Aimee Bender is the author of the novel An Invisible Sign of My Own and of the collections The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and Willful Creatures. Her work has been widely anthologized and has been translated into ten languages. She lives in Los Angeles.
Small Ceremonies (2025) Kyle Edwards "Such a chorus of compelling voices here! I would find myself growing attached to one character only to find the next equally engaging. Edwards is, at once, bracingly honest about and deeply tender towards everyone in this novel. A stunning debut."
Save Me, Stranger (2025) Erika Krouse "It is always a thrill to encounter a new and wildly capable imagination. Each story here is fully-realized and also a portal into a new landscape, and I read with appetite, marveling at Krouse's range and storytelling chops."
Blob (2025) Maggie Su "A rollicking fun, funny, poignant coming of age story, filled with honesty and delight."
Pearce Oysters (2024) Joselyn Takacs "Pearce Oysters is chock full of pleasures, and especially potent is how deeply Takacs allows for each perspective, including the presence of nature. Everyone and everything central to the book gets time and dignity on the page and as a result this world is so lived-in and thoughtful and beautifully layered. A remarkable debut."
Malas (2024) Marcela Fuentes "Fuentes' stunning debut shows us the sweeping mythic stature of the past alongside and running beneath the tactile and urgent present. Her gifts with storytelling and character propel us naturally from time to time in this gripping narrative of grief and release."
Cleaner (2023) Brandi Wells "What a total delight it is to roam this (almost) empty building with Brandi Wells' cleaner who is always peering (and neatening) the surfaces of people's lives and finding so much depth in there to mess with - Here's a new and key addition to office fiction and a thrilling debut novel by a propulsive voice."
The Strange Inheritance of Leah Fern (2022) Rita Zoey Chin "A book that captures such tenderness and longing, and one where the rhythm and enchantment of every sentence lures a reader into joining Leah's search, with plenty of rewards along the way."
If I Survive You (2022) Jonathan Escoffery "Each story in If I Survive You passes a baton to the next, though it's not for speed but for deepening. As Jonathan Escoffery's debut progresses, the characters layer, stories overlap, voices gather and the result is a moving and layered portrait of a family, at once wise and unflinching."
Diary of a Void (2022) Emi Yagi "I found myself completely captivated by this novel's unusual and inviting premise and all that it questions and stirs up. So much teems beneath the surface here!"
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness (2021) Claire Vaye Watkins "This book is stupendously good. It practically vibrates in its ferocious frankness, and is so funny too that one can’t help but fall for this voice, even in the pain, because of the pain, with the pain. A marvel."
Appleseed (2021) Matt Bell "There’s a particular thrill reading a book that has such certainty of vision, one that guides every page and allows us to truly picture the connections between our past and our future. We see the naturalist’s mind placed in the realm of the imagination as a way to try to grasp what’s happening to our planet right now. It’s a beautiful tribute to what fiction can do, and these characters and their visceral struggles will remain with me for a long time."
Gold Diggers (2021) Sanjena Sathian "What a dynamic and exciting debut! Sathian builds such an inviting world of layers and times, all knit together by voice, vibrant imagery and palpable groundedness. A total delight."
Likes (2020) Sarah Shun-lien Bynum "Oh, what a treasure trove of delights this is! The most succulent details are tucked inside the warmth of these characters’ voices, and it is Bynum’s governing and generous intelligence that gives shape to their stories, always holding close and with care our complex yearnings and desires."
Open Me (2018) Lisa Locascio "Through the care of her tremendous observations and the beauty of her prose, Lisa Locascio writes a kind of love letter to the female body and all its power and visceral complexity. This is a story of many important layers, but one of the many reasons it remains distinct in my mind is because of its honesty about our complicated, yearning physical selves. A remarkable, fearless debut."
The Bookshop of Yesterdays (2018) Amy Meyerson "Terrifically fun... Part riddle, part mystery, part family drama, part a bookstore lover's dream, and then more."
History of Wolves (2017) Emily Fridlund "So delicately calibrated and precisely beautiful that one might not immediately sense the sledgehammer of pain building inside this book. And I mean that in the best way. What powerful tension and depth."
The Ant King (2008) Benjamin Rosenbaum "A terrific range of tales, showcasing an active, playful mind and a gleeful genre-blender."
Carter Beats the Devil (2001) Glen David Gold "Settle into your chair, get comfortable and prepare for an absolutely marvelous journey into magic and illusion. You hold in your hands the thick velvet curtains and the stage is waiting: open up! What a lucky reader you are, with all of Gold's world of wonder waiting right here in your fingertips . . ."
(b.1969)
