NAMED A "TOP BOOK OF 2020" by the Montreal Times! THERE IS SOMETHING STRANGE HAPPENING IN PLACIDVILLE! It is 1962. Kathy Anderson, a serious actress who took her training at the Actors Studio in New York, is stuck playing Vivacia, the Vampire Woman on Vivacia’s House of Horrors for a local Chicago TV station. Finally fed up showing old monster movies to creature feature fans, she quits and heads to New York and the fame and footlights of Broadway. She stops off to visit her parents and old friends in Placidville, the all-Ameican, middle-class, blissfully normal Midwest small town she grew up in. But she finds things are strange in Placidville. Kathy’s parents, her best friend from high school, the local druggist, even the Oberhausen twins are all acting curiously creepy, odiously odd, and wholly weird. Especially the town’s super geeky nerd, Gerald, who warns of dark days ahead. Has Kathy entered a zone in the twilight? Did she reach the limits that are outer? Has she fallen through a mirror that is black? Or is it just—just—politics as usual!

His luck is a weapon of mass hilarity.

Murphy’s mind-boggling luck returns with a vengeance in a new, uproarious adventure. When America calls upon Murphy to employ his unique talents to help bring down an evil mastermind, it’s a request his handlers soon regret.

After a bank’s surveillance camera captures Murphy’s amazing, hobby-honed abilities in action, the tape comes to the attention of the FBI. The agency decides that the Eureka recluse is just the man to help with a matter of national security, only to learn how one man with Murphy’s luck undermines everyone’s sense of security.

When you march to the beat of Murphy Drummer, the impossible becomes the inevitable and the inevitable inescapably hysterical. All may regret the day they met Murphy Drummer, but none knows what they’d have done without him.

Don’t miss this riotous comedy of mayhem and miracles!

“Roxane Gay is so great at weaving the intimate and personal with what is most bewildering and upsetting at this moment in culture. She is always looking, always thinking, always passionate, always careful, always right there.”  — Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?

A New York Times Bestseller

Best Book of the Year: NPR • Boston Globe • Newsweek • Time Out New York • Oprah.com • Miami Herald • Book Riot • Buzz Feed • Globe and Mail (Toronto) • The Root • Shelf Awareness

A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched cultural observers of her generation

In these funny and insightful essays, Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of color (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.

Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better, coming from one of our most interesting and important cultural critics.

Stella loves her life in London, far from the foul-mouthed, flame-haired grandmother who raised her. Then Stella gets the dreaded call in the middle of the night; Gina has taken a tumble. Soon Stella finds herself trapped with Gina in the crazy coastal town of Mapton-on-Sea. Can Stella and Gina ever truly reconcile? As the June temperature soars, they, and the residents of Mapton, are in for an hilariously explosive summer. For a sprinkle of romance, mobility scooter gangs, and misbehaving dogs, you’re invited to Mapton-on-Sea.

A funny and moving debut novel that follows four generations of a singularly weird American family, all living under one roof, as each member confronts a moment of crisis in a narrative told through a uniquely quirky, charming, and unforgettable voice. Acclaimed short story writer Elizabeth Crane, well known to public radio listeners for her frequent and captivating contributions to WBEZ Chicago’s

Writer’s Block Party

, delivers a sublime, poignant, and often hilarious first novel, perfect for fans of Jessica Anya Blau’s

The Summer of Naked Swim Parties

and Heather O’Neill’s

Lullabies for Little Criminals

.

“Crane has a distinctive and eccentric voice that is consistent and riveting.” —New York Times Book Review