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<\/a>The Blanket Cats<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Kiyoshi Shigematsu<\/p>\nSeven struggling customers are given the unique opportunity to take home a \u201cblanket cat\u201d . . . but only for three days, the time it\u2019ll take to change their lives.<\/em><\/p>\n A peculiar pet shop in Tokyo has been known to offer customers the unique opportunity to take home one of seven special cats, whose \u201cmagic\u201d is never promised, but always received. But there are rules: these cats must be returned after three days. They must eat only the food supplied by the owner, and they must travel to their new homes with a distinctive blanket.<\/em><\/p>\n In The Blanket Cats, we meet seven customers, each of whom is hoping a temporary feline companion will help them escape a certain reality, including a couple struggling with infertility, a middle-aged woman on the run from the police, and two families in very different circumstances simply seeking joy.<\/em><\/p>\n But like all their kind, the \u201cblanket cats\u201d are mysterious creatures with unknowable agendas, who delight in confounding expectations. And perhaps what their hosts are looking for isn\u2019t really what they need. Three days may not be enough to change a life. But it might just change how you see it.<\/em> – G.P. Putnam’s Sons<\/p>\n There\u2019s something wrong in Renfield County.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s in the water, the soil, the wood. But worst of all, it\u2019s in the minds of the residents, slowly driving them mad. When Lawrence Renfield massacred his family and drew The Giant in his farmhouse with their blood, no one imagined the repercussions. At the very least, the bloodstained wood should have been set aflame, not chopped down and repurposed as furniture, d\u00e9cor, and heirlooms across the county. But that\u2019s exactly what happened. Now regular people\u2014like you and me\u2014are sitting on\u2026 eating with\u2026 admiring\u2026 the cursed wood and reaping the consequences.<\/em><\/p>\n These are their stories.<\/em><\/p>\n In \u201cMy Name Is Ellie\u201d a young girl uncovers disturbing secrets hiding in the walls of her beloved grandmother\u2019s home. An unassuming box, built with reclaimed wood, connects a grieving widower with his late wife\u2019s lingering spirit in \u201cHector Brim.\u201d In \u201cDetour\u201d a father, desperate to return home, finds himself trapped in a dizzying maze, haunted by stories of lurking monsters that live off the remains of weary travelers.<\/em><\/p>\n Playing with the uncanny to explore themes of loneliness and grief, Sam Rebelein returns upstate to unravel the mysteries of Renfield. But regardless of what started the trouble, there\u2019s one thing of which we can be certain: for those living here, the nightmare is far from over.<\/em> – William Morrow Paperbacks<\/p>\n In this collection of one novel and three stories, bestselling author Torrey Peters\u2019s keen eye for the rough edges of community and desire push the limits of trans writing.<\/em><\/p>\n In Stag Dance, the titular novel, a group of restless lumberjacks working in an illegal winter logging outfit plan a dance that some of them will volunteer to attend as women. When the broadest, strongest, plainest of the axmen announces his intention to dance as a woman, he finds himself caught in a strange rivalry with a pretty young jack, provoking a cascade of obsession, jealousy, and betrayal that will culminate on the big night in an astonishing vision of gender and transition.<\/em><\/p>\n Three startling stories surround Stag Dance: \u201cInfect Your Friends and Loved Ones\u201d imagines a gender apocalypse brought about by an unstable ex-girlfriend. In \u201cThe Chaser,\u201d a secret romance between roommates at a Quaker boarding school brings out intrigue and cruelty. In the last story, \u201cThe Masker,\u201d a party weekend on the Las Vegas strip turns dark when a young crossdresser must choose between two guides: a handsome mystery man who objectifies her in thrilling ways, or a cynical veteran trans woman offering unglamorous sisterhood.<\/em><\/p>\n Acidly funny and breathtaking in its scope, with the inventive audacity of George Saunders or Jennifer Egan, Stag Dance provokes, unsettles, and delights.<\/em> – Random House<\/p>\n The stories in Paul Theroux\u2019s fascinating new collection are both exotic and domestic, their settings ranging from Hawaii to Africa and New England. Each focuses on life\u2019s vanishing points\u2014a moment when seemingly all lines running through one\u2019s life converge, and one can see no farther, yet must deal with the implications. With the insight, subtlety, and empathy that has long characterized his work, Theroux has written deeply moving stories about memory, longing, and the passing of time, reclaiming his status, once again, as a master of the form.<\/em> – Mariner Books<\/p>\n In her debut collection of short fiction, Amanda Peters describes the Indigenous experience from an astonishingly wide spectrum in time and place\u2014from contact with the first European settlers, to the forced removal of Indigenous children, to the present-day fight for the right to clean water<\/em><\/p>\n In this intimate collection, Amanda Peters melds traditional storytelling with beautiful, spare prose to describe the dignity of the traditional way of life, the humiliations of systemic racism and the resilient power to endure. A young man returns from residential school only to realize he can no longer communicate with his own parents. A grieving mother finds purpose and healing on the front lines as a water protector. And a nervous child dances in her first Mawi\u2019omi. The collection also includes the Indigenous Voices Award-winning and title story \u201cWaiting for the Long Night Moon.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n At times sad, sometimes disturbing but always redemptive, the stories in Waiting for the Long Night Moon will remind you that where there is grief there is also joy, where there is trauma there is resilience and, most importantly, there is power.<\/em> – Catapult<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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<\/a>The Poorly Made and Other Things<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Sam Rebelein<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Show Don’t Tell<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Curtis Sittenfeld<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Stag Dance: A Novel & Stories<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>by Torrey Peters<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The Vanishing Point<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Paul Theroux<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Waiting for the Long Night Moon<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Amanda Peters<\/p>\n