In the spirit of American cultural prophecy―from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Rebecca Solnit―acclaimed writer Casey Gerald offers a groundbreaking work of joyous dissent and stunning vision, a survival guide to a society in crisis.

“Somehow Casey Gerald has pulled off the most urgently political, most deeply personal, and most engagingly spiritual statement of our time by just looking outside his window and inside himself. Extraordinary.” ―Marlon James on There Will Be No Miracles Here

Most afternoons for the past three years, Casey Gerald took a walk. He would pass the compound that Elon Musk was building in his neighborhood; the burned-down Freedman's church; the little house where he and his lover Jack had seen a shooting star. He knew the world was crumbling, but he didn't fret. He had been promised: When it breaks, you'll be ready.

"There is a great unfolding going on," Gerald writes, "and all the clues for what's to come are planted in the people." In this quietly redemptive and lyrical book, Gerald shares his map for finding those clues, finding each other, and finding our way out of this dark and wearied time. On the other side of No, Gerald insists, there is a Yes―an embrace of what we really want, what we might finally claim once we refuse.

Calling forth a kaleidoscopic cast, from Odysseus to D'Angelo, Sun Tzu to Simone Biles, Black literati and desert mystics, Gerald implores us to take our power back and to remake the world together, on our terms. Written with Didion's cold eye and Baldwin's unflinching urgency, and with the dark humor of a man who’s seen too much but still wants to see what’s next, The Great Refusal is a lifeline from the other side of ruin.

The Babadook meets A Headful of Ghosts in Texas Hill Country.

Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's desperate for money--it's not easy to find steady, safe work when you can't provide references, you can't stay in one place for long, and you're paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you.

When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house’s horrors don’t drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them.

The job calls to Eric, not just because there's a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it'll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running. A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and death and the depths of a father's love, Johnny Compton's The Spite House is a stunning debut by a horror master in the making.

Aurelia George was prepared to let the world believe she was dead. Tangled in the arms of her mountain men and bound only by the rules they make, the twice disgraced pop star had found her happily ever after.

Or so she thought.

The only thing surprising about learning her uncle wants her dead is realizing how eager she is to return the favor. Convincing her mountain men to leave their world behind and step into hers won’t be easy. Thorin is desperate to disappear again, Khalil is quietly drowning, and Zeke wants her gone.

For better or worse, this quartet of villains will have to leave their Eden.

And now that the tables have turned, Aurelia’s the one they’ll need to survive. But as she and the rest of the world are about to learn, you can take these men out of the wilds, but you can’t take the wilds out of them.

The NYT-lauded author of D’VAUGHN AND KRIS PLAN A WEDDING is back with another witty and heartfelt novel celebrating unapologetic Black joy in all its forms. This body-positive, friends-to-lovers, lesbian romance tackles weighty topics while never losing that Chencia C. Higgins spark.

 Music producer and DJ Cyn Tha Starr likes her women femme, fun, and smart enough to know when it's over. Her ever-rotating roster has never been a problem until her latest girl clashes with Jucee, Cyn’s best friend and the most popular dancer at strip club Sanity.

It makes Cyn see Jucee in a different light. One with far fewer boundaries and a lot more kissing.

Juleesa Jones makes great money dancing the early shift at Sanity and spends most evenings with her son, her Sanity family or at Cyn's house. Relationships are not high on the priority list--until she's forced to admit that maybe friendship isn't the only thing she wants from her bestie.

But Cyn Tha Starr has a type, and despite how things look on the surface, Jucee doesn’t quite fit the bill. While the facts don't matter that much when it comes to feelings, one thing the two can agree on is that their history trumps everything. How difficult could it be to preserve a friendship when emotions—and hormones—are raging out of control?

An intimate look into the studios of twenty prominent Black artists working today, enlivening their art practice and creative lives through stunning photographs and exclusive interviews

‘Both a vital record of the present and a powerful testament to the legacies still being created.’ – Angela Bassett, actress, director, and producer

Another View: The Vibrant World of Contemporary Black Artists is a groundbreaking, intimate exploration of the studios, living spaces, and creative processes of twenty of today’s most notable Black artists. The book includes 150 never-before-published photographs taken by acclaimed artist Awol Erizku, presenting the ultimate behind-the-scenes tour of striking studios across the United States, works in progress by some of the world’s most creative people, and the objects and settings that inspire them. Exclusive profiles inspired by interviews with celebrated curator Isolde Brielmaier offer compelling personal advice and unique insights into the art world, giving readers an inside look at the role of art in society, perspectives on legacy, and what it means to be a Black artist today. An illuminating introduction by lauded scholar and critic Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the historical precedents and critical context that led to the exciting current moment of Black contemporary art in America.

Showcasing work across media – including painting, sculpture, textile, collage, photography, and more – the featured artists have won prestigious awards such as the Guggenheim Fellowship, MacArthur Fellowship, and National Endowment for the Arts grant, and are in the collections of leading institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Guggenheim. These artists represent a pivotal moment in American art history, where Black artists are gaining unprecedented institutional recognition and also fundamentally changing conversations about identity, history, and representation in contemporary art. This book captures a crucial juncture – not only showcasing the ways these artists think about their work, but also highlighting important, personal conversations about how their influence will shape the next generation of artists and the broader cultural landscape for decades to come.

Featured artists: Nina Chanel Abney; Derrick Adams; Sanford Biggers; Jordan Casteel; Nick Cave; Renee Cox; Leonardo Drew; Theaster Gates; Rashid Johnson; Titus Kaphar; Glenn Ligon; Kerry James Marshall; Xaviera Simmons; Lorna Simpson; Shinique Smith; Hank Willis Thomas; Mickalene Thomas; Nari Ward; Carrie Mae Weems; and Fred Wilson.

The murder of a police recruit pins a black LAPD detective in a deadly web where race, corruption, violence, and cover-ups intersect in this relevant, razor-sharp novel of suspense.

Black rookie cop Trevor “Finn” Finnegan aspires to become a top-ranking officer in the Los Angeles Police Department and fix a broken department. A fast-track promotion to detective in the coveted Robbery-Homicide Division puts him closer to achieving his goal.

Four years later, calls for police accountability rule the headlines. The city is teeming with protests for racial justice. When the body of a murdered black academy recruit is found in the Angeles National Forest, Finn is tasked to investigate.

As pressure mounts to solve the crime and avoid a PR nightmare, Finn scours the underbelly of a volatile city where power, violence, and race intersect. But it’s Finn’s past experience as a beat cop that may hold the key to solving the recruit’s murder. The price? The end of Finn’s career…or his life.

From R.F. Kuang, the acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author of Katabasis and Yellowface, comes a wryly humorous and profoundly moving coming-of-age novel that grapples with grief, language, and culture shock--all set against the backdrop of an unforgettable summer in Taipei.

College freshman Lily Chen is off to spend the summer in Taipei at an intensive language program like so many Chinese American students before her, hoping to connect with the culture she inherited but never fully understood. But a promising start quickly unravels. Her classes are grueling, her roommate is driving her insane, and a reckless trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows soon has her classmates viciously gossiping. She feels adrift, a foreigner in a country she thought would feel like home.

Then shocking news arrives: Lily's grandfather has passed away. The loss forces her to grapple with now-unanswerable questions about her family history. As Lily grieves, she's drawn into a journey of self-discovery--piecing together memories, stories, and silences over a series of hilarious and devastating attempts at connection.

Taipei Story asks: What if the diaspora fantasy of homecoming never comes true? What if learning a language can't bring you any closer to the people you're trying to reach? What if you search for your family's history, but your family doesn't want to share? What if you wait too long to ask the right questions? As Lily struggles for answers, her summer becomes a poignant search for understanding--of herself, her family, and the meaning of home.

In Black Madness :: Mad Blackness Therí Alyce Pickens rethinks the relationship between Blackness and disability, unsettling the common theorization that they are mutually constitutive. Pickens shows how Black speculative and science fiction authors such as Octavia Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, and Tananarive Due craft new worlds that reimagine the intersection of Blackness and madness. These creative writer-theorists formulate new parameters for thinking through Blackness and madness. Pickens considers Butler's Fledgling as an archive of Black madness that demonstrates how race and ability shape subjectivity while constructing the building blocks for antiracist and anti-ableist futures. She examines how Hopkinson's Midnight Robber theorizes mad Blackness and how Due's African Immortals series contests dominant definitions of the human. The theorizations of race and disability that emerge from these works, Pickens demonstrates, challenge the paradigms of subjectivity that white supremacy and ableism enforce, thereby pointing to the potential for new forms of radical politics.

LIMITED TIME DELUXE EDITION

From bestselling author Talia Hibbert comes a story of wicked royals, fake engagements, and the fed-up office worker trapped in the midst of it all.

Cherry Neita is thirty, flirty, and done with men. As far as she can tell, they're overrated, overpaid, and underperforming―in every area of life. But a girl has needs, and the smoking-hot stranger she just met at the office seems like the perfect one-night stand…

Prince Ruben of Helgmøre is reckless, dominant, and famously filthy. The outcast royal is rebuilding his reputation―all for a good cause―but he can't resist a pretty face. And bossy whirlwind Cherry's got the face, the body, and the attitude to make Ruben's convictions crumble. Even better, when she propositions him, she has no idea who he really is.

But when paparazzi catch the pair, erm, kissing in an alleyway, Ruben's anonymity disappears faster than Cherry's knickers. Now the press is in uproar, the palace is outraged, and Ruben's reputation is back in the gutter. There's only one way to turn this disaster around―and it involves Cherry, some big fat lies, and a flashy diamond ring. On her left hand.

Unfortunately, Cherry isn't pleased with Ruben's "fake engagement" scheme…and neither is the king.

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.

CORETTA SCOTT KING HONOR ARTIST, SEAN QUALLS

From Coretta Scott King Honor artist and illustrator of Questlove's The Idea in You, Sean Qualls comes a captivating introduction on how Black people have influenced music throughout history and what music means to Black culture.

The people sing; the people dance. The people have the music, and the music is the people.

Music has been embedded into the fabric of Black life since the first notes rang out and found their way into the souls of the first African inhabitants. From the melancholic blues to the funkifyingly upbeat disco, from earth-shattering rock ’n’ roll to groundbreaking jazz and hip-hop, music has been the bedrock of Black hope and culture. From its earliest arrival in the Americas, Black music has shaped American music and the world has never been the same because of it.

Coretta Scott King Honor illustrator Sean Qualls brings us the electrifying history of Black music and moves from one ground-breaking era to another, giving his own vibrant and hip spin on the rhythm and blues that will always have the power to comfort, guide, inspire, and remind us all.

The Music, The People will make for the most fun Black music history guide as it’s:

* A Picture Book That Makes History Fun: The fun, funky, and lively voice present in The Music, The People is unlike any other and delivers the history of music genres created, influenced, and loved by Black individuals in a way that is sure to readily engage and enlighten readers as they move through music history.
* Filled with Important Messages About Music: The Music, The People infuses its pages with important messages regarding music’s ability to uplift, transcend, break barriers, and lead revolutions. Music feeds the soul, and Qualls gratifyingly depicts that.
* Features Art Like No Other: Each page of The Music, The People features Qualls’ signature breathtaking art as he moves through each musical era, making for a reading experience that’s as gratifying as it is captivating.

Bestselling authors Christine Pride and Jo Piazza return with a gripping and thought-provoking new novel about a Black woman whose interracial marriage is tested when a journalist investigates a decades-old murder tied to her wealthy husband’s family.

Simone Hartwell has made trade-offs to build a life she loves, including giving up her once promising career as a journalist. But as her husband, Alex, stands to finally take the reins of the family business—a chain of high-end grocery stores his grandfather started—Simone vows to settle contently into her role supporting him and raising their son Langston.

But when her college ex and first love, Kwame, resurfaces in her life, her carefully constructed domestic bliss threatens to crumble under the weight of old feelings and new dramas. Kwame, who built the journalism career Simone once dreamed of, is investigating a decade’s old mystery of a young Black man who disappeared from The Tate School—the same elite prep school that Alex’s family has attended for generations. When he discovers a startling connection to the Hartwells, it sets everyone on a collision course that will unearth long-held secrets, test loyalties, and force a major reckoning between the past and the future.

Thorny, urgent, and nuanced, I Never Knew You at All is a story of love, forgiveness, and redemption that asks provocative questions: Who deserves forgiveness? Can people really change? And ultimately—what does it take to hold a marriage together…or break it apart?