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CALL OF THE DRAGON de Natasha Bowen

Eragon meets African mythology in a kingdom where dragon gods rule the earth and sky—until the gods are betrayed, and one girl embarks on a journey to save the world from war and ruin. From the New York Times bestselling author of Skin of the Sea.

CALL OF THE DRAGON Book 1
by Natasha Bowen
Random House, February 2026
(via Writers House)

Moremi has only ever known of two dragon gods watching over a prosperous Kingdom of Kwa. It is thanks to the great dragons, after all, that an unspeakable evil is kept at bay. But when someone tries to claim the gods’ power for their own, the process goes dreadfully wrong. The dragons are injured and flee . . . and the world’s darkest shadows are released.

Overnight, Kwa’s ancient tales of monsters become all too real. Yet as death comes for those around her, Moremi suddenly finds herself magically connected to both dragon gods—a feat that should be impossible. However, Moremi is now Kwa’s only hope for restoring the gods to full strength—setting off whispers that she is meant to save the kingdom and rule over them all.

But will Jagun, the mysterious prince, let her anywhere near the gods? And how does her childhood friend, Nox, feel about it all? In any case, if Moremi fails her quest, then she risks the earth caving in and the sky crumbling down. . .

Natasha Bowen is a writer, a teacher, and a mother of three children. She is of Nigerian and Welsh descent and lives in Cambridge, England, where she grew up. Natasha studied English and creative writing at Bath Spa University before moving to East London, where she taught for nearly ten years. Her debut book was inspired by her passion for mermaids and African history. She is obsessed with Japanese and German stationery and spends stupid amounts on notebooks, which she then features on her secret Instagram. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, watched over carefully by Milk and Honey, her cat and dog.

NOT LONG AGO PERSONS FOUND de J. Richard Osborn

A forensics team investigates the murder of a child and is drawn into a chilling international coverup.

NOT LONG AGO PERSONS FOUND
by J. Richard Osborn
Bellevue Literary Press, June 2025
(via Kaplan/DeFiore Rights)

The body of a young boy is found floating in a city river with pollen in his lungs from a warm river valley far from the country where he died. Who is he? Why was he carrying only a library card and decorative clay bottle? How is it that he came so far, only to meet with a violent fate?

A biological anthropologist and her husband, the forensic team’s translator, are tasked by their agency to gather evidence from the far away country and deliver an explanation—preferably one that suits the political regimes of both countries. But as the scientists’ clandestine, parallel study of recent mass graves brings them closer to finding a link between the boy and “the disappeared,” the full forces of bureaucracy, fatalism, and forgetting are marshalled against them.

J. Richard Osborn lives in Oakland, California. NOT LONG AGO PERSONS FOUND is his first novel.

Elena Kostioutchenko remporte le Pushkin House Book Prize 2024

Photo credit: Rocio Chacon

Elena Kostioutchenko s’est vu décerner le Pushkin House Book Prize 2024, qui lui a été remis à Londres le 14 juin dernier en présence de l’une de ses traductrices et de son éditeur britannique.

La Pushkin House est un espace artistique, culturel et social situé à Londres qui explore, remet en question et débat de la culture et de l’identité russes aujourd’hui. Le Pushkin House Book Prize a été créé en 2013 afin de récompenser et d’attirer l’attention sur les ouvrages de non-fiction provenant de Russie ou portant sur ce pays, écrits ou traduits en anglais. Les sujets des livres sélectionnés ne concernent pas seulement la vie et la culture à l’intérieur des frontières de l’actuelle Fédération de Russie, mais aussi l’expérience de ceux dont les terres natales ont été affectées par l’Empire russe et l’Union soviétique.

Les éditions Noir sur blanc ont publié l’édition française, intitulée RUSSIE, MON PAYS BIEN-AIME, en février 2024 dans une traduction d’Emma Lavigne et Anne-Marie Tatsis-Botton.

« Être journaliste, c’est dire la vérité. Avec Mon pays bien-aimé, Elena Kostioutchenko documente son pays, tel qu’il est vécu par celles et ceux qu’il efface systématiquement, par exemple les filles de la campagne recrutées comme travailleuses du sexe, les personnes queer des provinces éloignées, les patientes et les médecins d’une maternité ukrainienne – et les journalistes, dont elle fait partie.
Cet ouvrage est le portrait singulier d’une nation, et celui d’une jeune femme qui refuse de garder le silence. En mars 2022, alors qu’elle est reporter pour Novaïa Gazeta, l’un des derniers journaux russes indépendants, Kostioutchenko se rend en Ukraine pour couvrir la guerre. Elle se donne pour mission d’informer les Russes sur les horreurs que Poutine commet en leur nom. Elle sait dès le début que si elle retourne dans son pays, elle risque d’être condamnée à quinze ans de prison, sinon pire. Portée par la conviction que la plus grande forme d’amour et de patriotisme est la critique, elle continue à écrire, nullement découragée, les yeux grand ouverts. »

10 THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED d’Alexis Hall

From Alexis Hall’s breakout Boyfriend Material expanded universe comes a hilarious LGBTQIA+ rom-com about identity, mistaken first impressions, and a serious case of (faux) amnesia.

10 THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED
(London Calling, Book #3)
by Alexis Hall
Sourcebooks, October 2023

Sam Becker is the manager of the Leeds location of a bed and bath retailer. It’s a pretty great job, all told; management suits him, and his staff adore him, not least because he places a high value on making the store a humane place to work. Too bad, then, that the owner is a thoroughly intimidating jerk.
Jonathan Forest should never have hired Sam Becker in the first place. It was a sentimental decision—he saw something in the sunny young Northerner—and Jonathan did not get to where he is by following his heart. Trying to fix the situation, Jonathan orders Sam down to the Croydon branch for a difficult talk…only for Sam (panicked at the idea of a confrontation with the surly owner) to bump his head and, well, pretend he doesn’t remember anything?
Faking amnesia seemed like a good idea in the heat of the moment, but now Sam has to deal with the very real reality of Jonathan’s guilt—and the unexpected new sides of the surly man he never thought he’d see. There’s an unexpected freedom in getting a second shot at a first impression…but as Sam and Jonathan grow closer, can Sam really bring himself to tell the truth, or will their future be built entirely on one impulsive lie?

Previous books in the series:

Alexis Hall writes books in the southeast of England, where he lives entirely on a diet of tea and Jaffa Cakes. You can find him at http://www.quicunquevult.com, on Twitter @quicunquevult, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/quicunquevult.

THE VIKING HEART d’Arthur Herman

From a New York Times best-selling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist, a sweeping epic of how the Vikings and their descendants have shaped history and America.

THE VIKING HEART:
How Scandinavians Conquered the World
by Arthur Herman
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, August 2021
(via Javelin)

Scandinavia has always been a world apart. For millennia Norwegians, Danes, Finns, and Swedes lived a remote and rugged existence among the fjords and peaks of the land of the midnight sun. But when they finally left their homeland in search of opportunity, these wanderers—including the most famous, the Vikings—would reshape Europe and beyond. Their ingenuity, daring, resiliency, and loyalty to family and community would propel them to the gates of Rome, the steppes of Russia, the courts of Constantinople, and the castles of England and Ireland. But nowhere would they leave a deeper mark than across the Atlantic, where the Vikings’ legacy would become the American Dream.
In THE VIKING HEART, Arthur Herman melds a compelling historical narrative with cutting-edge archaeological and DNA research to trace the epic story of this remarkable and diverse people. He shows how the Scandinavian experience has universal meaning, and how we can still be inspired by their indomitable spirit.

“Heroic battles, sea adventures, empires rising and falling, voyages of discovery, and archaeological detective work— THE VIKING HEART shines brilliantly with them all. Arthur Herman triumphs with a stirring investigation of the Scandinavian influence on our times, both past and present. You won’t look at the world the same way again.”—Neal Bascomb, New York Times best-selling author of The Winter Fortress

Arthur Herman, PhD, is the author of the New York Times bestseller How the Scots Invented the Modern World, which has sold a half-million copies worldwide, and Gandhi and Churchill, which was a 2009 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His six other books include To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World, which was nominated for the UK’s prestigious Mountbatten Maritime Prize; Freedom’s Forge, named by the Economist as one of the Best Books of 2012; and Douglas MacArthur: American Warrior. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC.