ONE OF THE MILLIONS’ MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2024 “This is an astonishingly accomplished novel…Just stunning.” – Kirkus Reviews, starred review “Magnificent” – Publisher’s Weekly, starred review A stirring, unsparing novel about Black life in Philadelphia and the struggle to build intimate connections through the eyes of a struggling ex-Army grad student that “reads like a direct communication from the soul,” (Justin Torres) from the virtuoso author of Sink. After a deployment in the Iraq War dually defined by threat and interminable mundanity, Joseph Thomas is fighting to find his footing. Now a doctoral student at The University, and an EMS worker at the hospital in North Philly, he encounters round the clock friends and family from his past life and would-be future at his job, including contemporaries of his estranged father, a man he knows little about, serving time at Holmesburg prison for the statutory rape of his then-teenage mother. Meanwhile, he and his best friend Ray, a fellow vet, are alternatingly bonding over and struggling with their shared experience and return to civilian life, locked in their own rhythms of lust, heartbreak, and responsibility. Balancing the joys and frustrations of single fatherhood, his studies, and ceaseless shifts at the hospital as he becomes closer than he ever imagined to his father, Joseph tries to articulate vernacular understandings of the sociopolitical struggles he recounts as participant-observer at home, against the assumptions of his friends and colleagues. GOD BLESS YOU, OTIS SPUNKMEYER is a powerful examination of every day black life—of health and sex, race and punishment, and the gaps between our desires and our politics.

A stirring, unsparing debut novel about black life in Philadelphia and the struggle to build intimate connections through the eyes of a struggling ex-Army grad student, from the "extraordinary [and] insightful" author of Sink (New York Times Book Review). After a deployment in the Iraq War, Joseph Thomas is fighting to find his footing. Now a MD/PhD student at The University of Pennsylvania, and an emergency department tech at a hospital in North Philly, he becomes interested in the Holmesburg Prison Experiments, in which the prison conducted scientific trials on their inmates. Through this curiosity he comes to know his estranged father, who is serving time for the statutory rape of his then-teenage mother. Meanwhile, his best friend Murray, a fellow vet, judges the journey he sets out upon, while simultaneously pushing him towards a ruinous self-discovery. Balancing single fatherhood, his studies, and long shifts at the hospital as he becomes closer than he ever imagined to his father, Joseph tries to articulate vernacular understandings of the sociopolitical struggles he recounts as participant-observer at home, against the assumptions of his more storied friends and colleagues. GOD BLESS YOU, OTIS SPUNKMEYER is a powerful examination of every day black life--of health and sex, race and punishment, and the gaps between our desires and our politics.

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES'S 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2023, BET'S FAVORITE MEMOIRS OF 2023, AND ELECTRIC LITERATURE'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023 "A brilliant and brilliantly different" (Kiese Laymon), wrenching and redemptive coming-of-age memoir about the difficulty of growing up in a hazardous home and the glory of finding salvation in geek culture. Stranded within an ever-shifting family’s desperate but volatile attempts to love, saddled with a mercurial mother mired in crack addiction, and demeaned daily for his perceived weakness, Joseph Earl Thomas grew up feeling he was under constant threat. Roaches fell from the ceiling, colonizing bowls of noodles and cereal boxes. Fists and palms pounded down at school and at home, leaving welts that ached long after they disappeared. An inescapable hunger gnawed at his frequently empty stomach, and requests for food were often met with indifference if not open hostility. Deemed too unlike the other boys to ever gain the acceptance he so desperately desired, he began to escape into fantasy and virtual worlds, wells of happiness in a childhood assailed on all sides. In a series of exacting and fierce vignettes, Thomas guides readers through the unceasing cruelty that defined his circumstances, laying bare the depths of his loneliness and illuminating the vital reprieve geek culture offered him. With remarkable tenderness and devastating clarity, he explores how lessons of toxic masculinity were drilled into his body and the way the cycle of violence permeated the very fabric of his environment. Even in the depths of isolation, there were unexpected moments of joy carved out, from summers where he was freed from the injurious structures of his surroundings to the first glimpses of kinship he caught on his journey to becoming a Pokémon master. SINK follows Thomas's coming-of-age towards an understanding of what it means to lose the desire to fit in—with his immediate peers, turbulent family, or the world—and how good it feels to build community, love, and salvation on your own terms.

Buzz Books 2024: Spring/Summer is the 24th volume in our popular sampler series. This Buzz Books presents passionate readers with an insider’s look at nearly sixty of the buzziest books due out this season. Such major bestselling authors as Ally Condie, Christina Dodd, and Emiko Jean are featured, along with literary figures like Mateo Askaripour, Abi Daré, Alison Espach, Peter Nichols and more. Buzz Books has had a particularly stellar track record with highlighting the most talented, exciting and diverse debut authors, and this edition is no exception. Rita Bullwinkel, editor at large for McSweeney’s and deputy editor of The Believer, offers a novel on women boxer, while Lily Samson’s title has already been preempted by Sony Pictures Television. One YA and two nonfiction authors make their adult fiction debuts: Kristen Perrin, Mary Annaïse Heglar and Kate Young, respectively. Among others are Essie Chambers, Katelyn Doyle, Alejandro Puyana, and Rachel Rueckert. Our robust nonfiction section covers such important subjects as suicide and combating racist biases; several memoirs about harrowing childhoods and illnesses; and a biography of the first Asian-American woman pilot to fly during World War II. Finally, we present early looks at new work from young adult authors, including the New York Times bestselling Tracey Baptiste and Morgan Matson. The YA titles also represent more diversity than ever, with Aboriginal, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Malaysian and Trinidadian novelists. And be sure to look out for Buzz Books 2024: Fall/Winter, coming in May, for next season’s most talked about books.

“[Vonnegut] at his wildest best.”—The New York Times Book Review Eliot Rosewater—drunk, volunteer fireman, and President of the fabulously rich Rosewater Foundation—is about to attempt a noble experiment with human nature . . . with a little help from writer Kilgore Trout. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is Kurt Vonnegut’s funniest satire, an etched-in-acid portrayal of the greed, hypocrisy, and follies of the flesh we are all heir to. “A brilliantly funny satire on almost everything.”—Conrad Aiken “[Vonnegut was] our finest black humorist. . . . We laugh in self-defense.”—The Atlantic Monthly

A wild and wildly original debut story collection that explores the present and future, violence and justice, the fantastic and the everyday, from Joseph Earl Thomas, “a writer of incredible gifts” (Justin Torres) who brought us Sink and God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer. In LEVIATHAN BEACH the thin veil between fantasy and reality ceases to exist. Thomas’ concerns with war, labor, sex and the shared prospects of biological life on this planet depict human beings as minimum wage plovers in the title story, whereas disgruntled green anoles become a child’s potential salvation in “Cold War Kirby.” In “Xscape from the Dark Dimension” a young girl takes on the skin of a demon, while in “Half an Inch at Best” a group of soldiers get more than they bargained for out of sexual tourism. A lonely divorcee travels the world to perform assisted suicides in “The Ferryman is Now Accepting Visa,” and in “Monday,” two medics may finally learn to love each other over a Socratic dialogue in the front of an ambulance. With brilliant, often humorous prose, Joseph Earl Thomas approaches his subject matter with scalpel-like precision, revealing profound truths and posing incisive questions at the level of the speculative and the hyper-real. Both solemn and searching, scathing and indignant, Thomas reflects on the multi-headed Leviathan of the present with great curiosity about life and little respect for mere tolerance, asking what it means to dream of a better future when the world has been crumbling around you.

Daryl Graham has just moved into a Jamaica, Queens, apartment building and his neighbors, both male and female alike, can't stop talking about him. From his extreme attractiveness to his undeniable swag, Daryl is the man every woman wants and every man wants to be. Connie, an unhappy wife, turns to Daryl for help losing weight, hoping to fix her marriage. But when Daryl starts making Connie feel beautiful again, she questions whether her marriage is worth saving. Benny, a spoiled teenager raised by a single father, looks up to Daryl. When an unexpected event occurs, Benny is left questioning everything he's ever known to be true. Krystal, Daryl's first love, wants to make things work with her current boyfriend. Yet having Daryl back in her life sends her happy home spiraling out of control.And Avery, Connie's husband, doesn't care about anything or anyone when a financial opportunity comes his way-that is, until he notices how much time his wife is spending with their new neighbor. Everything seems to be going well, until someone is murdered, and everyone becomes a prime suspect. "Weber packs his latest urban soap opera with all seven deadly sins . . . [To] err is not only human, but a whole lot more fun to read." -- Publishers Weekly "Contains lots of the drama and tight writing style that has made him a New York Times bestselling author, and more importantly, all the surprises and shocks readers won't see coming." -- Examiner.com

Few authors have had as much influence on the youth of America than Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He brought morality and humanism to the forefront of millions of minds and into the mind of one man in particular. Author, documentary filmmaker, and longtime Huffington Post contributor, Bryan Young has been a lifelong fan and student of Vonnegut's. God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut is his love letter to the late writer, collecting essays, short stories, and other material written over the last ten years, all of it about, or directly inspired by, Vonnegut. From Huffington Post: Young displays here both his depth as a writer and passion for the art itself-much of which he traces back to Kurt Vonnegut. In a chapter devoted to teachers, Young recounts both experiences in his own public schooling and his feelings for Vonnegut as a passive teacher of sorts. Young also touches on the incredibly personal and political, recounting painful dealings with the US "health care system." There's a little bit of everything in here. And something for everyone. And at $3.99, it's hard to go wrong.

Alexis Fletcher hasn't had a merry Christmas in five years-not since her mother passed away in this drama filled book from New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby. Every December she remembers the joy her mother brought to everyone during the holiday season and feels the pain of her absence, even more so now that she and her sister are barely speaking. More than anything, Alexis wishes her family could be whole again. However, with her wedding fast approaching, Alexis might just be ready to make some holiday memories with a family of her own. Alexis's fiance, Chase Dupont, is everything she ever dreamed of. He's kind, handsome, fully supportive of Alexis's career, and the CEO of a large company. But outside forces threaten to derail this happy couple from ever reaching the altar. As tensions rise, a dramatic event causes Alexis to question everything. Will fate give her what she needs to finally embrace the season that has brought her so much pain? Will Alexis get her wish for a happy holiday? Or will her Christmas prayer go unanswered?

195 Centre Street: It’s summertime, and the kitchen windows are open and a warm, gentle breeze is blowing the spotless white lace curtains into the room. P-51 Mustangs: In my opinion, it’s the most perfect airplane ever to take to the skies. And, Me: I never “wanted to be a writer”. I wanted to be a pilot, and fly P-51 Mustangs like Don Gentile, and Ratsy Preddy. So, I took a flying lesson, and found I really didn’t like flying. My Life-Long Dream of Being a Pilot shattered, the next day I wrote my first Award-Winning newspaper column, and, it was published. Yeah, right... I began writing this book in 2015, putting together some ruminations and reflections. I slowly added to it over the years: new things I wrote, old things I discovered I had written, some things that other people wrote that made me laugh out loud, or, knocked my socks off. Welcome to: 195 Centre Street, Buchanan, New York, U.S.A. P-51 Mustangs, B-17’s, B-24’s, B-25’s, PBY’s, F-82’s. Auschwitz, Birkenau, Vietnam, 9/11. Terciera in the Azores, Montecatini Alto in Tuscany and Rodney Bay on Saint Lucia. A 1936 Ford Five-Window Coupe and a 1963 Sting Ray Split-Window Coupe. Walking from Maine to Georgia—twice—on the world-famous Appalachian Trail. Allesandro Botticelli, Les Mis, Chateau Petrus. “Winning”, paper clips, and farts. And, A Thousand (Or So) Things You Don’t Know About Heart Attacks...