PAPERBACK ORIGINAL An introduction to Eastern storytelling that opens readers’ minds to radically different ways of telling a satisfying story. Discussions in the West around diversity in the arts often focus on the identities of characters and creators. Writing instructor and speculative fiction author Henry Lien makes the pathbreaking argument that diversity is about more than just plopping different faces into stories that are 100 percent Western in spirit; it can—and should—encompass diverse structures, themes, and values. Using examples ranging from Parasite to The 1,001 Nights to the Mario video game franchise, Lien shows how storytelling staples in the West, such as the three-act structure and themes of empowerment and change, are far from universal. He introduces the East Asian four-act structure (kishotenketsu), as well as circular and nested structures, and explains how Eastern value systems such as collectivism can dictate form. Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird is essential reading for any writer or reader who wants to broaden their understanding of how to tell a satisfying story.

Natalie Shapero’s Hard Child is a necessary companion for a world filled with ambiguity. Possessing rapid-fire comedic timing, Shapero touches on subjects such as religion, perpetual war, birth, and death—exposing humanity’s often faulty sense of what’s important and displaying a willingness to self-incriminate. These poems exhibit an expansive, searching sensibility that balks at the standard-issue hopes and fears of modern American culture.

PAPERBACK ORIGINAL An introduction to Eastern storytelling that opens readers’ minds to radically different ways of telling a satisfying story. Discussions in the West around diversity in the arts often focus on the identities of characters and creators. Writing instructor and speculative fiction author Henry Lien makes the pathbreaking argument that diversity is about more than just plopping different faces into stories that are 100 percent Western in spirit; it can—and should—encompass diverse structures, themes, and values. Using examples ranging from Parasite to The 1,001 Nights to the Mario video game franchise, Lien shows how storytelling staples in the West, such as the three-act structure and themes of empowerment and change, are far from universal. He introduces the East Asian four-act structure (kishotenketsu), as well as circular and nested structures, and explains how Eastern value systems such as collectivism can dictate form. Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird is essential reading for any writer or reader who wants to broaden their understanding of how to tell a satisfying story.

Experimental Film is a contemporary ghost story in which former Canadian film history teacher Lois Cairns-jobless and depressed in the wake of her son's autism diagnosis-accidentally discovers the existence of lost early 20th century Ontario filmmaker Mrs. A. Macalla Whitcomb. By deciding to investigate how Mrs. Whitcomb's obsessions might have led to her mysterious disappearance, Lois unwittingly invites the forces which literally haunt Mrs. Whitcomb's films into her life, eventually putting her son, her husband and herself in danger. Experimental Film mixes painful character detail with a creeping aura of dread to produce a fictionalized "memoir" designed to play on its readers' narrative expectations and pack an existentialist punch.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Osage Indians owned Oklahoma’s most valuable oil reserves and became members of the world’s first wealthy oil population. Osage children and grandchildren continued to respect the old customs and ways, but now they also had lives of leisure: purchasing large homes, expensive cars, eating in fancy restaurants, and traveling to faraway places. In the 1920s, they also found themselves immersed in a series of murders. Charles H. Red Corn sets A Pipe for February against this turbulent, exhilarating background. Tracing the experiences of John Grayeagle, the story’s main character, Red Corn describes the Osage murders from the perspective of a traditional Osage. Other books on the notorious crimes have focused on the greed of government officials and businessmen to increase their oil wealth. Red Corn focuses on the character of the Osage people, drawing on his own experiences and insights as a member of the Osage Tribe.

An astounding insight into how white feminism is intertwined with Islamophobia, and why Muslim women are so often left out of the conversation. Growing up, journalist Shahed Ezaydi was asked how she could possibly call herself a feminist if she also practised her faith. By treating Muslim women as invisible and excluding them from feminist spaces, or hyper-visible with an obsession of ‘saving’ them, we are perpetuating gendered Islamophobia and white feminism. But Muslim women don’t need to be saved, and religion is not the only form of oppression. The Othered Woman is the book Ezaydi wishes her younger self could have turned to, to dispel the myths of how Muslim women are oppressed and who by. It shows that these myths translate into very real harm at state level in the UK and globally, and showcases the many intersectional feminists fighting for liberation in their own way. Accessible and compelling, this is urgent reading for anyone who considers themselves a feminist.

Natalie Shapero’s Hard Child is a necessary companion for a world filled with ambiguity. Possessing rapid-fire comedic timing, Shapero touches on subjects such as religion, perpetual war, birth, and death—exposing humanity’s often faulty sense of what’s important and displaying a willingness to self-incriminate. These poems exhibit an expansive, searching sensibility that balks at the standard-issue hopes and fears of modern American culture.

you are only here     to learn from those who came before and make space     for those who come after a line of people moving in the same direction; a formal ceremony or celebration, as in a wedding, a funeral, a religious parade. Bestseller and Governor General’s Award–winner Katherena Vermette’s third collection presents a series of poems reaching into what it means to be at once a descendant and a future ancestor, exploring the connections we have with one another and ourselves, amongst friends, and within families and Nations. In frank, heartfelt poems that move through body sovereignty and ancestral dreams, and from ’80s childhood nostalgia to welcoming one’s own babies, Vermette unreels the story of a child, a parent, and soon, an elder, living in a prairie place that has always existed, though looks much different to her now. This book is about being one small part of a large genealogy. A lineage is a line, and the procession, whether in celebration or in mourning, is ongoing. Procession delves into what it means to make poems and to be an artist, to be born into a body, to carry it all, and, if you’re very lucky, age. be a good ancestor    be a good kid

An unforgettable and heartwarming book-club debut following a trans high school teacher from a small town in South Dakota who befriends the only other trans woman she knows: one of her students.Erica Skyberg is thirty-five years old, recently divorced—and trans. Not that she's told anyone yet. Mitchell, South Dakota, isn't exactly bursting with other trans women. Instead, she keeps to herself, teaching by day and directing community theater by night. That is, until Abigail Hawkes enters her orbit. Abigail is seventeen, Mitchell High’s resident political dissident and Only Trans Girl. It’s a role she plays faultlessly, albeit a little reluctantly. She's also annoyed by the idea of spending her senior year secretly guiding her English teacher through her transition. But Abigail remembers the uncertainty—and loneliness—that comes with it. Besides, Erica isn’t the only one struggling to shed the weight of others’ expectations. As their unlikely friendship evolves under the increasing scrutiny of their community, both women—and those closest to them—will come to realize that sometimes there is nothing more radical than letting the world see who you really are. Detransition Baby meets Fleishman is in Trouble in this remarkable debut novel from an incisive contemporary voice. A story about the awkwardness of growing up and the greatest love story of all, that between us and our friends, Woodworking is a tonic for the moment and a celebration of womanhood in all its multifaceted joy.

The internationally bestselling behind-the-scenes tour of PompeiiPompeii reveals a whole world, frozen in time. It is a unique record of the catastrophe that destroyed the city on 24th August, 79 there are unmade beds, dishes left drying, bodies of victims encased in ash. Alongside the remnants of daily life, there are also captivating works of lifelike portraits, exquisite frescos and mosaics, and the sculpture of a sleeping boy curled up, just as children still do today when their blanket is too short. But this is only the beginning of what we know about Pompeii - remarkably a third of the site remains unexcavated.In The Buried City, the director of Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the city and reveals the new artefacts and remains that are now being unearthed in the biggest dig of the site in a generation. He reconstructs Pompeii as it would have been, revealing who lived here, what mattered to them and what happened in their final hours, while also reflecting on our role as keepers of this heritage.The Buried City gives us a vivid sense of what Pompeii means for us today, connecting us to a past that is much closer than we think.

Championing the liberatory potential of silence to address the fraught disability politics of queerness In queer culture, silence has been equated with voicelessness, complicity, and even death. Queer Silence insists, however, that silence can be a generative and empowering mode of survival. Triangulating insights from queer studies, disability studies, and rhetorical studies, J. Logan Smilges explores what silence can mean for people whose bodyminds signify more powerfully than their words. Queer Silence begins by historicizing silence’s negative reputation, beginning with the ways homophile activists rejected medical models pathologizing homosexuality as a disability, resulting in the silencing of disability itself. This silencing was redoubled by HIV/AIDS activism’s demand for “out, loud, and proud” rhetorical activities that saw silence as capitulation. Reading a range of cultural artifacts whose relative silence has failed to attract queer attachment, from anonymous profiles on Grindr to ex-gays to belated gender transitions to disability performance art, Smilges argues for silence’s critical role in serving the needs of queers who are never named as such. Queer Silence urges queer activists and queer studies scholars to reconcile with their own ableism by acknowledging the liberatory potential of silence, a mode of engagement that disattached queers use every day for resistance, sociality, and survival. Cover alt Background detail of a painting on canvas shows a partial view of the upper body and face of a figure, bearded and naked; title in painted script.

An unforgettable and heartwarming book-club debut following a trans high school teacher from a small town in South Dakota who befriends the only other trans woman she knows: one of her students.Erica Skyberg is thirty-five years old, recently divorced—and trans. Not that she's told anyone yet. Mitchell, South Dakota, isn't exactly bursting with other trans women. Instead, she keeps to herself, teaching by day and directing community theater by night. That is, until Abigail Hawkes enters her orbit. Abigail is seventeen, Mitchell High’s resident political dissident and Only Trans Girl. It’s a role she plays faultlessly, albeit a little reluctantly. She's also annoyed by the idea of spending her senior year secretly guiding her English teacher through her transition. But Abigail remembers the uncertainty—and loneliness—that comes with it. Besides, Erica isn’t the only one struggling to shed the weight of others’ expectations. As their unlikely friendship evolves under the increasing scrutiny of their community, both women—and those closest to them—will come to realize that sometimes there is nothing more radical than letting the world see who you really are. Detransition Baby meets Fleishman is in Trouble in this remarkable debut novel from an incisive contemporary voice. A story about the awkwardness of growing up and the greatest love story of all, that between us and our friends, Woodworking is a tonic for the moment and a celebration of womanhood in all its multifaceted joy.