12 New Books for January
This month, we’ve got our eyes on Fog and Smoke, Martyr!, and 10 other titles by writers on the West.
BE A REVOLUTION: HOW EVERYDAY PEOPLE ARE FIGHTING OPPRESSION AND CHANGING THE WORLD—AND HOW YOU CAN, TOO, BY IJEOMA OLOU
BY IJEOMA OLUO
Oluo critiqued American society with a clear eye and focused call to action in So You Want to Talk About Race. Her new book examines the institutions and power structures that make up this society, then offers a close look at the individuals working within those systems to create meaningful, long-term change. Her emphasis is racial equality and intersectionality, and she challenges readers to take up this work in concrete ways. HarperOne, January 30
COLD VICTORY, BY KARL MARLANTES
In Marlantes’s new novel, two embassy wives—one American and one Russian—meet in 1947 at a gala at the Finnish embassy, where their husbands challenge each other to a cross-country ski race. Stakes and global tensions are high, and the Russian wife, Natalya, worries that if her husband loses, they could be punished by the secret police. When the race turns into a political spectacle, the women must collaborate to protect each other. Atlantic Monthly Press, January 9
DEAD IN LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, BY VENITA BLACKBURN
When Coral, the lonely author of a successful dystopian novel, finds her brother’s body in his Long Beach apartment, she takes his cell phone and starts answering text messages—pretending to be him. The lies and cover-ups build until Coral risks her relationship with her niece as well as her own sanity. Blackburn’s debut novel is about the tenuous connections between reality and fiction. MCD, January 23
DISILLUSIONED: FIVE FAMILIES AND THE UNRAVELING OF AMERICA’S SUBURBS, BY BENJAMIN HEROLD
Herold, an education journalist, argues that recent wide demographic shifts have revealed a faulty foundation beneath the promise of American suburbia. He examines five families living in neighborhoods from Dallas to Chicago to reveal how history, racial tensions, growing populations, and other factors have created an urgent need for updated models of community and urban development in the United States. Penguin Press, January 23
EVERYONE WHO IS GONE IS HERE: THE UNITED STATES, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE MAKING OF A CRISIS, BY JONATHAN BLITZER
Blitzer turns an empathetic eye toward the hundreds of thousands of migrants who reach the U.S.-Mexico border every year. He also critiques the United States’ complicated immigration policies and seeks to explain how corruption in El Salvador, Guatemala, and other Central American countries has led to a crisis with no clear solutions. Penguin Press, January 30
FOG AND SMOKE, BY KATIE PETERSON
In this collection of poems, Peterson evokes the literal and the metaphorical. Moving between ancient history and the COVID-19 pandemic, her poems use fog and smoke as an emblem for lack of knowledge or (in the context of wildfires in California) as a stark reminder of the worsening effects of climate change. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, January 2
THE FURIES: WOMEN, VENGEANCE, AND JUSTICE, BY ELIZABETH FLOCK
Flock’s book presents three case studies: Brittany Smith from Alabama, Angoori Dahariya in India, and Syria’s Cicek Mustafa Zibo. These three women share one common narrative—all used physical force to fight for their safety, and all were subsequently denied necessary protections. The author examines how current legal and political systems set women at a disadvantage, especially in cases where women have fought back to defend themselves. Harper, January 9
HOW WE NAMED THE STARS, BY ANDRÉS N. ORDORICA
In Ordorica’s heartfelt novel, Daniel De La Luna heads to an East Coast private university as a closeted first-generation student. There, he falls for his roommate, Sam, who shares his feelings but fears taking their relationship public. When Daniel returns to Mexico for the summer, tragedy strikes on more than one front, and he must reconcile his fears with his desires. Tin House, January 30
THE LAST FIRE SEASON: A PERSONAL AND PYRONATURAL HISTORY, BY MANJULA MARTIN
Martin’s memoir recounts her move to Northern California, where she found peace in the wilderness. These feelings, however, were disrupted during the 2020 wildfire season, when she was forced to leave her place of solace behind. Here, she reflects on her relationship with nature and attempts to better understand the connection between fire and California’s landscape. Pantheon Books, January 16
MARTYR!, BY KAVEH AKBAR
The senseless death of his mother casts a dark pall over Cyrus Shams, the protagonist of Akbar’s novel. The character’s only real solace is a fascination with martyrs, which leads him to obsess about a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery. As Shams delves into the artwork, he learns that it may hold a connection with his mother. Knopf Publishing Group, January 23
RABBIT HOLE, BY KATE BRODY
After her father kills himself on the anniversary of her sister’s disappearance, Teddy discovers that he had been stalking the Reddit forum dedicated to the missing woman. Teddy’s curiosity gets the best of her as she dives into the same community. As Brody’s novel progresses, the character befriends Mickey, a fellow amateur investigator, but soon his connections to the case feel too close for comfort. Soho Press, January 2
THE STORM WE MADE, BY VANESSA CHAN
In her debut novel, Chan takes us to 1940s Malaysia (then known as Malaya), where, after helping to usher in a brutal occupation, Cecily Alcantara must confront the consequences of events on her three children: one is missing, one is sequestered in a basement, and the third works a tiresome job at a teahouse. Split into four perspectives, the narrative excavates the family and its relationships throughout World War II. Simon & Schuster/Marysue Rucci Books, January 2
Elizabeth Casillas is an assistant editor at Alta Journal. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she has previously written for the Poly Post and Enspire Magazine.
Jessica Blough is a freelance writer. A former associate editor at Alta Journal, Blough is a graduate of Tufts University where she was editor in chief of the Tufts Daily.
Ajay Orona is an associate editor at Alta Journal. He earned a master’s degree from USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism in 2021 and was honored with an Outstanding Specialized Journalism (The Arts) Scholar Award. His writing has appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, Ampersand, and GeekOut.
