Spear by Nicola Griffith (Tordotcom Publishing)

Griffith's fresh, queer rewriting of the Percival myth is the story of a young woman who grows up deeply in touch with her homeland, and whose skills take her to the court of Artos—not to simply triumph in battle, but to find herself, and an unexpected home.

Ten Planets by Yuri Herrera, translated by Lisa Dillman (Graywolf)

Herrera's sly stories, elegantly translated by Lisa Dillman, are subtle and brief: a gut bacteria attains consciousness; a detective studies his clients' noses. Surreal yet familiar, his tales offer new angles on humanity and connection.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez (Del Rey)

Jimenez' structurally inventive second novel is the story of a kingdom being destroyed and—hopefully—rebuilt in a less cruel and violent form. Both epic and intimate in scope, it's a tale told in many voices, from those of its central characters to some who appear for only a page, or a line, but still influence the world and the many stories it contains.

Brother Alive by Zain Khalid (Grove Atlantic)

Three adopted brothers reckon with the past of their parents and the man who adopted them in Khalid's debut novel, which stretches across decades in a sharp critique of patriarchy, blind faith, capitalism, and more. Through it all runs the specter of Brother, an invisible fourth sibling whose presence is inextricable from the trauma that shaped the boys' lives.

Meet Us By the Roaring Sea by Akil Kumarasamy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

After her mother dies, a young woman in near-future Queens begins translating a manuscript about a group of medical students facing drought and violence. Kumarasamy alternates the translator's life—with AI, self-driving cars, carbon credits, art, and unexpected friendships—with the manuscript, weaving together a reflective story about survival, memory, and self.

Geometries of Belonging by R.B. Lemberg (Fairwood Press)

Set in the author's vividly imagined Birdverse, these poems and stories travel through different parts of its cultures and customs, from the creation of art to the scholarly leanings of goats to the different forms love and romance can take. Whether told in letters or narrative verse, Lemberg's stories explore power, gender, art, and acceptance.

Drinking from Graveyard Wells by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu (University Press of Kentucky)

In her first story collection, Ndlovu melds folklore, myth, realism, and SFF elements into a cohesive whole, telling stories that cast new light on longstanding issues, from gentrification to assimilation, stolen ideas to stolen memories. Complex histories inform her fantastical futures (and present), as her characters struggle to be seen, and to be free.

William Alexander is a National Book Award-winning author of unrealisms for young audiences. His novels include Goblin Secrets, Ambassador, and A Properly Unhaunted Place. Honors include the National Book Award, the Eleanor Cameron Award, two Junior Library Guild Selections, a Mythopoetic Award finalist, an International Latino Book Award finalist, a Cybils Award finalist, and the Earphones Award for audiobook narration. He teaches at the Vermont College of Fine Arts program in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

Alexander Chee is the author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How to Write An Autobiographical Novel, all from Mariner Books. A 2021 Guggenheim Fellow and United Artists Fellow, he is a recipient of the Whiting Award and a NEA Fellowship in Prose, as well as residencies from MacDowell, Civitella Ranieri and the VCCA. His stories and essays have appeared recently in T Magazine, Harpers, and The New Republic, and he was the guest editor for Best American Essays 2022. He teaches as an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College.

Tochi Onyebuchi is the author of Goliath. His previous fiction includes Riot Baby, a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and NAACP Image Awards and winner of the New England Book Award for Fiction, the Ignyte Award for Best Novella, and the World Fantasy Award; the Beasts Made of Night series; and the War Girls series. His short fiction has appeared in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, The Year’s Best Science Fiction, and elsewhere. His non-fiction includes the book (S)kinfolk and has appeared in The New York Times, NPR, and the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy, among other places. He has earned degrees from Yale University, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Columbia Law School, and the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He currently resides in Connecticut.

Shruti Swamy is the author of the story collection A House Is a Body, which was a finalist for the PEN/Bingham Prize, the LA Times First Fiction Award, and longlisted for the Story Prize. Her novel, The Archer, was longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and won the California Book Award for fiction. The winner of two O. Henry Awards, her work has appeared in The Paris Review, McSweeny's, AFAR Magazine, and The New York Times. Her introduction to Ursula K. Le Guin’s masterpiece Always Coming Home is forthcoming in the novel’s 2023 reissue. She is the recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Steinbeck Fellowship from San Jose State University, and grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Council, and Vassar College. She is a Kundiman Fiction Fellow, and lives in San Francisco.

Karen Joy Fowler is the author of seven novels, including Sarah Canary and The Jane Austen Book Club, and three short story collections, two of which won the World Fantasy Award in their respective years. Her novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves won the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction in 2013 and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Her most recent novel, Booth, was published in March of 2022.