SEQUOIA NAGAMATSU (@SequoiaN) is the author of the forthcoming novels, HOW HIGHWE GO IN THE DARK (2022) and GIRL ZERO (William Morrow/Harper Collins and Bloomsbury UK) and the story collection, WHERE WE GO WHEN ALL WE WERE IS GONE (Black Lawrence Press), silver medal winner of the 2016 Foreword Reviews Indies Book of the Year Award, an Entropy Magazine Best Book of 2016, and a notable book at Buzzfeed. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as Conjunctions, The Southern Review, ZYZZYVA, Tin House, Iowa Review, Lightspeed Magazine, and One World: A Global Anthology of Short Stories, and has been listed as notable in Best American Non-Required Reading and the Best Horror of the Year. He teaches creative writing at Saint Olaf College and the Rainier Writing Workshop Low-Residency MFA program and lives in Minneapolis with his wife, the writer Cole Nagamatsu, their cat Kalahira, their real dog Fenris, and a robot dog named Calvino.
The Phoenix Pencil Company (2025) Allison King "A rare novel that unpacks the integrity and modes of how we form connections, both through graphite and magic and through digital highways, ultimately asking the question of what really matters when it comes to the people we love."
We Lived on the Horizon (2025) Erika Swyler "Kaleidoscopic and incisive in its themes, We Lived on the Horizon detonates the imperfect symbiosis between A.I. and what it means to be human. From class warfare and systems of oppression to reflections on gender and inherited privilege, Swyler burrows through the walls of genres to critique civilization's cycles of unrest and the costs of our survival. My favorite kind of novel - philosophical, timely, and brimming with intrigue and speculative flair. I couldn't put it down."
A Thousand Times Before (2024) Asha Thanki "[Asha] Thanki reinvents generational memory, conjuring inheritance as a tapestry of love, trauma, and choices that echo through blood. A profoundly tender and complex debut that I didn't want to put down."
What Grows in the Dark (2024) Jaq Evans "A surreal and deftly crafted debut. Evans weaves mystery, horror, and family through impossible forests, making you question character and truth in unsettling yet deeply satisfying ways. Though readers might invoke writers such as Paul Tremblay and Kelly Link (and perhaps even Joe Hill), Evans carves out a patch of cursed soil all her own. This is the rare book that crawled under my skin so deep that I wanted to re-read it again to see what I had missed in the dream state Evans conjured."
Gunflower (2023) Laura Jean McKay "Amidst a pile of shed skin and fur, McKay molds a kaleidoscopic and horrifyingly real portrait of life at the fringes. By turns gritty, surreal, and absurd, Gunflower isn't afraid to weigh flesh on the scales of our own judgments, a delicate balancing act between life and death, connection and disconnection. Perhaps part Kelly Link and Ottessa Moshfegh, McKay delivers an assured follow-up to The Animals in That Country in her own singular voice that zeroes in on our anxieties and existential crises with deft and often poetic flair."
The Saint of Bright Doors (2023) Vajra Chandrasekera "By turns mythic and modern, The Saint of Bright Doors delivers a spellbinding labyrinth of mysteries... A hypnotic and intricate debut."
The Tatami Galaxy (2022) Tomihiko Morimi "This is not your ordinary campus novel or another Groundhog Day. In magical, irreverent, and often humorous prose that calls up both Murakami and Moshfegh, The Tatami Galaxy repeatedly reimagines the existential crises of a college misfit in a kaleidoscopic display of imagination, character, and genre. There is no question why this mash-up of multiverse adventure and philosophy has already become a new classic."
Billie Starr's Book of Sorries (2022) Deborah E Kennedy "A heartfelt and expertly crafted exploration of motherhood and finding the shimmering possibilities in oneself. Kennedy's writing cuts open small-town Midwestern America, delivering grit, gossip, and generational relationships that bleed through a life both as an anchor of familiarity and as a shackle against hope. A deeply empathetic and nuanced second novel, which solidifies Kennedy as a master of illuminating the intricacies, mythos, and pain of Main Street USA."
Light From Uncommon Stars (2021) Ryka Aoki "A kaleidoscopic and riveting symphony . . . Aoki has conjured the most spellbinding venues to unpack race, sexuality, and class with both ingenuity and heart. A new classic."
