Hot News This Week
July 24, 2025
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| “[We’re] seeing renewed attacks on healthcare for queer and HIV+ people. This moment feels full circle in the most perverse way.”
Document Journal spoke with editor Amy Scholder about working with artist and activist David Wojnarowicz on Memories That Smell Like Gasoline before he passed away from AIDS-related complications at age 37 in 1992, and what it means for the book to be republished now with Nightboat Books and a new foreword by Ocean Vuong.
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| | Restoration
by Ave Barrera, trans. Ellen Jones and Robin Myers
Charco Press • August 2025 • 9781917260022
“Restoration is literary masterpiece of translated horror. . . . Barrera has captured a beautiful ghost story filled with twisted romance and terrorizing characters.” — Laurel Harvey, Changing Hands Bookstore (Phoenix, AZ)
“Angela Carter meets Shirley Jackson meets Juan Rulfo. Barrera takes agency over these influences, presenting a fresh take on familiar tropes. I’m very excited to read more from her. The horror girlies will love this. I know I did.” — Mari Guzman, Politics and Prose Bookstore (Washington, DC)
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| | 8114
by Joshua Hull
CLASH Books • August 2025 • 9781960988607
“A frantic call from a childhood friend sends the narrator to his hometown and his former homestead, where long forgotten (i.e. repressed) memories are triggered. New horrors come fast and furious until the clever, very satisfying end. 8114 is a great debut!” — Kay Wosewick, Boswell Book Company (Milwaukee, WI)
“CLASH remains my favorite indie press and Joshua Hull’s new novel is a prime example of why. Brutal, black as soot, and utterly enchanting, 8114 is a bleak reminder that we can’t outrun our past.” — Adam Fall, Underbrush Books (Rogers, AR)
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| | The Mean Ones
by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
Creature Publishing • September 2025 • 9781951971304
“Wow. Just—wow. A new favorite of the year, no question. I devoured this book. . . . After Such Lovely Skin completely consumed me last year, I knew I was in for something special, and this one delivered.” — Tiffany Gonzalez, Books Are Magic (Brooklyn, NY)
“This was a hell of a trip that I couldn’t stop reading until it was over. . . . A perfect read for late summer into Halloween!” — Alicia Jessmon, Left Bank Books (St. Louis, MO)
“Schlote-Bonne is unlike any other. Think Midsommar and Yellowjackets. Creepy cult influences, are people exactly who they say they are? What an ending. Twisty, layered and a dual timeline POV.” — Kara Taghon, The Atlas Collective (Moline, IL)
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★ “Vibrant and lyrically written . . . [Kurtz’s] heartwarming, relatable, and humorous memoir beautifully illustrates that no matter where you grow up, if you have a loving and supportive family, you can make a home anywhere.” — Booklist
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| | Blue Sky Morning
by Jihyun Kim, trans. Polly Lawson
Floris Books • May 2025 • 9781782509080
★ “A lovely practice in meditation, even for the youngest among us. The illustrations are full of life, almost audible in how they depict a South Korean neighborhood, complete with storefronts, signage and shopkeepers.” — BookPage
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| | Look Up
by Azul López, trans. Shook
Transit Children’s Editions • November 2025 • 9798893380286
★ “Children will empathize with the protagonist, torn between following his personal longing and going with the group mentality. Sensitively translated from Spanish, López’s text provides an elegant accompaniment to the author/illustrator’s arresting art. A story that feeds the spirit.” — Kirkus Reviews
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| | New Digital Review Copies
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We’re saddened by the loss of ecologist and scholar Joanna Macy, co-author of Coming Back to Life (New Society Publishers), who passed away this month at the age of 96. Read about her life and legacy via Tricycle and the New York Times.
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Physician Greg Gulbransen, whose photography is collected in Say Less (GOST Books), is profiled in the July 21 issue of the New Yorker for his dedication to community-oriented work.
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ABA, PNBA, MPIBA, SCIBA, NAIBA, GLIBA, and MIBA Bestseller
I Who Have Never Known Men
by Jacqueline Harpman, trans. Ros Schwartz
Transit Books • May 2022 • 9781945492600
🌙 Collector's Edition 🌙
coming in hardback this September, with a new intro by Carmen Maria Machado
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