Jennifer Marie Brissett’s epic space opera DESTROYER OF LIGHT received generous praise from The Los Angeles Review of Books. Reviewer Steven Shaviro writes: “DESTROYER OF LIGHT has a wonky, science-fictional feel to it, which is something that still deeply appeals to me, even though fantasy, horror, and weird fiction seem to be more widespread and popular these days. Brissett plays with and transforms a number of familiar science-fictional tropes…creat[ing] a weird and alien world, but one that resonates deeply with our own contemporary concerns.” Meanwhile, Brissett spoke to Den of Geek on the book’s inspiration and ambitious narrative structure: “What inspired this multiplicity of perspectives is my imaginative self-thinking of what it might be like to experience being at the speed of light when time no longer moves forward or backwards, but everything happens at once.” Tor Books published DESTOYER OF LIGHT on October 12, 2021.

Garden and Gun magazine named CHILD IN THE VALLEY by Gordy Sauer one of its must-read titles for this fall. Executive Editor Amanda Heckert writes: “Murder, greed, redemption—this debut novel by the Texas native Gordy Sauer chronicling one man’s lawless journey from Missouri to California to strike it rich during the Gold Rush landed on my to-read list after I saw Publisher’s Weekly call it ‘an accomplished literary western,’ and no less than the late Larry McMurtry deem it ‘vividly brutal and haunting.’ Deal me in.” Hub City Press published the book on August 24, 2021.

HarperCollins selected THE MOVEMENT MADE US by David J. Dennis, Jr. and David J. Dennis, Sr. for their Summer 2022 Diverse Voices award. A reading committee made up of volunteers from different levels and departments at HarperCollins selects only three titles per year for this internal award, which aims to promote awareness and appreciation of their diverse lists. Harper will publish the book on May 10, 2022.

VANDERBILT by Anderson Cooper continues to be a bestseller, appearing for the week of November 7 on The New York Times lists for Hardcover Nonfiction, Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction, Audio Nonfiction, and Business, as well as The Washington Post’s Hardcover Nonfiction list. The New York Times also featured a Letter to the Editor responding to Cooper’s By the Book interview last month: “Anderson Cooper’s responses showed his deep honesty and vulnerability, and all the sadness he has had in his life... I can think of no one else who has answered that oft-posed question (‘You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?’) in such a disarming and truthful manner. So moving.” Harper published VANDERBILT on September 21, 2021.

FOUL PLAY, the 59th book in Stuart Woods’s long running Stone Barrington series, made its debut on the New York Times Bestseller list for the week of October 24. The book debuted at number 9 on the Combined Print and E-book Fiction list. G.P. Putnam’s Sons published the book on October 5, 2021.

Alan Cumming spoke with Anthony Mason of CBS News about his new memoir, BAGGAGE, which details his Hollywood career. The book also received a glowing blurb from Nigella Lawson: “Everything that makes Alan Cumming so engaging as a person and a performer - his cleverness, kindness, charm, wildness and, above all, authenticity - shines from every page of this wonderful, witty and wise book.” Dey Street Books published the memoir on October 26, 2021.

Celebrated poet and BONE and THE TERRIBLE author Yrsa Daley-Ward sat down with Refinery29’s Unbothered to speak about writing her latest book, THE HOW. “This year shone a light on so many things that we do on autopilot just to appease the people or be part of a group,” she says. “You then realize you do it so often you forget that you don't want to do it. It just becomes part of a weekly or monthly thing or whatever, down to personal relationships, friends that you have had for a long time, but when you really reassess and you think about it, it doesn't bring you joy.” Daley-Ward will also be collaborating with global florists—Urban Stems in the US and McQueens in the UK—to promote THE HOW alongside featured bouquets in coordinated online and social media campaigns. In the US, she will be doing an Instagram story takeover on Urban Stems’s account on October 27, and she will do a coordinated giveaway with Penguin and Urban Stems on November 4 to celebrate the book’s launch. In the UK, McQueens is working with Yrsa to create her own floral arrangement for their bouquet of the month, designed in collaboration with the talented Hamish Powell. McQueens will also feature the UK edition of the book online and in stores alongside the bouquet, complete with bookplates signed by Yrsa. Around publication time, McQueens will promote the collaboration heavily on its socials and create an article for their journal, as well as sending dried flower bundles along with copies of THE HOW in their influencer mailout. Penguin Books will publish THE HOW on November 2, 2021.

Laura Kipnis' forthcoming LOVE IN THE TIME OF CONTAGION received a glowing review from Kirkus. They call the essay collection “witty…[p]rovocative and darkly humorous,” adding: “Fearless and sharply observed, this book suggests that future post-pandemic challenges will have less to do with its biological legacy to humanity and more to do with the impact of a virus on interpersonal closeness.” Pantheon will publish the book on February 8, 2022.

Danielle Steel’s latest novel, THE BUTLER, will make its debut on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of October 24, 2021. It will debut at number 5 on the Combined Print and E-book Fiction list, and number 7 on the Hardcover Fiction list. Delacorte Press published the book on October 5, 2021.

THE DAWN OF EVERYTHING by David Graeber and David Wengrow has received a wealth of praise surrounding its publication. In a review for The Atlantic, William Deresiewicz calls the book “[a] brilliant new account…something of a glorious mess, full of fascinating digressions, open questions, and missing pieces,” and a “final, unexpected gift” from the late Graeber, who Deresiewicz refers to as “[n]ot an extremely intelligent person – a genius…[who] seemed to belong to a different order of being from me, like a visitor from a higher dimension.” The Times applauds it as “[p]acey and potentially revolutionary…This is more than an argument about the past, it is about the human condition in the present.” Lastly, The Guardian praises it as “an impressively large undertaking that succeeds in making us reconsider not just the remote past but also the too-close-to-see present, as well as the common thread that is our shifting and elusive nature” and ran an excerpt from the book: “Unfreezing the Ice Age: The Truth About Humanity’s Deep Past.” Allen Lane published the UK edition of the book on October 19, 2021, and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux will publish the US edition on November 9, 2021.