In her illuminating, uplifting biography of Octavia E. Butler, Susana M. Morris explores how the trailblazing sci-fi author became a “midwife of contemporary Black feminism.” ... Read full Story
In Positive Obsession, Morris explores the rich internal life of the visionary sci-fi author of Kindred and The Parable of the Sower, whose books “charge us all with creating the future we want to see.” ... Read full Story
Samantha Downing’s latest suspense novel is a darkly hilarious look at an analog killer in a digital world, plus Flavia Alba investigates a murder in Pompeii. ... Read full Story
Sangu Mandanna might actually be a witch herself: The long-anticipated follow-up to The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is here, and it is well worth the wait. ... Read full Story
Sexy, complex and confident, A Game in Yellow explores a three-way relationship gone horribly wrong thanks to a madness-inducing play. You’ve never read another horror novel like this one. ... Read full Story
Young readers will be enthralled with Shana Keller’s storytelling in CeeCee, while Laura Freeman’s illustrations seamlessly blend the historical realities of slavery on Maryland’s Eastern Shore plantations with the fairy-tale dreams of the book’s young enslaved protagonist. ... Read full Story
With recipes fit for both hectic weeknights and slow Saturdays, Alexis deBoschnek’s Nights and Weekends offers fresh inspiration to home chefs, seven days a week. ... Read full Story
Author Zhang Yueran and translator Jeremy Tiang share how their sharp new book about class in China made its way to American readers. ... Read full Story
Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time offers an extensively researched, highly entertaining window into the colorful life of Gilded Age party girl Mamie Fish. ... Read full Story
A novel is possibility. A debut novel? Possibility squared. These seven first-time novelists, including Rob Franklin and Maria Reva, will open up your reading horizons. ... Read full Story
The Conjuring of America explores how the folk magic of Black women is woven into the very fabric of American identity, shaping who we are and how we live. ... Read full Story
With humor and razor-sharp wit, Rax King’s sophomore essay collection, Sloppy, shows that engaging in painful self-reflection is a worthwhile venture. ... Read full Story
“This isn’t new territory for the band—beginning with 2018’s Modern Meta Physic, Peel Dream Magazine have taken cues from bands like Stereolab and Pram, exploring the ways that rigid, droning repetition can make time feel rubbery. As they snap back into the present, Black sings, ‘Millions of light years, all of them ours.’ The past and future fold into themselves, braided together in perpetuity.” — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 4 Sept. 2024
Did you know?
Perpetuity is a “forever” word—not in the sense that it relates to a lifelong relationship (as in “forever home”), but because it concerns the concept of, well, forever. Not only can perpetuity refer to infinite time, aka eternity, but it also has specific legal and financial uses, as for certain arrangements in wills and for annuities that are payable forever, or at least for the foreseeable future. The word ultimately comes from the Latin adjective perpetuus, meaning “continual” or “uninterrupted.” Perpetuus is the ancestor of several additional “forever” words, including the verb perpetuate (“to cause to last indefinitely”) and the adjective perpetual (“continuing forever,” “occurring continually”). A lesser known descendent, perpetuana, is now mostly encountered in historical works, as it refers to a type of durable wool or worsted fabric made in England only from the late 16th through the 18th centuries. Alas, nothing is truly forever.