Tales Well Told: 2021 Fiction and Poetry From The New School Community
Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu (former creative writing teacher at The New School); Tin House Books.
Fresh out of college and waitressing in Brooklyn, Willa, daughter of a biracial New Jersey family, jumps at the chance to become a live-in nanny for a wealthy Manhattan family. Her experiences are recounted in a debut novel the Washington Post has praised as a “lovely coming-of-age story that will resonate with anyone who’s felt separate or questioned where they belong.”
One Day as a Lion by Jonathan E. Hernandez (MFA Creating Writing 2019); Aethon Books.
The opening salvo is a Gordian Knot military sci-fi series that promises to be a catnip for anyone nostalgic for Battlestar Galactica. A high-stakes intergalactic clash of civilizations. Unlikely alliances and unforeseen betrayals. Surprise technological and psychological challenges on remote, bleak desert planets. Cue the John Williams theme music!
Cucina Romana: Another Italian Adventure by Andrew Cotto (MFA Creative Writing 2008); Black Rose Writing.
Following on his 2019 Cucina Tipica, Cotto continues the tale of ex-pat Jacoby Pines, who discovers a potential link to his ancestry while, in the words of one reviewer, tapping the “reader’s desire to leave the drudgery of everyday life behind” while finding cultural enlightenment and gustatory fulfillment under Italian skies.
Kitty Sweet Tooth by Abigail Denson (BA Liberal Arts and BFA 1999, with illustrations by Utomaru); MacMillan.
To revive her family’s failing movie theater (There’s a timely theme!), Kitty decides the solution is serving desserts along with the main feature. But with a witch and a mad scientist in the kitchen, recipes and results get unpredictable. This is a younger-set graphic novel the School Library Journal calls “a sweet treat of a story that’s sure to satisfy chapter book readers.”
A Room in Dodge City: Vol. 2 by David Leo Rice (MFA Creative Writing 2015); Alternating Current Press.
The second volume in a projected trilogy continues a deeply hallucinatory take on the familiar “a stranger drifts into town” Western trope. Acclaimed novelist Brandon Hobson describes this newest “novel in vignettes,” focusing on the mysterious workings of The Dodge City Film Industry, as “like walking through the desert on peyote… as haunting and funny as anything I’ve read in a long time.”
Silverfish by Rone Shavers (MFA Creative Writing 2001); Clash Books.
Welcome to the near future in the Incorporated States of America. Clayton, a soldier (an occupation re-branded as “combat associate” in this experimental novel’s dystopian “corporatocracy”), engages Angel, an artificial intelligence robot, in a code-breaking, code-switching dialogue that’s part prophecy, part literary collage, and part social justice remix.
Ghost Face by Greg Santos (MFA Creative Writing 2009); DC Books.
A transracial adoptee of Cambodian descent growing up with Canadian parents, Santos has written what he calls “a memoir written in a poetic stream.” It’s an inquiry into family mythologies, incorporating themes of absence, loss, and also hope. “Ultimately, the best thing about this book,” says critic Gabino Iglesias “is that it reminds us that we can talk to ghosts through writing and reading.”
And don’t forget this year’s titles that we’ve previously highlighted:
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (MFA Creative Writing 2016); Simon & Schuster.
A novel for anyone who has ever felt overlooked, overworked, and manipulated on the job. Two Black women climb the career ladder in the hypercompetitive world of elite New York City publishing in a witty, highly acclaimed debut novel that the Washington Post describes as “initially satirical and then spectacularly creepy.”
No Heaven for Good Boys by Keisha Bush (MFA Creative Writing 2015); Random House.
In contemporary Senegal, six-year-old Ibrahimah leaves his rural home, ostensibly to study in the capital city of Dakar. Instead, he is plunged into a world of poverty and danger as he is turned out to beg in the streets. He and a cousin resolve to find a way home, in an ultimately triumphant Oliver Twist for our times about the search for love, fulfillment, and security.
We Are Watching Eliza Bright by A.E. Osworth (MFA Creative Writing 2016); Hatchette Book Group.
When Eliza Bright, an elite video game coder, goes public with the harassment and hostility she faces from male co-workers, she gets fired, doxed, and also becomes a feminist cause celebre. Male gamers start to stalk her every move, while an underground collective known as the Sixsisterhood takes her in and protects her. A tense cat and mouse game, online and real-life, results and builds to a dramatic climax.
Forget Me Not by Alexandra Oliva (MFA Creative Writing 2011); Random House.
In a suspenseful near-future thriller, a young girl grapples with the question: What if your past wasn’t what you thought? After escaping a solitary life in a walled-off estate in rural Washington, she enters a social media-saturated modern world that seemingly won’t accept her for who she is. Then a fire at her childhood home forces her to return and unravel mysteries of memory and family and find out: How real is your past if you can’t remember it?
The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter (MFA Creative Writing 2017); St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
A sought-after photographer well-versed in creating better-than-reality images starts to branch out into emotional manipulation, too. After shooting a family’s birthday party photos, she steadily, skillfully, and obsessively inserts herself into their lives. A psychological thriller built around mind games and a surprise twist at the end that spells “beach reading” this summer.
Next week: Our nonfiction picks.
Andrea Patricia Llinás-Vahos is a research assistant, and Bruce Cory is an editorial advisor at the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School.