15 July Releases
Here are works by authors on and of the West—including Country People, Nightjar, and A Sudden Flicker of Light—that we’re excited to see published this month.
DAUGHTER OF THE MOUNTAINS: POEMS OF HEARTBREAK AND HOMECOMING, BY FATIMAH ASGHAR
From celebrated filmmaker, screenwriter, and poet Asghar come tender, introspective poems that explore how someone who has been pushed out of their native land can begin to rebuild a sense of home elsewhere. Across these 192 pages, Asghar also reflects on love, loss, betrayal, and belonging, as well as their relationship with Allah. One World, July 7
THE PEDESTRIAN, BY VALERIE HSIUNG
In her eighth collection, Hsiung blends poetry and biography to create a lyrical, deeply reflective work that centers on childhood trauma, diasporic displacement, and memory. Hsiung uses her poems as acts of investigation, shifting between the speaker’s perspective and the perspective of the surrounding environment. Nightboat Books, July 7
AMERICAN ALT: A TRUE STORY OF MADNESS AND FRIENDSHIP IN A FRACTURED COUNTRY, BY CHRIS LOCKHART
Trauma and fractured perception can shape delusion. This creative-nonfiction book explores the mind of a conspiracy theorist with dissociative identity disorder and schizophrenia. Lockhart’s longtime friend Michael Dodd had been parked outside the state capitol with guns, planning to kidnap the governor. Lockhart helps Dodd tell his story and address his memory loss (experienced while switching between personas, or “alters”), which returns the latter to reality. Bloomsbury Publishing, July 7
COUNTRY PEOPLE, BY DANIEL MASON
The author of North Woods, Mason focuses on a family’s move from Northern California to rural Vermont. Hopeful and optimistic, Country People follows the perspective of a Russian folktale scholar and father who seeks to understand his family—his wife, who is on a visiting professorship and has multiple sclerosis; his two children; and a dog—but becomes comically entangled in the mysteries and legends of an old town and the histories of its eccentric locals. Random House, July 7
LOS ANGELES CENTRAL LIBRARY POPS: CELEBRATING A CENTURY OF THE LIGHT OF LEARNING, BY CHRISTINA RICE
With vibrant illustrations by California-based illustrator Mirelle Ortega and designed by paper engineer Matthew Reinhart, Rice creates a richly interactive and three-dimensional exploration of the Los Angeles Central Library’s 100-year history. Full of fun facts, pullout brochures, pop-up pages, and plenty of movable paper elements, Rice, Ortega, and Reinhart’s volume is made for library lovers of all ages. Angel City Press, July 7
NIGHTJAR: STORIES, BY EMILY RUSKOVICH
In spare, lovely prose, Ruskovich writes a collection of five linked literary stories set in the Pacific Northwest wilderness, each following a character whose life is profoundly disrupted. Hidden truths and the secrets of ordinary lives complicate relationships and unravel memories in the author’s inquiry into loss, intimacy, and the lingering effects of the past. Random House, July 7
THE SIMP: A NOVEL WITHOUT A HERO, BY ROSHAN SETHI
After hitting rock bottom and struggling to find work as an actor, part-time frozen-yogurt shop employee Raj Ladlani applies to become an executive assistant to a “Hollywood Family.” He may have gotten the job by lying about his relevant experience, but the sense of purpose he finds in the role is real. Soon, a woman in the Hollywood Family reveals a secret project that could affect Raj’s life forever. Here is a satirical and witty novel about celebrity culture and racial identity. Simon & Schuster, July 7
A SUDDEN FLICKER OF LIGHT: A REVISIONIST HISTORY OF MOVIES, BY DAVID THOMSON
Film critic Thomson reevaluates the history of cinema and considers what it means that certain cinematic characters and themes have been placed on a pedestal by mainstream media. Thomson argues that while movies encourage fantasy and escape, they can also promote unethical behavior and a passivity that can bleed into society. Simon & Schuster, July 7
CATCH THE DEVIL: A TRUE STORY OF MURDER, DECEPTION, AND INJUSTICE ON THE GULF COAST, BY PAMELA COLLOFF
Colloff crafts the true story of Paul Skalnik, a dauntless con man who helped send another man to death row for a murder he did not commit. For more than three decades, he pulled off multiple identities—including lives as a fighter pilot, a criminal defense attorney, and a cancer patient—and nine marriages. With skill, Colloff makes Skalnik’s fantastic life tangible. Knopf, July 14
PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BODY: STORIES, BY EMILY DOYLE
Doyle blends humor and the bewildering with more emotionally sobering stories in her debut collection of 11 tales. In one of them, Ronald Reagan comes back to life as a puppy owned by a young queer person, and in another, a Japanese woman heals while working as a sex-advice columnist. Doyle explores community, loneliness, and the way we feel within our own bodies—bending genres along the way. Bloomsbury Publishing, July 14
EVERYTHING TO THE SEA, BY ALICIA UPANO
What begins as a summer fling for Jane on her home island of Hawai’i turns into something far more complicated after a tsunami hits both her own family home and her boyfriend’s. He stays behind to reconstruct what he can, while Jane leaves for California with her best friend. Seven years later, a chance encounter brings the couple back together. Upano’s debut novel is a beautiful love story about overcoming tragedy and learning to live with grief. William Morrow, July 14
CRIMEWAVE: MURDER AND MAYHEM IN THE FAR WEST, 1850–1900, BY MATTHEW BERNSTEIN
After Sam Brannan’s call that gold had been found in the American River, thousands of prospectors swarmed the West, triggering a crime surge. Bernstein’s work of nonfiction spotlights 24 of the most outrageous crimes, from highway robbery to assassination, that took place in the Wild West of California during that time. University of North Texas Press, July 15
TIN CAN COAST: A HISTORY OF INDUSTRY, GREED, AND FISHING IN THE GOLDEN STATE, BY JOSEPH OGILVY
Discussing everything from once-abundant natural resources and their gradual depletion via hunting and fishing to the rise of early conservation laws—tinged with racism—to the effects of the canning industry, Tin Can Coast provides an in-depth look at the forces that have changed the California shoreline. Spanning generations, Ogilvy’s debut is an eye-opening environmental history of the state’s beloved coast. Bloomsbury Publishing, July 21
SONG FOR ANOTHER HOME, BY BORA LEE REED
This historical-fiction novel by Reed depicts familial separation during the Korean War. Reed follows her protagonist as she flees North Korea while her cousin is stuck in an orphanage. Set in 1950, Song for Another Home explores love, family duty, and how past choices have future consequences. 37 Ink, July 21
WHEN MIKAN ROAD WAS OURS, BY D.K. FURUTANI
When the protagonist discovers his great-uncle’s memoir, he is forced to confront his own heritage. Furutani’s debut novel is a layered narrative about generations of Japanese American families in California agriculture, focusing especially on inheritance and identity in the aftermath of American concentration camps during World War II. Atria Books, July 28
Elizabeth Casillas is an associate editor at Alta Journal. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she has previously written for the Poly Post and Enspire Magazine.
Katie Hulse is a graduate of UC Berkeley who has previously written for Bay City News and the Daily Californian.
