April 12, 2025
The range of talents and styles of storytelling this week offers a wide variety of reading experiences. We have two story collections: one from an Emerging Writer Fellowship alumna that we will launch at the end of the month; another from a gifted Welshman—both featuring vampires (!); a heart-rending debut from the Editor-in-Chief of the outstanding literary journal, Electric Lit; a searing portrait of a splintered, unhappy family riddled with secrets; and a comic glimpse behind the scenes of a night at an important NYC museum that goes terribly awry.
Happy reading,
Melanie Fleishman
Buyer, The Center for Fiction Bookstore
Featured Books
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Exit Zero
By MARIE-HELENE BERTINO
Published by FSG ORIGINALS
A dozen strange and beautiful stories fill Bertino’s (Beautyland) magical new collection. “New experience brings new vocabulary that enacts violence.” This from the title story that also tells us, “Family can slough away from you like bones shed meat in boiling water.” These sentences can stop your brain, as can words like ‘fwip.’ In the title story a woman’s estranged father has died, and we meet a unicorn; and in “Edna in Rain,” ex-boyfriends literally fall out of the sky. Bertino, an alumna of our Emerging Writer Fellowship, resides in Brooklyn but writes in an upstate New York cabin—a fitting locale for such a fertile imagination to run wild.
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The Float Test
By LYNN STEGER STRONG
Published by MARINER BOOKS
A reliable setup (a family gathers after the death of a parent) marks Strong’s (Flight) sharply observed fourth novel. “With every book, I’m trying to imagine myself into a feeling I’ve maybe never quite had hold of in my own life…” Fraught family dynamics play out against the Florida heat and humidity—feeding the prickly reactions from the four siblings as their stories unfold. Each member of the Kenner clan has their own grievances but also needs each other more than ever. Encroaching land development and global warming feed the atmosphere of unwanted change, and the discovery of an unexplained gun adds a layer of menace.
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Open Up
By THOMAS MORRIS
Published by UNNAMED PRESS
Discovering this award-winning writer’s work is a revelation. Revered by peers, he grew up in Wales and now lives in Ireland. The first story (“Wales”) describes a father-son outing to a football match that manages to encompass an entire family history in a dozen pages. One, “Aberkeriad,” is a tale told by a family of seahorses. And the longest, unforgettable last story features a 21-year-old living at home with his lonely, agoraphobic mother as he exists mainly on the internet, fancying himself a vampire (“Baby Teeth”). Morris’s work is haunting and clear, and deeply psychological—unlike any I’ve read, with a humor that is both disturbing and wondrous.
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When the Harvest Comes
By DENNE MICHELE NORRIS
Published by RANDOM HOUSE
Norris’s first novel is a tender story of love and family inheritance. Davis is an aspiring musician and son of a Baptist Reverend. He’s fled Ohio for NYC, where he’s reinvented himself and fallen in love with Everett. He describes Everett as having “easy confidence,” “passionate and unafraid of a fight.” On the day of their wedding, Davis finds out his father has died in a car accident. The novel traces his arc as he struggles to reconcile his feelings about his disapproving, angry father and the life he has chosen for himself. Norris has a light, sweet touch, and her characters are truly touching and memorable.
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Friends of the Museum
By HEATHER McGOWAN
Published by WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
This is not just another day at the museum. McGowan’s novel takes place on the day an iconic New York City institution gives its annual gala—and the stakes are high. Not to mention the news that some of their ancient artifacts are looted. From 4:20 a.m. on, the narrative tracks the time almost minute-by-minute as Diane, the museum’s harried director, begins to unravel. At a break-neck pace, McGowan adds character after character (co-workers, donors, etc.), all requiring Diane’s time and immediate attention. The looming disasters quickly accrue, so try to keep up (a list of characters is helpfully included). It is well worth the effort.
