An exclusive thriller writer’s retreat hosted on a private island turns lethal when one of the authors is found murdered in this twisty locked room mystery. When renowned anonymous author J. R. Alastor hires former aspiring writer Mila del Angél to host a writing retreat at his private manor off the coast of Maine, she jumps at the chance—particularly since she has an ax to grind with one of the invitees. The guest list? Six thriller authors, all masters of deceit, misdirection, and mayhem. Confess the crimes, survive the tropes. Alastor and Mila have masterminded a week of games, trope-fueled riddles, and maybe a jump scare or two—the perfect cover for Mila to plot a murder of her own. But when a guest turns up dead—and it’s not the murder she planned—Mila finds herself trapped in a different narrative altogether. One by one, you’ll lose your turn. With a storm cutting off the island, and the body count rising, Mila must outwit a killer who knows literally every trick in the book. Until only one of us remains…

In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying, but before she ends it all, Nao plans to document the life of her great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is Nao's only solace—and will touch lives in a ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox—possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao's drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future.  Full of Ozeki's signature humour and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.

David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favorites as the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two very competitive families, are Sedaris's tales of tardy trick-or-treaters (Us and Them); the difficulties of explaining the Easter Bunny to the French (Jesus Shaves); what to do when you've been locked out in a snowstorm (Let It Snow); the puzzling Christmas traditions of other nations (Six to Eight Black Men); what Halloween at the medical examiner's looks like (The Monster Mash); and a barnyard secret Santa scheme gone awry (Cow and Turkey).

“Wait—rewind. I was still a girl back then, before the universes converged.” Guided by premonitions and a fateful car ride, a burned-out retail worker stumbles into the grand exit from womanhood. Meanwhile, in a galaxy not so far away, an alien prince goes rogue with his sentient spaceship, seeking purpose in the great glimmering void. As the two of them come together in a fusion of body and mind, they must reckon with their assigned identities. Tender, witty, and daring, Pluralities is a slipstream-meets-space-adventure story honoring the long and turbulent journey into gender euphoria. “A tender exploration of gender and body that revels in its own strangeness. Avi Silver never shies away from the awkward, horny, or complicated aspects of nonbinary identity. This is the 401-level nonbinary speculative fiction I’ve been waiting for.” — Nino Cipri, author of Finna “Pluralities offers two subtly converging stories of a young person quitting a dismal retail job in a reality slightly at an angle from ours, and a space-opera prince on the run with his sentient spaceship friend. This novella truly pushes the envelope of gender exploration in fiction. It does not shy away from tackling the uneasy, messy, but also potentially liberating aspects of sex, T4T relationships, Jewish feminism, and resigning from your job on the spot even if it means having to walk off half-naked. My ideal world would be full of books like this one. Sadly we’re not living there, but you can get and read this particular story in the meanwhile!” — Bogi Takács, Hugo and Lambda award winning author and editor “Pluralities is a cosmic journey through transness so relatable that it emB.O.D.Y.ied the beauty of being trans. Avi Silver’s grasp of the art of story is so great that it spans galaxies (and an entire mall) to bring the reader finally home to what is gender. A must read for anyone trans, questioning, or any trans ally.” — Jordan Kurella, author of I Never Liked You Anyway “Pluralities arrives at a timely point to explore how speculative fiction might engage with journeys towards non-binary identities. This is a welcome and frank, challenging exploration of the issue that is at once ambitious and sensitive. Witty and touching, these characters will linger with you as they push the boundaries of exploring who we are, and what we desire. I look forward to reading more from Avi Silver in the future!” — Bryan Thao Worra, author of American Laodyssey “Years into my own journey, this story was especially meaningful to me. I love that the narrative is filled with queer love, friendship, and euphoria. This novella doesn’t shy away from challenging questions about the intersection of feminism and trans identity, and it doesn’t offer glib answers, but faces those questions head-on. I found the read experience-broadening, and hope this book finds the audience it deserves.” — José Pablo Iriarte, Hugo and Nebula Finalist “Avi Silver’s Pluralities is a heartfelt story about what it means to be human in a world that demands our nuanced identities give way to simple hashtags and easy takes. Complex, lyrical and surprising, it will take you on a journey from the parking lot down the road to the vast reaches of space… and if you sign on for this voyage, the thing you’re most likely to find may be yourself.” — L.X.