Recs if you like Offseason: A Novel...

Following women on journeys to do weird and maybe violent things.

🍃✨ books where the real setting is somebody’s unsettling or off-kilter brain/perspective (with exceptional prose quality)

lit fic and horror, mainly, and mostly books by women, nonbinary & trans writers, basically mostly non-cis-men

Alternative Xmas reading — think downbeat stories, family dysfunction, holiday loneliness, seasonal depression, black comedy. There's a gift from me to you under the tree in the comments.

Other winter-holiday books welcome as long as they're cranky!

Is your cynicism chronic? Check out my list Bleakness Is My Weakness...

It’s always nice to feel like a normal person by reading about those more unhinged than you 😌 These are all women focused books. Some I’ve read and some I’m going to read. Apologies in advance if it gets long. Recommendations are absolutely welcome!! So please feel free.

I know a couple are written by men which might be taboo for some but I’ve included because I thought they were appropriate or the author has a track record of writing women well.

None of the characters in these books do themselves any favors in being the heroes of their own stories. Some may be more likable than others, but they all are students in the art of self sabotage. Featuring hubris, obsession, greed, apathy, vanity, addiction, power & fame, or just plain old psychopathy. Some are humorous and some are decidedly not and some have a happy endings and some are tragic through and through. Either way, you’re in for a fascinating ride. Recommendations encouraged!

dive into the sea of nuanced, unconventional modern literature with these attractive covers! featuring flawed, unlikeable characters and disturbing, uncomfortable topics, these books will absolutely leave you in some serious rumination.. mainly litfic, but all genres are welcome!

The Center of Fiction’s longlist for the first novel prize. 180 submissions narrowed to 19. Winner announced December 8th 2026