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VOICE OF THE STRANGER

“You are entering strange territory,” remarks Schaller in a smart, sinister introduction that cautions readers that any stranger encountered “might be the Stranger”—or rather, the devil himself. Fourteen stories are offered here, many of which draw inspiration from fairy and folktales. In the opening story, “The Five Cigars of Abu Ali,” an old friend returns to tell a tale about his encounter with a genie while in Pakistan. Meanwhile, in “North of Lake Winnipesaukee,” the surviving wolf of a sl

SOMETHING MORE

The author writes that when he first attempted to grapple with the fact that his young daughter, Mackenzie, had a degenerative medical condition, he read the Book of Job. When he realized that he needed more than simply an account of unjust suffering, he says, he moved on to Ecclesiastes, noting that the book “doesn’t concern itself much with matters of salvation, heaven, or eternity. Ecclesiastes wants to know how to live now on this planet, even when conditions are less than ideal.” The Old T

OBSESSION

Tech billionaire Carl Novak is only just starting his own production company, so he has no reason to know that Billy Barnett, the producer of Storm’s Eye, is actually Teddy, a former CIA agent who also moonlights as Oscar-winning actor Mark Weldon. But it’s a lucky thing for him that Teddy’s on hand when Carl’s wife, Rebecca, is kidnapped by Croatian gang leader Zoran Janic, since Teddy’s even more at home hunting down vermin like Janic than he is in the Hollywood scene. Janic claims he’s holdi

SHAPING HOPE

The author here notes many moments of grace in her life, starting with the way her mother accepted Manuel back into her home after she ran away from her baby’s father and took lodging in a vacant apartment. She sees grace in being lent a book by her mother that prompted a journey of financial independence. She recounts a time her mother negotiated a lease for a new restaurant without having to put any money down with the landlord—another instance of grace, according to Manuel. The author identi

MÈO AND BÉ

Nine-year-old Bé is happy in her village in South Vietnam, but with the war encroaching on their home, her father decides that it’s safer for her and her mother to move further north—to another village where he has another wife and five sons. Bé quickly realizes that their arrival is not welcome. Since she is her father’s only daughter, Bé’s new grandmother favors her, which infuriates her father’s first wife. To escape the latter’s abuse, Bé finds solace in a tiny kitten, Mèo, and it is Mèo wh

THE HORSE

“Please,” whispers Al Ward, “please give me the strength to pull the trigger and let it be over.” Al isn’t contemplating suicide. An old horse has wandered into the abandoned Nevada mining camp that Al calls home, and he wants to put it out of its misery. The camp belonged to his late great-uncle Mel, who mined it for years with no success. Al would stay there and dry out whenever the excesses of life as a journeyman guitarist and songwriter became too much. But now the horse, scarred and bleed

THE CIVILIZATION

Kadsa Abasi’s Grandpa Edoje wants her to care as much as he does about finding his homeland; he’s searched across the continent of Africa for a way back. During their exploration of a cave in Chad, he at last finds a portal that will allow him to return to Marut. Grandpa Edoje, who’s said “she’d make a good godtalker,” gives Kadsa a large crystal. But Kadsa, whose father is dead, starts researching her mother—and she discovers troubling information that implicates her grandfather in the events

TEN TRIPS

The author addresses his skepticism of psychedelics, particularly the drugs’ efficacy as a treatment for trauma and the “relative lack of academic interest in the experiences themselves.” Of his first ayahuasca trip, he writes, “this is what real healing feels like.” In a chronological narrative, Mitchell records his experiences with psychedelic drugs in 10 locations in just over a month; before the final one, he writes, “it was becoming increasingly difficult to separate all the trips from all

CLARA'S MAGIC GARDEN

When lonely, young Clara hears a bush whispering to her in the winter, the white girl happily collects its berries and holds onto them until they can be planted in the spring. Soon, she takes them to her hidden garden, where the plants and flowers are her friends. She plants the berries, waters them, and gets rewarded with a sprout. When the bush matures, Clara is delighted, but the garden’s other plants consider the newcomer dreadfully plain. Feeling sad, the bush asks the wise old walnut tree

SLAVERY AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN STORY

In her exploration of how slavery has impacted the United States throughout its history, Williams Dockery begins her narrative before colonization. For example, in the early 16th century, African conquistador Juan Garrido traveled with Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León in his search for gold in present-day Puerto Rico and Florida. The African slave trade became a point of fierce competition among Western European countries. Their economic ambitions initially led colonists to try to enslave In

THE DANGER FILES

Confirmed disaster fans will likely already be familiar with the examples Crowley Redding has chosen, but they’ll be pleased with her selection. The disasters vary widely in type and scope—the flu epidemic of 1918 killed roughly 50 million people worldwide, whereas 21 people died in Boston’s Great Molasses Flood of 1919—and for each catastrophe, the author includes a broad assortment of background facts and accounts of actual young survivors, such as Werner Franz, a cabin boy aboard the Hindenb

MIRRORVERSE

While the old tales continue on as normal in the Source Worlds, in the Mirror Worlds, characters from Disney stories exist in heightened forms. The light and dark mirrors created in the stellar collision fell, pitting the forces of good and evil magic against each other. But the dark mirror has broken, and the Fractured Magic that now claws its way out from it threatens to rend the worlds as we know them asunder. Snow White’s peaceful life has been shattered by this magic: Her friends are missi

INTO THE BRIGHT SUNSHINE

As Columbia journalism professor Freedman notes, Humphrey’s star has long been descending, and few remember him today. Humphrey himself remarked that the cause was simple: “I think the misjudgment of Vietnam.” Despite misgivings, Humphrey supported Lyndon Johnson’s conduct of the war, and he threw his lot in with Johnson’s efforts to secure civil rights—and especially voting rights—for Black Americans and other minority members. In this welcome rehabilitation, the author clearly shows how Humph

THE BATTLE BEYOND

The authors observe that the promise of outer space as a “warfighting domain” is considerable—it offers a “nuanced menu of alternatives” to “more disruptive options” for Earthly conflicts, and it could ultimately offer avenues of aggression that minimize the loss of life. However, since space warfare is such a new concept, it is challenging to strategically and tactically prepare for the eventuality, a point persuasively made by Szymanski and Drew in this remarkably thorough study. To meet this

THE END OF EDEN

Attempting to fully comprehend the magnitude of global climate change can feel next to impossible. In this deeply researched and disturbing book, photographer and environmental writer Welz helps us understand it “through smaller stories.” Moving among far-flung ecosystems—e.g., the Mojave Desert, South Africa’s Cape Floral Region, the high-altitude grasslands of Central Asia—the author presents climate change in focused snapshots. Each case study of an ecosystem tracks how small increases in lo

MEDUSA OF THE ROSES

Anjir has been in a tempestuous clandestine relationship with his childhood friend Zal since they were both teenagers. In a culture of deadly homophobia, they have stayed together—not sharing a home, but having regular assignations—perhaps longer than they should, but finding new life partners is simply too dangerous. Zal has carved out a safer public life for himself by marrying a wealthy woman named Mahtob, but Anjir has a lonelier day-to-day routine: working at a hotel and staying in an apar

DEATH OF THE ICE ANGEL

When NYPD detective Miles Jordan rents a cabin in the Catskills, his winter vacation plans include “pancakes, beer, and cross-country skiing,” not a homicide cold case. His arrival in a small mountain town, however, coincides with the 25th anniversary of the unsolved murder of Jesse Anne Kelly, a state trooper’s wife. At the request of the victim’s sister—and against the wishes of the victim’s husband, now the town’s police chief—Miles is reluctantly drawn into the case and the lives of those m

A VILE SEASON

After Count Lucian Cross is driven from his castle by vampire hunters, Vrykolakas, the god of vampires, turns him back into a human as part of a revenge plot. In his mortal form, Lucian, who’s cued white, can compete in the “marriage games” and court the future duke, all the while secretly sussing out which of the noteworthy families of the men and women also in the competition have connections to the monster hunters. If he’s successful in his tasks, Lucian will be rewarded with the return of h

MISS KIM KNOWS

In these stories, set largely in Seoul, Korean women ranging in age from 10 to 80 navigate the everyday with a quiet determination to allow themselves joy. Often, the stories give the reader insight into family dynamics in the context of the larger society’s repression. In the collection’s tender opening story, “Under the Plum Tree,” the narrator’s oldest sister, Geumju, is set adrift from a life controlled by the labor of duty by Alzheimer’s disease, finally affording her time to enjoy simple

THE BOOK THAT WOULDN’T BURN

Livira came to Crath City as a refugee after sabbers—wolf-men who prey on humans—destroyed the tiny desert village she called home. In a stroke of good fortune, the city’s internal bureaucracy sends her to train at its vast library. Lawrence’s young and uneducated protagonist quickly finds her feet, gaining literacy at a frenetic pace, but soon realizes she may not be cut out to follow all the library’s rules. Meanwhile, in a distant corner of the same library, a young man grapples with his wei