In this bold Afropunk science-fantasy debut, African mythology and post-apocalyptic survival collide as a gifted healer refuses to let her body, future, or destiny belong to anyone but herself.

In the year 2447, Africa has been transformed by nuclear devastation, mutation, and myth. Ife-Iyoku, humanity’s last African refuge, survives under the protection of the Orisha and the weight of sacred tradition. Imade is a healer with extraordinary gifts, born into a society that values survival above all else — even individual choice.

When catastrophe leaves Ife-Iyoku facing extinction, the elders look to Imade as the answer to their future. To them, she is the last woman, the vessel through which the tribe must continue. But Imade refuses to be reduced to duty, prophecy, or biology. Her life is not an offering to be claimed.

As dangers gather beyond the walls and corruption festers within them, Imade steps beyond the role chosen for her and into a larger, more dangerous inheritance. In a world shaped by wounded gods, ancestral memory, and the fierce will to survive, she must decide what kind of power she will become — and what liberation will cost.

From Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, the historic Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning author, comes a fierce debut novel of African mythology, post-apocalyptic imagination, survival, and self-determination.

* African speculative fiction and Afropunk science fantasy rooted in Orisha mythology
* A post-apocalyptic future shaped by nuclear devastation, mutation, survival, and rebirth
* A powerful story of bodily autonomy, resistance, transformation, and Black liberation

Cover art by John Jennings, New York Times bestseller and the winner of the Eisner Awards.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Long Way Down comes a powerful print adaptation of the acclaimed, award-winning audiobook Soundtrack—a stirring story of music, friendship, and finding your voice in 2000s New York City.

Stuy Grey plays the drums, just like his mom, a founding member of the all-black punk band the Bed-Stuy Magic Dusters. He teaches himself by watching videos of tap dancers. Now he’s left home, estranged from his mom and her abusive boyfriend. He’s camping out with his uncle on the Lower East Side. His landlord, Dunks, has chops: He shreds on only five strings. Add Alexis on bass guitar and Keith on horn: These teens are a band, busking in New York City subway stations to scrape enough money to record an album.

As their popularity grows, so do the pressures, from complicated family dynamics to the glare of unexpected public attention. And when the police start looking for their bassist, Stuy faces his toughest decision yet.

Adapted from the acclaimed Listening Library original audiobook and written with Jason Reynolds’s signature rhythm, heart, and honesty, Soundtrack: A Novel is a raw, resonant story about friendship, creativity, and what it truly means to find, and fight for, your voice.

The fantasy adventure sequel to the instant New York Times and #1 Indie Bestseller, The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton! Return for Year Two at the global magic school in the sky in The Memory Thieves.

"The Marvellers deserves the highest compliment I can give a book: I want to live in this world." ―Rick Riordan, #1 New York Times bestselling–author

Eager to wield their stapiers for Marvel Combat, Ella, Brigit, and Jason are back for their second year at the Arcanum Training Institute. With Ella’s celebrity growing throughout the Marvellian world after thwarting the Ace of Anarchy’s diabolical plans, it’s proving hard for her to focus on her coursework. But back home in New Orleans the Conjure community isn’t too happy about her return to the skies for another year learning to become a Marveller. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, Ella soon discovers more dangerous secrets about the Conjure architect who built the school.

Before she can dig deeper, a mysterious magical illness sweeps through the Institute, and Ella lands at the top of the suspect list. Can Ella and her friends save themselves and the Marvellian world before chaos breaks loose?

Join us for an evening with Phenderson Djèlí Clark!

EVENT DEETS

When:  Monday, October 2 @ 7:30 PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004)

How: RSVP here for your free ticket or RSVP with book to reserve your book and support our programming

ABOUT THE BOOK

Like a West African and African Diaspora-inspired Spirited Away, Abeni's Song follows a reluctant apprentice witch out of her village and into a world of spirits on a quest to save her friends. This is P. Djèlí Clark's kids' debut.

On the day of the spirits festival, the old woman who lives in the forest appears in Abeni's village with a terrible message:

You ignored my warnings. It’s too late to run. They are coming.

The old woman hasn't come to save them, only to collect one child as payment for her years of service and protection. When warriors with burning blades storm the village and a man with a cursed flute plays an impossibly alluring song, everyone Abeni has ever known and loved is captured and marched toward far-off ghost ships set for even more distant lands.

But not Abeni. Abeni escapes the warriors in the clutches of the old woman, magically whisked into the forest away from all she’s ever known. And there she begins her unwanted magical apprenticeship, her journey to escape the witch, and her impossible mission to bring her people home.

Abeni’s Song is the beginning of a timeless, enchanting fantasy adventure about a reluctant apprentice, a team of spirit kids, and the town they set out to save from the evil Witch Priest who enslaved Abeni’s people.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in New York and raised mostly in Houston, P. DJÈLÍ CLARK spent the formative years of his life in the homeland of his parents, Trinidad and Tobago. He is the author of the novel A Master of Djinn, the novellas Ring Shout, The Black God’s Drums, and The Haunting of Tram Car 015, and a contributor to the #1 New York Times bestseller Black Boy Joy. He has won the Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards and been nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Sturgeon Awards. His stories have appeared in online venues such as Tor.com, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Apex, Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and in print anthologies, including Griots, Hidden Youth, and Clockwork Cairo. He is also a founding member of FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction and an infrequent reviewer at Strange Horizons.

ABOUT THE INTERLOCUTOR

Stevens is a writer, organizer, and archivist. As part of the Kindred Stories family he is the Operations & Community Facilitator, and part-time Adjunct Professor. Stevens' current work and concentration is centered around his social-political analysis and its intersections with the arts, community, and revolutionary politics.

Sequel to the New York Times bestseller Amari and the Night Brothers!

Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this magical second book in the New York Times and Indie bestselling Supernatural Investigations trilogy—perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor.

After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari Peters is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze.

But between the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She’s got enough to worry about!

But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers’ successor and determine the future of magiciankind.

The Great Game is both mysterious and deadly, but among the winner’s magical rewards is Quinton’s last hope—so how can Amari refuse?

Featured on NPR's Morning Edition

A Best Book of the Year at The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Poetry School, New York Public Library, and Entropy Magazine

Winner of the Ted Hughes Award, Rathbones Folio Prize, and Somerset Maugham Award; finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize and Reading the West Book Award

In the wake of his father’s death, the speaker in Raymond Antrobus’ The Perseverance travels to Barcelona. In Gaudi’s Cathedral, he meditates on the idea of silence and sound, wondering whether acoustics really can bring us closer to God. Receiving information through his hearing aid technology, he considers how deaf people are included in this idea. “Even though,” he says, “I have not heard / the golden decibel of angels, / I have been living in a noiseless / palace where the doorbell is pulsating / light and I am able to answer.”

The Perseverance is a collection of poems examining a d/Deaf experience alongside meditations on loss, grief, education, and language, both spoken and signed. It is a book about communication and connection, about cultural inheritance, about identity in a hearing world that takes everything for granted, about the dangers we may find (both individually and as a society) if we fail to understand each other.

*ships in 7 - 10 business days*

Are you plagued by regrets and past fears? Are you searching for a breakthrough or trying to find your true purpose? New York Times bestselling author Sarah Jakes Roberts reveals through life lessons and new insights from the story of Eve, how past disappointments, struggles, and even mistakes can be used today to help you become the woman God intended.

Who would imagine being friends with Eve--the woman who's been held responsible for the fall of humanity (and cramps) for thousands of years? Certainly not Sarah Jakes Roberts. That is, not until Sarah discovered she is more like Eve than she cares to admit.

Making her mistake in Eden, Eve became the first woman to deal with rebuilding her life in the aftermath of her past. Eve knew better, but she didn't do better. With a blend of scriptural lessons, Eve as the framework, and Sarah as your guide, you will discover and work through:

• Past issues and insecurities that haunt you
• Seeing yourself as God sees you and trusting Him with who you really are
• How to come out of darkness and pursue a real relationship with God
• Why it's important to truly care for yourself
• Setting in motion the beautiful seed that God planted in you

Everyone faces trials, and everyone will mess up. But failure shouldn't be the focus. Your focus should be not on who you were but rather on the pursuit of who you can become. In No Woman Left Behind Guided Journal, Sarah takes you deeper to help you understand that your purpose in life does not change; it evolves. This companion guided journal includes:

• Thought-provoking quotes from Sarah to inspire you to go deeper
• Guided prompts and exercises as you take steps toward discovering your evolving purpose
• Space to write your thoughts and reflections
• A beautiful foil-embellished cover and high-design interior with photography

Whether a gift for a woman you love or a self-purchase as you more deeply explore God's purpose for you, this guided journal will inspire, motivate, and offer practical steps to revolutionize your life. Your fears and insecurities may have altered your view of God, others, and yourself, but as you work through No Woman Left Behind Guided Journal, you can break through and use past mistakes to revolutionize your life. Like Eve, you don't have to live your future defined by your past.

Celebrate the release of No Sense in Wishing with Lawrence Burney!

EVENT DEETS

When: Friday July 10 @ 6 PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to grab your copy of No Sense In Wishing, support the author and our store programming.

Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories 

ABOUT THE BOOK

A personal and analytical essay collection from culture critic Lawrence Burney that is a personal and analytical look at his home city of Baltimore, music from throughout the global Black diaspora, and the traditions that raised him.

There are moments in our lives when we discover an artist, an album, a film, or a cultural artifact that leaves a lasting impression. These moments inform how we understand the world, and ourselves, moving forward.

In a time when music is spurring Black Americans’ connection with Africans on the Continent, culture critic Lawrence Burney takes us on a journey from the streets of Baltimore to the concert halls of Lagos, reminisces on seeing his mother perform as the opening act of a Gil Scott-Heron show when he was a child, and sits at a Maryland crab feast with family, assessing how the Black people in his home state have historically improvised paths for their liberation. Burney explores these profound interactions with incisive and energizing prose, offering us a personal and critical perspective on the people, places, music, and art that transformed him.

No Sense in Wishing is a kaleidoscopic exploration of Burney’s search for self. With its gutsy and uncompromising criticism alongside intimate personal storytelling, this “powerful collection of essays” (Rolling Stone) is like an album that hits all the right notes, from a promising writer on the rise.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lawrence Burney is a writer, editor, critic, and the founder of True Laurels, an independent magazine covering Baltimore’s music and culture scene. His work has appeared in publications such as New York Magazine, GQ, Washington Post and Pitchfork. He has also worked as an editor at The Fader, a staff writer at VICE, and an editor/reporter at The Baltimore Banner. His first book, No Sense in Wishing, a collection of essays, was published in July 2025 via Atria Books. His second book, Sing Back To Me, will also be published by Atria Books. Follow him on Instagram and X @TrueLaurels.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard.

Laymon is at work on the books, Good God, and City Summer, Country Summer, and a number of other film and television projects. He is the founder of The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative, a program based out of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, aimed at aiding young people in Jackson get more comfortable reading, writing, revising and sharing on their on their own terms, in their own communities. He is the co-host of Reckon True Stories with Deesha Philyaw. Kiese Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.

“An absolutely delightful romp that you need in your life.” —C. B. Lee, New York Times bestselling author of Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe

A teen mystic will do anything to solve a series of love-related magical mishaps plaguing her high school, including fake dating her boss's daughter, in this charming sapphic romance.

Magic lingers in the cozy town of Fair Glen, Illinois, and it’s up to the agents at the Bureau of Mystical Affairs to keep it in check. Monroe Bennett, a junior recruit at the Bureau, is ready to ace her first assignment: tracking down the source of a rogue love charm.

Protecting her charmed classmates, including the Bureau Director’s daughter Iris James, is top priority. But when Iris asks Monroe to fake date her to make her ex jealous, things get complicated.

Monroe believes in duty, not romance. Yet the more time she spends with Iris, the harder it is to ignore the very real sparks flying between them. Can Monroe protect herself from love long enough to solve this case, or will her growing feelings get in the way?

America’s most popular sports media figure tells it like it is in this surprisingly personal book, not only dishing out his signature, uninhibited opinions but also revealing the challenges he overcame in childhood as well as at ESPN, and who he really is when the cameras are off.

Stephen A. Smith has never been handed anything, nor was he an overnight success. Growing up poor in Queens, the son of Caribbean immigrants and the youngest of six children, he was a sports-obsessed kid who faced a number of struggles, from undiagnosed dyslexia to getting enough cereal to fill his bowl. As a basketball player at Winston-Salem State University, he got a glimmer of his true calling when he wrote a newspaper column arguing for the retirement of his own Hall of Fame coach, Clarence Gaines.

Smith hustled and rose up from a high school reporter at Daily News (New York) to a general sports columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer in the 1990s, before getting his own show at ESPN in 2005. After he was unceremoniously fired from the network in 2009, he became even more determined to fight for success. He got himself rehired two years later and, with his razor-sharp intelligence and fearless debate style, found his role on the show he was destined to star in: First Take, the network’s flagship morning program.

In Straight Shooter, Smith writes about the greatest highs and deepest lows of his life and career. He gives his thoughts on Skip Bayless, Ray Rice, Colin Kaepernick, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Cowboys, and former President Donald Trump. But he also pulls back the curtain and talks about life beyond the set, sharing authentic stories about his negligent father, his loving mother, being a father himself, his battle with life-threatening COVID-19, and what he really thinks about politics and social issues. He does it all with the same intelligence, humor, and charm that has made him a household name.

Provocative, moving, and eye-opening, this book is the perfect gift for lovers of sports, television, and anyone who likes their stories delivered straight to the heart.

Celebrate the release of Good Sex: Stories, Science, and Strategies for Sexual Liberation with Candice Nicole Hargons, PhD!

EVENT DEETS

When: Wednesday, February, 19 @ 7PM

Where: LOCATION CHANGED to The Dupree Room at the Eldorado Ballrom: 2310 Elgin Street, Houston, TX 77004

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming. There are limited free tickets!

ABOUT THE BOOK

We all deserve sex that's great for everyone involved. Let sexual liberation be your guide to a truly satisfying sex life.

How we define good sex and the conditions that facilitate it will require a liberatory approach, because intersecting oppressions impose impossible sexual standards on most of us. Instead of intimate justice, we experience blocks to accessing the ingredients for erotic equity.

Good Sex presents the ingredients to revolutionize your sexual menu in a way that works well for you, including intimacy, fun, pleasure, nastiness, and connection. Each chapter offers more than just theory and science. Good Sex outlines action steps to understand, define, and practice sexual liberation in your personalized way, replacing the unseasoned sexual menu most of us were socialized into.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Candice Nicole Hargons is an award-winning psychologist and associate professor at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, where she studies sexual wellness and liberation. As a leading expert in sex research, Dr. Hargons has been featured in the Huffington Post, Good Housekeeping, Women's Health, Blavity, Essence, Cosmopolitan, and the New York Times.

She has been featured as a keynote speaker at various conferences, including the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. Dr. Hargons also directs the SAMHSA-funded Neighborhood Healers Project, which trains Black community members in Mental Health First Aid to reduce mental health stigma and increase mental health literacy and service utilization.

A graduate of Spelman College, Georgia State University, and the University of Georgia, Dr. Hargons has also worked with several businesses – Paramount, Lexmark, Penguin Random House, universities – University of Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Emory University, Howard University, and other K-12 school systems on enhancing awareness of sexual health, building social justice competence, healing from racial trauma, leadership development, and creating a culture of courage. She has served on the Kentucky Psychological Association Board, the Society of Counseling Psychology Executive Board, and the American Psychological Association (APA) Council of Representatives. She also served on the APA Board of Directors. She is the recipient of an APA Presidential Citation for her research and leadership in social justice.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER