Kat Dennings in the role.

Nick Campbell is Drew’s high school nemesis—top of the class, valedictorian, he is what Drew calls a ‘type A Virgo.’ These days he’s had...[read on]

Visit Vikki VanSickle's website.

Writers Read: Vikki VanSickle.

My Book, The Movie: The Mystic and the Missing Girl.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top adaptations of classic myths & legends

Chloe Gong is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of critically acclaimed fantasy and science fiction novels, including These Violent Delights, Immortal Longings, and Coldwire. Her books have been published in over twenty countries and she was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for 2024. Gong graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English and International Relations. Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, she is now located in New York City.

Her new novel is Eyes of Kings.

At People magazine Gong tagged five of her favorite retellings of classic myths and legends, including:

Circe by Madeline Miller

With the latest Odyssey adaptation in theatres and spurring exciting conversation, Madeline Miller’s take on the Homeric epics is another worth reading. A feminist origin story for the witch Circe, following her perspective as a lesser god.

Read about another title on the list.

Circe is among J.T. Ellison's ten novels centering women finding their power, Paula Munier's eight top works informed by The Odyssey, J. Nicole Jones's seven books about people accused of being witches, Diana Helmuth's seven top books about modern witchcraft, Megan Barnard's eleven books about misunderstood women in history & mythology, Rita Chang-Eppig's ten top books with irresistible anti-heroines, Emilia Hart's five novels featuring witchcraft, Brittany Bunzey's top ten books centering women in mythology, Mark Skinner's twenty top books in witch lit, Hannah Kaner's five best novels featuring gods, the B&N Reads editors' twenty-four best mythological retellings, Ashleigh Bell Pedersen's eight novels of wonder and darkness by women writers, Kelly Barnhill's eight books about women's rage, Sascha Rothchild's most captivating literary antiheroes, Rachel Kapelke-Dale's eleven top unexpected thrillers about female rage, Kat Sarfas's thirteen enchanted reads for spooky season, Fire Lyte's nine current classics in magic and covens and spells, Elodie Harper's six top novels set in the ancient world, Kiran Millwood Hargrave's seven best books about islands, Zen Cho's six SFF titles about gods and pantheons, Jennifer Saint's ten top books inspired by Greek myth, Adrienne Westenfeld's fifteen feminist books that will inspire, enrage, & educate you, Ali Benjamin's top ten classic stories retold, Lucile Scott's eight books about hexing the patriarchy, E. Foley and B. Coates's top ten goddesses in fiction, Jordan Ifueko's five fantasy titles driven by traumatic family bonds, Eleanor Porter's top ten books about witch-hunts, Emily B. Martin's six stunning fantasies for nature lovers, Allison Pataki's top six books that feature strong female voices, Pam Grossman's thirteen stories about strong women with magical powers, Kris Waldherr's nine top books inspired by mythology, Katharine Duckett's eight novels that reexamine literature from the margins, and Steph Posts's thirteen top novels set in the world of myth.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Yuval Katz's "Media Making as Peacemaking"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Media Making as Peacemaking: Israel/Palestine by Yuval Katz.

About the book, from the publisher:

The horrific events of October 7 and the devastating war in Gaza have brought Israel/Palestine to the headlines once again. We have seen this all play out before: another ambitious peace plan, which secured a ceasefire, is imagined as the dawn of a new era of peace in the Middle East. But is it? Critiquing traditional state-centered approaches to peace, which usually highlight the work of diplomats and politicians, and which historically failed miserably in Israel/Palestine, Media Making as Peacemaking shifts our attention to the experiences of ordinary people. Investigating the idea of media encounters, this book shows how the collaboration of Palestinian and Jewish media practitioners and the popular texts they create together in television dramas, digital activism and mainstream journalism offer a new and exciting way to think about peace—a peace which does not maintain a repressive status quo, but seeks to deliver equality and justice to all people, Palestinians and Jews, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Visit Yuval Katz's website.

The Page 99 Test: Media Making as Peacemaking.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Margaret Mizushima's "Fighting Edge"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Fighting Edge: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima.

About the book, from the publisher:

Major crimes intersect in this nail-biting installment of the Timber Creek K-9 mysteries by award-winning author Margaret Mizushima.

A routine welfare check becomes a nightmare when Deputy Mattie Walker finds a young mother dead and a hysterical toddler, possibly the only witness to a brutal crime. Before the investigative team can start piecing together what happened, Mattie discovers another criminal act in Timber Creek.

During a traffic stop for speeding, Mattie observes a nervous driver and a teenage passenger frozen with fear. A quick sweep of the car with her K-9 partner, Robo, reveals a dangerous mix of drugs and suspected human trafficking, providing Mattie with grounds to arrest the driver. After she places the teenager in protective custody, the sheriff’s department hands the case over to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

As the team gathers evidence and information, Mattie’s husband, veterinarian Cole Walker, notices suspicious activity during ambulatory calls at dog kennels, indicating yet a third crime lurking in the shadows. What begins as isolated incidents quickly reveals a chilling truth: Organized crime has infiltrated their rural mountain community.

Every clue leads to more questions, and each answer brings them closer to greater danger. Do Mattie and her law enforcement partners have what it takes to shut down this criminal ring before it claims more victims? And could its next victim be someone Mattie loves?

Visit Margaret Mizushima's website and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Coffee with a Canine: Margaret Mizushima & Hannah, Bertie, Lily and Tess.

Coffee with a Canine: Margaret Mizushima & Hannah.

My Book, The Movie: Burning Ridge.

The Page 69 Test: Burning Ridge.

The Page 69 Test: Tracking Game.

My Book, The Movie: Hanging Falls.

The Page 69 Test: Hanging Falls.

Q&A with Margaret Mizushima.

The Page 69 Test: Striking Range.

The Page 69 Test: Standing Dead.

The Page 69 Test: Gathering Mist.

Writers Read: Margaret Mizushima (October 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Dying Cry.

The Page 69 Test: Fighting Edge.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight gothic horror books set across the globe

Courtney Rodgers has been reading and collecting books almost as long as she's been alive. She holds a B.A. in Theatre and Creative Writing.

At Book Riot she tagged eight top gothic horror books set across the globe, including:

The Fourth Princess by Janie Chang

Lennox Manor, a Western-style mansion, sits just outside of Shanghai, crumbling from disrepair. When Lisan Liu is hired as the secretary for Caroline Stanton, Lennox Manor’s new mistress, the manor’s sinister reputation fills Lisan with dread. As secrets from both women’s pasts begin to resurface, whispers of a curse stir amongst manor staff. Visions of ghosts, curses, secret princesses, and blackmail; this book has it all.

Read about another novel on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Linda Kass

From my Q&A with Linda Kass, author of World News from Waverley High: A Novel:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Because the setting of my novel is an urban, integrated high school, once I determined the name of the high school, Waverley High, I was set on having this as my title. To me, the high school was both a character and a place. I thought of it as an ecosystem of social bonds and individual relationships as well as a physical space, a container for my story of the late Sixties.

At some point, I began thinking that using only the high school’s name in the title would more strongly attract the YA audience (a secondary crossover audience we did aim to appeal to) rather than the primary adult audience we sought. And I had concerns that adults would see this as a book about a high school with no historical marker. So, we looked for a variation in that title presentation. I thought we should add 1969 into the subtitle, but everyone thought that made it feel like a nonfiction book. My publisher suggested the current title, World News from Waverley High, since the point of view character was a young reporter for the school paper. And she was not just looking at school news but given that the discussions in her Current History class covered the news of the day, her lens was far and wide. That...[read on]

Visit Linda Kass's website.

Writers Read: Linda Kass (June 2026).

Writers Read: Linda Kass (July 2026).

Writers Read: Linda Kass (August 2026).

My Book, The Movie: World News from Waverley High.

Q&A with Linda Kass.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Sebastián Carassai's "Beyond the War"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Beyond the War: Argentines and Islanders in an Unknown Falklands by Sebastián Carassai.

About the book, from the publisher:

Beyond the War reconstructs the often-overlooked history of the Falkland Islands before the 1982 conflict. Drawing on impressions of Argentine travelers and the island community, as well as British and Argentine diplomacy and politics, it reveals a world of mutual suspicions and tensions, but also of exchanges and collaborations, challenging the notion that war was inevitable. The book situates the islands within the broader history of the British Empire's reconfiguration during the UN-driven decolonization era, showing how global changes resonated in this remote setting. It examines decisive episodes, from the unprecedented period opened by the 1971 Communications Agreement to the influence of Argentine popular music, while analyzing competing Argentine nationalisms that shaped an “emotional community” around the islands. Based on new and little-explored sources, it offers a fresh perspective on evolving relations between islanders and Argentines, as well as postwar transformations that continue to shape the islands' identity today.

Learn more about Beyond the War.

The Page 99 Test: Beyond the War.

--Marhsal Zeringue

What is Vikki VanSickle reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Vikki VanSickle, author of The Mystic and the Missing Girl: A Mystery.

Her entry begins:

I am a voracious reader and like to read across all sorts of genres. Here are some titles I have absolutely loved recently.

The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey is a compulsive, twisty piece of speculative fiction that reminded me at times of Never Let Me Go. Set it an alternate 1970s, three boys remain at one of the last remaining homes for boys who are susceptible to a mysterious, unnamed illness. They know very little about the world, much like Nancy, another child who lives with loving parents who never let her leave the house. But these children are connected in a stunning, horrifying twist. The world building in this novel complex but never confusing, like a gorgeous puzzle revealed in stunning pieces from multiple perspectives. It...[read on]

About The Mystic and the Missing Girl, from the publisher:

Small town secrets, a reluctant psychic, and a cold case that could expose them all.

Drew Benson can read tarot cards and get impressions from objects―she just never expected to use her gifts to investigate an infamous cold case.

Drew Benson has a secret. She gets visions, something she hasn’t tapped into since she was a teenager, when her late aunt, a TV psychic known as Hannah Mystic, became the scapegoat in the unsolved disappearance of a local teenager. Twenty years later, Drew is happy to ignore her gift, focusing instead on keeping the metaphysical shop she inherited from Hannah afloat, wrangling her sole, astrology-obsessed employee, and dodging local rake Foster Banks in her picturesque lakeside hometown.

But when Drew's arch-nemesis from high school, now a big city reporter, decides to investigate the cold case from all those years ago, it’s Drew’s ability that could finally make a break in the decades old mystery. With bills piling up, a disapproving mother laying on the guilt, and a local vandal who wants Drew and her witchy store gone, Drew has a lot to lose. But what she stands to gain―finding out what happened to the missing teen, clearing her aunt’s name, and a second chance at belonging―could change everything.

In The Mystic and the Missing Girl, Vikki VanSickle seamlessly draws readers into an utterly charming world in this unputdownable, small town mystery.

Visit Vikki VanSickle's website.

Writers Read: Vikki VanSickle.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Lara Stokes's "Midsummer Nights"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Midsummer Nights by Lara Stokes.

About Midsummer Nights, from the publisher:

Life imitates art when a down-on-her-luck TV star returns to her hometown stage and redefines her dreams in a funny and heartwarming spin on Shakespeare’s most magical romantic comedy.

Miranda Belmont is a regular on a popular TV series, but her acting career is not exactly moving forward. After she’s publicly humbled, her next steps are definitely backward: playing Helena in a community theater production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in her stifling hometown, directed by her parents, and sharing the stage with her high school boyfriend.

Backstage, it’s borderline Shakespearean drama. Between her ex, an intriguing costar making sweet overtures, and an unwelcome blast from the past, Miranda is caught in a real-life, nearly magical tangle of romantic confusion that threatens the production at every turn.

Opening night will bring them all down to earth―especially Miranda, who’s navigating her way, onstage and off, through all the chaos these mere mortals create. As she reconnects to her roots, the creative spark she’s been missing awakens Miranda to who she truly is.

Visit Lara Stokes's website.

Writers Read: Lara Stokes.

The Page 69 Test: Midsummer Nights.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Benjamin Lewis Robinson's "Need/Emergency"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Need/Emergency: Political Theater in Exigent Times by Benjamin Lewis Robinson.

About the book, from the publisher:

Modern politics is preoccupied with states of emergency. Yet emergency politics obscures underlying socioeconomic, infrastructural, and ecological conditions of need. Prompted by Hannah Arendt's claim that theater is "the political art par excellence," Benjamin Lewis Robinson treats this political perplexity as a theatrical problem. In the company of political thinkers including Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben, Karl Marx and the Frankfurt School, Rosa Luxemburg and Martin Heidegger, Robinson revisits the entwined histories of politics and theater, analyzing plays that stage the political scene as an always asymmetrical coupling of need and emergency.

In Arendt's view, the defining tendency in modern politics is for need to emerge where it has no right to appear, posing a threat to politics as such. In contrast, the works of theater addressed in Need/Emergency concern moments when, whether it ought to or not, need does appear―demanding justice. Writing in exigent times, Elfriede Jelinek, Heinrich von Kleist, Georg Büchner, Bertolt Brecht, and Friedrich Hölderlin produced formally innovative political theater. Not reducible to the drama of emergency, these plays bring into focus the very need for politics. Moving fluently between theory and theater, Robinson offers a critical study of biopolitics and emergency politics in times of poverty, plague, infrastructural predation, and forced displacement, from the French Revolution to the climate crisis.

Learn more about Need/Emergency at the Stanford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Need/Emergency.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books about writerly rivalry

Laurie Petrou is an award-winning, internationally published author. She is also a Professor at the RTA School of Media at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson). She has a PhD and Master's in Communication and Culture (York and TMU), a diploma in New Media Design (Sheridan), and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in painting (Queen's). She lives in Niagara.

Her new novel is The Rayburn Affair.

At Lit Hub Petrou tagged seven of her favorite "books that feature creative people and their relationships with other artists or writers." One title on the list:

Meg Wolitzer, The Interestings

I read this wonderful book by Meg Wolitzer on a trip to New York, which allowed the setting of the novel to burst from its pages. At the start of the book, we meet a group of talented and dreamy-eyed creatives at a camp for artsy kids—Spirit of the Woods—in the summer of 1974. American politics bleed into the margins of their conversations, which are heady and serious, and then brash and provocative. Ethan is the unattractive but undeniably talented artist of the group who call themselves (in that self-conscious but arrogant blush of youth) The Interestings; Jonah and Cathy are the children of a famous Laurel Canyon-esque folk singer; gentle Ash is the beautiful and talented star around which, orbits many, including insecure and often-envious Jules, who steers the story in her writerly observations. Over the course of the novel, we follow all six as they shed childlike creative ideals and experience what it is to grow up chasing artistic dreams with varying degrees of success and failure.

The novel explores the challenges of making a life both within and without the arts, and how that unfolds from adolescence into adulthood. The friends are witnesses to one another’s success and failures and seem to have a stake and a sense of prideful ownership over one another because of their decades-long friendships. Set against the backdrop of political dishonesty and the country’s abandonment of ideals, the book probes questions about how to be an artist in the world.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Interestings is among Rebecca Makkai's five top novels with academic settings and Sabrina Rojas Weiss's five novels ripe for adapting as a TV series.

--Marshal Zeringue

Linda Kass's "World News from Waverley High," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: World News from Waverley High: A Novel by Linda Kass.

The set-up for World News from Waverley High:

1969. Lena Rosen is an intelligent, observant teenager torn between spontaneity and self-consciousness. During her junior year, she becomes attuned to the pulse of her times in her first-period Current History class, where rebellion, social change, and musical innovation of the 1960s dominate discussion. When Lena becomes the associate editor of the school newspaper The Beacon, she is drawn into the swirling discourse surrounding the Vietnam War, civil rights, environmental disasters, and campus protests—while also grappling with her growing attraction to Jack Stone, the paper’s editor.

Kass's dreamcasts begins:

Here are some age-appropriate-looking, older-teen-playing actors and actresses who are commonly cast as 16- or 17-year-olds, including performers who may be a bit older but still pass convincingly:

For Rita Fields: Maddie Ziegler — good for the popular girl, social media girl, or slightly aloof “everyone knows her” type; often cast in teen roles and can read as 16–17.

For Caroline Brown: Chloe Coleman — works well as the smart, cool, socially aware popular girl; has a strong “older teen” look on screen.

For Lena Rosen: Sunny Sandler — can fit the bubbly popular girl or well-liked campus-cool character; can read as a 16–17-year-old with...[read on]

Visit Linda Kass's website.

Writers Read: Linda Kass (June 2026).

Writers Read: Linda Kass (July 2026).

Writers Read: Linda Kass (August 2026).

My Book, The Movie: World News from Waverley High.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Nozomi Naoi's "The Land of Happiness"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Land of Happiness: How the Japanese Department Store Visualized Modern Life by Nozomi Naoi.

About the book, from the publisher:

A fascinating look at how Japanese department stores of the twentieth century influenced modern life, identity, and the concept of a dreamworld—and why they continue to loom so large in our imagination.

The Land of Happiness explores the far-reaching influence of the Japanese department store on modern life and our imaginations. In this gorgeously illustrated volume, Nozomi Naoi explains how Japanese department stores modeled “the new modern Japanese life and identity” through print media and design, physical and imagined space, and the new experiences that these spaces offered. The stores created the notion of a modern subject enjoying a “land of happiness”—and this, in turn, shaped the wider sociological context, including emerging roles for women and perceptions of coloniality.

The book focuses on three areas: the mediascape of proliferating department store posters, advertisements, commercial design, promotional magazines, and merchandise; the physical space, such as the Western-style architecture that characterized many of these early department stores, and the imagined “modern space” created within their walls; and, finally, the production of a novel “dreamworld,” which included dining spaces with children’s menus, elevators, escalators, and more.

While the research on department stores and their role in the quotidian experience is vast, there is nothing like this study, which is uniquely grounded in an art historical approach that draws upon the visual media environment of early twentieth-century Japan and its impact on the everyday.

Learn more about The Land of Happiness at The MIT Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Land of Happiness.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six crime novels with astonishing narrative turns

Gillian McAllister is the New York Times bestselling author of Reese's Book Club Pick Wrong Place Wrong Time, Caller Unknown, Famous Last Words, Just Another Missing Person, Everything but the Truth, The Choice, The Good Sister, The Evidence Against You, How to Disappear, and the Richard & Judy Book Club pick That Night. She graduated with an English degree before working as a lawyer. She lives in Birmingham, England, where she now writes full-time.

At CrimeReads McAllister tagged six top novels in which you should guess the twist but probably won't. One title on the list:

Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen, The Wife Between Us

Vanessa is recently divorced from wealthy, charming Richard and has developed an unhealthy taste for booze, plus obsession with his new fiancée, Nellie. Or has she?

As we alternate between Vanessa’s present day and Nellie’s countdown to her wedding we’re made to question the unhinged ex-wife narrative and ask who’s actually the victim and who’s the predator in this twisty, surprising thriller.

Read about another entry on the list at CrimeReads.

The Wife Between Us is among Vi Keeland's six top thrillers with a side of romance and Lizzy Barber's seven novels about wealthy people behaving badly.

--Marshal Zeringue