Kristen Arnett is a queer fiction and essay writer. Her work has been featured in North American Review, The Normal School, Electric Literature, Literary Hub, Volume 1 Brooklyn, Catapult, Tin House Flash Fridays/The Guardian, Salon, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She was awarded Ninth Letter's 2015 Literary Award in Fiction for "See also: A history of glassmaking," which appears in this collection. Find her on twitter: @Kristen_Arnett.
Killer Potential (2025) Hannah Deitch "Like encountering a strong electrical current: Killer Potential is bright, bracing, and surging with power. Deitch's writing style is fast-paced and undeniably bold. This is the kind of book that imprints itself on your brain; it's that wild of a ride. Killer Potential is one hell of a page turner and an honest to goddamn ton of twisted fun."
How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? (2024) Anna Montague "A road trip novel with a tremendous amount of heart - I ached along with the characters, rooted for them, wished them all the best. Truly a novel that asks you to consider the winding, secret path to love that sits lodged in every person's breast. Anna Montague has written something bright and lovely here, a novel that is above all quietly beautiful."
Knife River (2024) Justine Champine "Knife River is a twisty, intoxicating book. The beating heart of it is raw and tender, full of guilt and heartache and hope. It's a genuine and unsettling look at how loss can divide a family, but it's also a story about the long and difficult ways we finally make our way back home. Justine Champine is a very gifted writer and readers are going to be hooked on Knife River."
Kittentits (2024) Holly Wilson "Kittentits is a bizarro wonderland of a book, a tasty kaleidoscopic freak show that will remind readers of a marvelously raunchy Katherine Dunn. The novel is just as much fun as it is juicy and disturbed-I enjoyed every wild and frenzied minute of it."
Housemates (2024) Emma Copley Eisenberg "Ripe and undeniably rich . . . Emma Copley Eisenberg is a brilliant writer, and Housemates is superb."
Dead in Long Beach, California (2024) Venita Blackburn "Dead in Long Beach, California is somehow both tender and incredibly sharp. It's mesmerizing in its ability to twist inward on itself; a genuine ouroboros of pain and loss. Venita Blackburn's writing here is profoundly gorgeous. At every turn, I found myself split between laughter and tears. An incredible look at how we work to divert the flow of grief, only to find those tributaries suddenly rejoined without our consent, the pain we wished to avoid flowing directly back to us. This book rewired my brain; it's a bonafide knockout."
City of Laughter (2024) Temim Fruchter "City of Laughter has the sparkle and fire of something truly rare. Deeply developed and carefully crafted, this novel is chock full of wit and tenderness and an incredible amount of heart. Temim Fruchter is a steady hand when it comes to assessing the deep tangle of fraught family dynamics. History sits inside itself here, its heartbeat echoing out into the future, rippling like silk. Without question, City of Laughter is one of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking books I've ever read."
Hot Springs Drive (2023) Lindsay Hunter "Hot Springs Drive is Lindsay Hunter at her finest. Suburbia is rendered here in all its bleakness and not-so-hidden dysfunction, the rot secreted inside the picture-perfect shell of a home. Hunter is a deft hand at writing the mysterious inner workings of the family: everyone shares a story, but who holds onto the truth? Hot Springs Drive is gritty and propulsive, a true page-turner; I couldn't put this book down."
Ripe (2023) Sarah Rose Etter "Ripe is exactly the kind of book I want to read: astoundingly bold, terrifically haunting, and deeply human. Etter refuses to pull any punches here, asking us to look directly at the nightmares we sometimes agree to live with in exchange for comfort and security. Reading this book felt like pressing repeatedly on a bruise; the most pleasurable kind of pain. Ripe is a dazzlingly gorgeous novel and Sarah Rose Etter is truly one hell of a writer."
All-Night Pharmacy (2023) Ruth Madievsky "All-Night Pharmacy is a genuinely propulsive and magnetic read. Madievsky's writing is rich and boldly dark, slick and queer in all the best ways. Immersing myself in her work felt akin to pressing on a bruise, a beautiful ache that I remembered long after I finished reading. A deeply human, wonderfully twisty novel that takes you down the rabbit hole of familial trauma and back up to the light again. All-Night Pharmacy is a glimmery showstopper of a debut novel. I'm obsessed with it."
The Last Animal (2023) Ramona Ausubel "The Last Animal is pitch perfect, a phylum of every hurt and want traded between mothers and daughters. I was captivated by the spirit of this tightly-woven story. How magical to consider the world as very large and yet very small all at the same time. A tender, fascinating look into the bruised things that can lay buried inside a family."
Your Driver is Waiting (2023) Priya Guns "Your Driver Is Waiting is a perfect gut punch of a novel. This is my favorite kind of writing, full of love and real friendship and frustrations boiled over and the urge to burn everything down. Priya Guns is phenomenal here, her writing is laser-focused and hilarious and full of aching need. This is a hard-hitting masterpiece. I devoured it."
The Sense of Wonder (2023) Matthew Salesses "What a pleasure to read work that spits off the page, fiction that vibrates and twitches with life. The Sense of Wonder is exactly that kind of book, one that refuses to let you forget about it, a novel that wants you to remember its story long after the initial read is done. This is a wildly physical book, the beating heart of it smashed up against the ribcage of the binding, thumping hard, demanding attention. I have never read anything like it. Matthew Salesses is a genius and The Sense of Wonder is a genuine marvel."
Really Good, Actually (2023) Monica Heisey "Really Good, Actually is a goddamn delight. Heisey doesn't shy away from any of the hard stuff, showcasing the myriad ways people turn into little monsters when their hearts get broken and lose sight of themselves. This novel is wildly funny and compulsively readable, the kind of book you immediately share with your best friend. I adored it."
Bad Cree (2023) Jessica Johns "Bad Cree is a mesmerising, enticing read. Jessica Johns writes the world in all its messiness and terror, while simultaneously remembering to centre its tender beating heart. A book about family and foundations, but also about how the secrets we keep can knock the floor out from under us. A captivating novel from an exciting new author."
Sirens & Muses (2022) Antonia Angress "Captures the ache-inducing quality of art and desire . . . a deeply relatable and profoundly enjoyable read, one drenched in prismatic color and light."
We Had To Remove This Post (2022) Hanna Bervoets "We Had To Remove This Post is one of the most fascinating books I've read in years. Hanna Bervoets has created an astonishing and compelling cast of characters, drawn together through circumstance, separated by the same. The novel is fast paced and thrilling, violent and nightmarish and grief-stricken, but also tender and wildly moving. A brilliant peek behind the curtains at what happens when we put our trust in social media. Believe me when I say you've never read anything like it."
Half-Blown Rose (2022) Leesa Cross-Smith "Leesa Cross-Smith writes the way many people wish they could: ferociously, tenderly, and with a tremendous amount of heart."
Unlikely Animals (2022) Annie Hartnett "I devoured Annie Hartnett's Unlikely Animals. She's created a beautiful menagerie set inside a troubled household and their small New Hampshire town; a delightful mess of tenderness, grief, and despair, but most important, hope. This book is a winner."
End of the World House (2022) Adrienne Celt "Adrienne Celt has crafted something brilliant with END OF THE WORLD HOUSE. This book is an intoxicating mix of beauty, art, and mystery. Celt writes about the tangled threads of close friendship with tremendous skill and a wild amount of heart. It's a novel that's undeniably funny, unafraid to look at the messy ways we unwittingly complicate our lives as well as the lives of the people closest to us. A compelling look at intimacy and its myriad vulnerabilities, END OF THE WORLD HOUSE is a stunner."
Our Wives Under the Sea (2022) Julia Armfield "Without a doubt, Our Wives Under the Sea is one of the best books I've ever read. It's not only art, it's a perfect miracle. We are lucky for it."
New Animal (2022) Ella Baxter "New Animal is a wonderfully tender book. Ella Baxter doesn't shy away from any of the messiness of humanity, choosing instead to lean in, hard, and unpack all the ways that grief breaks us down and ultimately reshapes us. It's feral and raw, laugh out loud funny in parts, and absolutely the kind of family mess I love best. Baxter is a delightful writer and New Animal is a hell of a read."
The Boy with a Bird in His Chest (2022) Emme Lund "Emme Lund's The Boy with a Bird in His Chest is a beautiful, tender book. I was deeply moved by this story; very caught up in the ways in which family, grief, love, queerness, and vulnerability all intersect. Lund's sentences are sweet and stick to your ribs. I found myself falling in love with these characters - these messy, deeply realized, fully lovable, and wonderfully human people. The Boy with a Bird in His Chest is a terrific first novel and Emme Lund is a profoundly gifted writer."
Manywhere (2022) Morgan Thomas "Each story here is a gem, glimmering and precious to behold, but gathered together, Manywhere is a profusion of diamonds. The book is very queer, very well-written, and very goddamn good. Morgan Thomas is a wildly talented writer and Manywhere is a knockout."
Something New Under the Sun (2021) Alexandra Kleeman "A richly rendered ecological novel, characterized not only by how it sets the landscape but also by the fact that the landscape is quite often allowed to run the show. Kleeman is phenomenal when it comes to place writing. Like many of the characters in her book, I got lost inside her scene-setting, arid and wild, happy to let her drive me wherever her genius brain thought we should go. This is a book I’ll be thinking about for years to come."
The Very Nice Box (2021) Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman "The Very Nice Box is a fascinating look at the ways people choose to compartmentalize grief. The writing is sharp and dynamic, the plot wonderfully compelling. It's a very fun read, but it's also a timely one: how does toxic masculinity in corporate culture restructure and rebrand itself in order to appear innocuous? The Very Nice Box is a very nice book, and Blackett and Gleichman have created something stellar here."
A Touch of Jen (2021) Beth Morgan "Morgan has created a fabulous monster here, legitimately Frankensteined herself a wicked, unflinching, dynamite novel out of razor-sharp dialogue, toxic social media culture, and the nonsense notion that the self is just another brand to be endlessly plumbed for content. Wildly hilarious and absolutely terrifying, A Touch of Jen is truly a touch of genius. I loved every minute of it."
Transmutation (2021) Alex DiFrancesco "Transmutation is an eerie darling of a collection. Alex DiFrancesco has written stories here that are so unearthly they feel as if they have gossamer wings, characters lifting off the page to hold court in startling three-dimensional life. Some playful, some terrifying, all crafted with care--Transmutation is the kind of story collection that will stick with you for days after reading. DiFrancesco is a radiant talent."
God Spare the Girls (2021) Kelsey McKinney "Kelsey McKinney has written a real whopper of a novel with God Spare the Girls, a book that explores the ultimate cost of love within a family and the secrets people keep. I felt deeply touched by these characters as I read; both hopeful for their relationships and also wishing for their success. It is a precious thing to find a novel that allows for both the sweetness and the sour—McKinney writes it all deftly, beautifully, and fearlessly."
Yes, Daddy (2021) Jonathan Parks-Ramage "Yes, Daddy is the kind of story that sticks with you and refuses to leave. Jonathan Parks-Ramage has written a gut-churning, heart-wrenching, blockbuster of a first novel. Deeply queer and deeply human, it is a book that describes what it means to be broken apart in trauma and grief and what it takes to be painfully, carefully stitched back together again. Parks-Ramage is an extraordinary new talent and Yes, Daddy is truly something special."
Friends & Dark Shapes (2021) Kavita Bedford "Friends and Dark Shapes is a tender look at the myriad ways that a body can hold grief. Kavita Bedford writes lyrically and longingly, imbuing sweetness and darkness throughout. It was a genuine pleasure to read this book; I felt as though I were sitting with a close friend, whispering to each other, sharing close-kept secrets. It made me rethink how loneliness can manifest; how we sometimes hurt ourselves and each other. Friends and Dark Shapes is a real delight and Kavita Bedford is a true talent."
The Office of Historical Corrections (2020) Danielle Evans "Danielle Evans writes stories that make the world stop. Her work is so good that when you sit down with it, everything else ceases to exist. The stories in The Office of Historical Corrections move and breathe. The book is a beating heart. Magnificent."
The Last Story of Mina Lee (2020) Nancy Jooyoun Kim "The Last Story of Mina Lee is a fierce, gripping call to love and memory. Nancy Jooyoun Kim has written a beautiful debut novel that is unafraid to delve into the scary, deeply vulnerable places of our hearts. It's a riveting dance between mother and daughter, moving fluidly back and forth through time, documenting the quiet traumas that can divide generations. Tremendously readable, The Last Story of Mina Lee is a real page-turner and Nancy Jooyoun Kim is a knockout."
True Love (2020) Sarah Gerard "True Love is a look at what happens when we lie to each other, but also what happens when we lie to ourselves. Sarah Gerard has written a book both funny and dark, a fantastically mesmerizing read. Its settings are dreamy and unsettling. The book showcases beauty and ugliness in equal measure, highlighting both pain and pleasure. It is bold and wildly imaginative, an overall deeply human novel. Gerard is a fiercely talented writer and TRUE LOVE is a real page turner."
All My Mother's Lovers (2020) Ilana Masad "Ilana Masad's debut is a queer tour de force. A tender look at love, relationships, motherhood, and how we oftentimes hurt the people we love most with our silence. Compelling and astonishing, All My Mother's Lovers is a novel with family dynamics at its heart. This book goes hard and does not disappoint. Masad is a writer on the rise."
The Unsuitable (2020) Molly Pohlig "Molly Pohlig has written a true stunner with The Unsuitable. A novel that takes the body and upends it, all the while focused on the how our interior worlds are oftentimes prolifically shaped by our parentage. On the sentence level it is both gorgeous and messy; a bloody delight. There isn't another book like it. Pohlig has crafted a wonder."
Boys of Alabama (2020) Genevieve Hudson "Genevieve Hudson has conjured a novel that sets place as a touchstone. Every field is alive: every leaf, every insect, every crawling thing. Hands beget love, words set like sweetness on the tongue. The magic contained in Boys of Alabama's pages isn't just fixed in the beauty of its sentences; it's seen in the way that Hudson carefully crafts the intimacy between people and how she tenderly exposes queerness. This book is a fragile web, full of longing and ache and regret."
I Know You Know Who I Am (2020) Peter Kispert "The stories in I Know You Know Who I Am asks readers to sit inside versions of the truth. This book is a beautiful Russian Nesting Doll: to try, to know, to understand. Peter Kispert has crafted a text that digs into the heart of what it means to sculpt a personhood for the sake of love. In these pages, intimacy is often a weapon, a drug, and a salve. Astonishingly tense and terrifically crafted, Kispert’s collection is not only a work of art, it’s a work of true tenderness."
