14 New Books for June
This month, we’ve got our eyes on Life Span, The Sons of El Rey, What Fire Brings, and 11 other titles by writers on the West.
ALL FRIENDS ARE NECESSARY, BY TOMAS MONIZ
In Moniz’s novel, Chino leaves the home he has built in Washington State and returns to the Bay Area in the wake of loss. Rebuilding his life, he reconnects with characters ranging from metalheads to literary power couples, some as friends and some as lovers. In his relationships with men, women, and friends, joy and love begin to blossom anew. Algonquin Books, June 11
BEAR, BY JULIA PHILLIPS
The author of Disappearing Earth is back with an enchanting modern-day fairy tale set off the coast of Washington State. In this enigmatic novel, two sisters struggle to survive: Sam working the ferry and Elena bartending at a golf club. Their plan to search together for a better life goes awry when a bear shows up at their home. Sam thinks it’s a sign that they should hurry away, while Elena leans into the charm of the unsettling creature. Hogarth Press, June 25
BEAUTIFUL DAYS: STORIES, BY ZACH WILLIAMS
In his debut collection, Williams infuses the unsettling and eerie with irony and wit, writing about mortality, the passage of time, and family ties. Among the characters here are a couple aging more quickly than their toddler, a tour guide who discovers more about his guests than about the destination to which he’s bringing them, and an employee stuck at a dead-end job—literally. Doubleday Books, June 11
BIRD MILK AND MOSQUITO BONES, BY PRIYANKA MATTOO
This memoir offers a chronicle of 32 addresses in 40 years, traversing Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Mattoo left the Himalayan region of Kashmir as violence struck the area in 1989, and her book reckons with the conundrum of calling so many other places home while being unable to return to her true one. Knopf, June 18
THE FUTURE WAS COLOR, BY PATRICK NATHAN
Centered on George, a queer Jewish immigrant who fled Budapest for Southern California just before the start of World War II, Nathan’s novel moves between the political and the personal, exploring the ways they collide. When George wins the favor of a famous actress and moves to her estate, he is exposed to the dark underbelly of Los Angeles’s elite, far less progressive than they claim to be. Counterpoint, June 4
LIFE SPAN, BY MOLLY GILES
The Golden Gate Bridge sets the scene in Giles’s evocative memoir. She first crossed the bridge in 1945—from San Francisco to Sausalito—and in these pages, it becomes the setting for a lifespan of reflections, desires, disappointments, and musings. WTAW Press, June 4
MY BODY IS PAPER, BY GIL CUADROS
Cuadros’s collection went undiscovered for nearly 30 years after his death, from an AIDS-related illness, in 1996. Here, the author of the magnificent City of God explores religion, family, and culture to present an unflinchingly naked account of his experience as a spiritual being bound in a too easily corrupted body. City Lights Books, June 4
ONE OF OUR KIND, BY NICOLA YOON
Yoon’s novel takes place in the wealthy Black community of Liberty, California, which seems, to Jasmyn and King Williams, like the perfect setting in which to raise their family—until Jasmyn observes that the residents obsess only over self-care and spa rituals. As her family and friends get seduced by the vapid Liberty lifestyle, she discovers a terrible secret about the community’s planners, the knowledge of which places her at odds with those she loves the most. Knopf, June 11
OUT OF THE RAIN, BY J. MALCOM GARCIA
The homelessness crisis gripping the United States is often viewed through the lens of politics or mental health, but in the stories in this collection, Garcia explores the issue in more-nuanced terms. From combat veterans to sex workers, from addicts to the economically disadvantaged, the characters here are searching for better lives in a complicated, bureaucratic, and increasingly polarized society. Seven Stories Press, July 16
THE SONS OF EL REY, BY ALEX ESPINOZA
Stretching from the ranches of Michoacán to the streets of East Los Angeles, Espinoza’s multigenerational novel focuses on Ernesto Vega and his rise from humble pig farmer to celebrity luchador, or Mexican wrestler. While Ernesto’s professional life is full of success and charm, his son and grandson grapple with myriad problems, not least of which is finding their own purposes in life. Simon & Schuster, June 11
SUCH A BAD INFLUENCE, BY OLIVIA MUENTER
In Muenter’s novel, sisters Evie and Hazel spend their childhood living in the viral spotlight of social media fame. But while Evie goes on to make a career in the territory, Hazel keeps her distance. A decade older, Hazel is hyperaware of the false intentions of so-called friends and followers. So when Evie suddenly disappears, Hazel becomes an internet sleuth herself, determined to figure out what happened. Quirk Books, June 4
TEHRANGELES, BY POROCHISTA KHAKPOUR
Khakpour’s novel traces the Iranian American Milanis: the portrait of a fabulous Los Angeles family. The parents, Ali and Homa, have carefully cultivated an empire, in which their four daughters—Violet, Roxanna, Mina, and Haylee—thrive. But when a reality-TV show starring them begins to be developed, the threat of revealing family secrets looms. Pantheon Books, June 11
THOM GUNN: A COOL QUEER LIFE, BY MICHAEL NOTT
Nott’s biography brings back to life the ferociously talented poet Thom Gunn, who died in San Francisco in 2004. Born and raised in England, Gunn came to the United States in the 1950s to teach at Stanford and became a key player in the Bay Area’s poetry scene. An avid user of drugs, he shed formal verse for a freer and more open style, but it was the AIDS crisis that galvanized his later writing, most notably The Man with Night Sweats, released in 1992. Nott is coeditor of Gunn’s published letters, and he writes with a febrile understanding of both the poet and his work. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 18
WHAT FIRE BRINGS: A THRILLER, BY RACHEL HOWZELL HALL
Hall’s new novel is a heart-pounding thriller set in Topanga Canyon. After a friend goes missing, Bailey Meadows takes a job at writer Jack Beckham’s residence—a property bordering the canyon where her friend and another woman have vanished—under the guise of helping him write. Bailey must keep herself safe while rushing to solve the disappearances before fire season starts. Thomas & Mercer, June 11
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.
14 New Books for September
15 New Books for August
New Releases for July
Upcoming Releases: Moderation and Cozy Dystopias
