September has some bad-ass new books that you’ll want to see. Ready?
First up is my September pick for the Fantastic Strangeling Book Club:
It’s Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang (the award-winning author of How Much of these Hills is Gold) and it is haunting and strange and the prose is absolutely gorgeous.
Want a taste?
Set in a dystopian future where a smog has settled over so much of the world that the food chain has been destroyed and the world subsists on bland bean flours, a chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a mysterious job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles. But not all is what it seems.
And for the Nightmares from Nowhere Book Club we’re sending you Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison. A cynical twenty-something must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle.
Rachel Harrison is the queen of the intersection of cozy humor and terrifying and I can’t tell you why I like it because *SPOILERS* but it’s so good.
You need to read it because I need to discuss it. I’m selfish that way.
Need more to get you through the month? I GOT YOU, SUNSHINE.
Here are nine other new releases I read that I can tell you about. I am crushing my yearly reading challenge because yay for productive procrastination!
The September House by Carissa Orlando – When Margaret and her husband bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD.
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott – A mind-bending, razor-sharp look at motherhood and mental health that follows a young Indigenous woman who discovers the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences.
The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson – An orphaned fortune teller in 18th-century England searches for answers about her long-dead mother and uncovers shocking secrets in this immersive and atmospheric saga.
What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman – Combining supernatural horror with domestic suspense into a visceral exploration of parental grief.
Playing the Witch Card by KJ Dell’Antonio – If you’re looking for a cozy mystery/romance with a spooky edge this is it.
Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig – Would you like to be afraid of apples? Because you will be. Chuck Wendig never misses.
Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips – Want to visit the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum during the aftermath of the Civil War? (But just in a book rather than in real life?) Here you go.
EarthDivers: Kill Columbus by Stephen Graham Jones – Time hopping horror thriller graphic novel about far-future indigenous outcasts on a mission to kill Christopher Columbus by one of my favorite authors? Yes, please. The only downside is that it’s just the first volume so there’s a lot of unanswered questions. Please finish volume two, Mr. Graham Jones.

Which book is speaking to you the most this month?
PS. We have some spots open if you want to join any of our four book clubs, and if you’re a member of the Fantastic Strangelings make sure you check your email because next week we’re doing an online craft hour where we can just visit and talk about books and make weird shit without ever leaving our homes. Agoraphobic book lovers unite! (But, you know…separately…obviously.)