Challenging the reflexive identification of images with vice.

Any woman can look and feel lovely, regardless of her age, bank balance, or pant size, and Looking Good . . . Every Day defines a simple yet sophisticated standard for women to determine exactly which clothes and accessories will showcase their unique beauty. The “points of connection” method explains that the more characteristics that exist in common between a woman and her outfit, the more lovely she will look. It shifts emphasis from hiding her perceived figure challenges and focuses on spotlighting her personal assets. By choosing wardrobe additions in this way, everything in her closet will work together. She has more outfits from fewer garments, allowing her to buy higher-quality garments without increasing her budget. Photography of real women—ranging from 22 to 80 years old and from size 4 to 24—illustrates the universal impact “points of connection” make in their appearance.

Darby Lane and Russell Gunn had been inseparable friends since their days in the Horseshoe, the wonderful Baton Rouge neighborhood of their youth. But after graduate school, a tragic accident takes Russ's life -- and Darby's world is shattered. Her long journey to healing brings her closer to Russ's brother Ben, whom she begins to see through new eyes. Suddenly love blooms in the place of grief; and now, with the help of the three wily and colorful aunts who raised her, Darby faces the challenge of reuniting Ben with his estranged father -- if she and her aunts can get through the conniving schemes of Ben's social climber stepmother. Bit by bit, Darby discovers that loss can build new life -- and love truly can conquer anything.

A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN Open Book Award, and winner of the 2020 Giller Prize, this revelatory story collection honors characters struggling to find their bearings far from home, even as they do the necessary "grunt work of the world." A failed boxer painting nails at the local salon. A woman plucking feathers at a chicken processing plant. A housewife learning English from daytime soap operas. A mother teaching her daughter the art of worm harvesting. In her stunning debut story collection, O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa focuses on characters struggling to make a living, illuminating their hopes, disappointments, love affairs, acts of defiance, and above all their pursuit of a place to belong. In spare, intimate prose charged with emotional power and a sly wit, she paints an indelible portrait of watchful children, wounded men, and restless women caught between cultures, languages, and values. As one of Thammavongsa's characters says, "All we wanted was to live." And in these stories, they do—brightly, ferociously, unforgettably. Unsentimental yet tender, taut and visceral, How to Pronounce Knife announces Souvankham Thammavongsa as one of the most striking voices of her generation. “As the daughter of refugees, I’m able to finally see myself in stories.” —Angela So, Electric Literature

Charles Alcorn's debut collection is a ten-story road trip from ice-cold Oslo to the Philippine Sea, from Saint John the Baptist Parish to the sands of Sonora with lots and lots of South Texas, West Texas, rural Texas and urban Texas in the rear-view mirror. Morgan Wooten, the shape-shifting protagonist, weaves through 25 years of a peculiar American Dream before returning to his blood's country in search of peace with a dying father. "Charles Alcorn looks at the world through an oddly perceptive lens. Argument Against the Good-Looking Corpse is a collection to ponder created by a writer whose take on the American landscape calls to mind a young Larry McMurtry set loose in 21st century Texas."--Eric Miles Williamson "It's soothing to move through a collection with a narrator as beautifully-voiced as Morgan Wooten. Pero mios dio. What a strange world. This collection unpacks a time, place and people I know from points of view entirely new and revealing."--Macarena Hernandez

From the gang-ravaged streets of inner-city Oakland to the rolling hills of Berkeley, California, attorney Joe Turner defends the most hardened criminals. Confronted with an unlikely murderer in a modern-day whodunnit, Turner's latest case seems impossible to unravel. At its heart is a decade-old murder and a tangled web of family, loyalty, and devotion that has the trial hanging in the balance. Viewed through the prism of the unique bond of twins, Good Lookin' asks how far each of us will go to protect the ones we love.

One gifted girl, one super diva, one ego too many. . . She's got mad talent, her own singing group, and honor roll grades. Sunday Tolliver is this close to making her music industry career dreams come true--until her mother spends her entire college fund. Now Sunday's only chance to get to college means slaving as a "personal assistant" to her diva cousin, Dreya. And since Dreya just got the record deal of a lifetime and an upcoming tour with hip-hop's biggest rapper, Truth, Sunday is sure Dreya's ego-trippin', among other things, couldn't get worse. But when bad boy Truth starts pushing up on Sunday and her life becomes "Paparazzi Blogs Gone Wild," a jealous Dreya is on the warpath. Can Sunday make the right moves before her dreams go up in smoke for good? Praise for Nikki Carter "Step to This is hot, it's new, it's now. . .with characters that leap from the pages, it's absolutely a must-read." --Monica McKayhan, Essence bestselling author "Nikki Carter is a fresh, new voice." --ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Essence bestselling author "Literally and figuratively, drama is on high alert in the first installment of Nikki Carter's hot new teen series, The Fab Life. An undeniable page-turner, Not A Good Look is sure to capture the attention of every teen who's ever dreamed of becoming hip-hop's next overnight superstar. Readers are certain to fall in love with Sunday and her diva cousin, Dreya, just as fast as the many cute boys in their lives." --Mitzi Miller, Essence© bestselling author

"One Last Good Look follows the youthful and observant Gabriel English (whom we meet again in This All Happened) as he grows up in Newfoundland, leaves home and establishes himself in the world. These are stories of first rites: hunting accidents, sibling rivalry, infatuation, death in the family, romantic breakups, sustaining friendships, and the yearning for love, laughs, and understanding. The storyline is one of the oldest in literatureÑthat of a young man making sense of the world and choosing his place in it. Michael Winter tells his story in an intimate, compassionate way: his love for vivid detail, dialogue and humour come pouring through every line."

Take a Good Look Around by James C. Wofford, is a book about life in the outdoors. Readers who are used to his books on training horses will find a new side of the author, a side that has rarely surfaced until the publication of this, his latest work. The book is based on the author's experiences as a lifelong trainer of horses and as an avid hunter and fisherman. It includes descriptions of the Olympics, accounts of hair-raising experiences in Alaska, and stories of hunting all over the country . . . all told from the author's humorous point of view. Horse lovers will find a great deal in this book to interest them, and lovers of the outdoors will find Wofford's accounts of fishing and hunting amusing, interesting, and often poignant.