RAVISHING d’Eshani Surya

A brilliant and compelling debut, RAVISHING shines a light on the dark enticements of the beauty industry and how it capitalizes on our desire to be someone we are not.

RAVISHING
by Eshani Surya
Roxane Gay Books/Grove Atlantic, November 2025

A provocative, darkly surreal novel of two Indian American siblings caught in the clutches of a beauty tech company, RAVISHING is a searing portrait of the beauty industry’s dangerous ability to change people’s relationship to their bodies and the cult-like grip it has on youth.

For teenage Kashmira, it’s painful to look in the mirror; she has her father’s face, and every feature is a reminder of his abandonment. When a friend introduces her to Evolvoir, a beauty product that changes users’ features, Kashmira is quickly hooked on how it allows her to erase the triggers of her grief. Meanwhile, at Evolvoir’s corporate offices, Kashmira’s estranged brother Nikhil first sees the product as an opportunity to make a difference and a name for himself, but is quickly mired in corporate complicity as reports surface of the product causing severe pain and persistent symptoms in some users. As chaos ensues, Kashmira is hospitalized and must negotiate the constraints of her new reality, while Nikhil uncovers a vicious truth that will force him to decide where his loyalties lie.

Perfect for readers of Gold Diggers and You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, RAVISHING is a visceral, yet immensely tender, coming-of-age story of two Indian American siblings caught in the clutches of a predatory beauty tech company, providing an illuminating portrait of the complexities of growing up brown, chronic illness, and our relationship to ourselves.

“[An] absorbing debut . . .  timely and a hard-hitting takedown of the beauty industry and a nuanced and sensitive look at the pressure on those who don’t fit traditional beauty norms to assimilate.”—Booklist (starred review)

“This debut is thoughtful in its handling of tricky themes of identity, belonging, and, perhaps most compellingly, the intersection of wellness culture and chronic illness. Surya handles this latter with unflinching—even discomfiting—clarity. A speculative take on the all-too-real rot at the heart of the beauty and wellness industry.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Incendiary . . . Surya blends her stirring whistleblower plot with a heartrending depiction of Kashmira’s delusion . . . This one hits hard.”—Publishers Weekly

Eshani Surya is a chronically ill South Asian writer living in Philadelphia. She holds an MFA from the University of Arizona, and is a 2022 Asian Women Writer’s Workshop mentee, a 2022 Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop scholarship recipient, and a 2021 Mae Fellowship recipient. RAVISHING is her first book.

BURNOUT de Michael Cooper

A debut literary novel about a down-on-his-luck former detective in LA whose most famous case comes back to haunt him.

BURNOUT
by Michael Cooper
Range Literary Publishing, 2027
(via David Black Literary)

Former Detective James Rivers—JR to his friends—has long left behind his career. He has surfed off into the easy life: hiding out in an Airstream with an ocean view, downing one glittering-green Midori after another, caring for his bulldog and his old man, taking each L.A. day as it comes. But when he learns that convicted murderer Dylan Turner has been let out of prison, a lock unlatches in his brain. He has always known—hasn’t he?—that something wasn’t right with that case, but he never figured Dylan would go free. Was his most famous case his worst mistake? And if so, how will he protect the brother who betrayed Dylan? And how will JR save himself if Dylan comes for him? Pressed back into action by his old-partner-turned-chief-of-police, JR is teamed up with Brittany Charles, a young detective with an unflinching sense of justice and no patience for a has-been’s hesitation. As new victims of brutal murder surface, JR and Britt realize that the clock is ticking.

BURNOUT is the vivid and absorbing story of a man who must face his worst mistakes and discover what’s on the other side. A detective story for our moment, this tale centers on an unruly and vulnerable man, a tarnished knight with a heart that’s been chipped and cracked but not shattered, a man tiptoeing towards sobriety and a more honest life. Fueled by day-glo dialogue, brilliantly vivid humor, one-of-a-kind characters, and vast quantities of heart, BURNOUT is a raw and blistering ballad—about ancient mistakes and lingering regrets, about violence and what crawls beneath it, but also about the life-saving possibilities of empathy, hope, and love.

CO de Rina Schmeller

“Rina Schmeller […] writes with empathy but eschews all sentimentality, revealing not only the full horror of her situation, but also love in all its facets.” —Jenny Erpenbeck

CO by Rina Schmeller
Penguin Verlag/PRH Germany, March 2026

They met on a bridge. They recognised a kindred spirit in each other. They fell in love. And now they have decided to share their lives with each other, regardless of the drug to which he is addicted, and which will henceforth govern her life too. She becomes entangled in his addiction, and starts to orbit him like he orbits the drug, both calm centre and third party. She leaves again and again, to escape the violence, but always comes back. Almost always.

CO is a story about empathy and creeping self-sabotage, about the dynamics of addiction – which affects us all – and about what life is like when you’re co-dependent. Yet it is also the story of a woman’s empowerment and liberation, who finds the strength to let go. And as she embarks on the long and tough road to survival, she gradually regains her independence and finds her way back to herself. A powerful, elegant novel about regaining your inner freedom, sober, quiet and fiercely honest.

Rina Schmeller, born in 1986, studied creative writing in Leipzig and literary studies with comparative literature in Berlin. She has been awarded several fellowships and was a member of the 2020 prose writers’ workshop at the Literary Colloquium in Berlin. In 2024 she published the essay Bedeutung erleben (‘Experiencing meaning’, Edit no. 91) about writing « Co ».

EXIT d’Ezzedine C. Fishere

This highly original novel tells an alternative history in which the Arab Spring leads Egypt and the Middle East to the brink of nuclear war.

EXIT
by Ezzedine C. Fishere
Translated by Jonathan Smolin
American University in Cairo Press, November 2026

In what might be his last night on Earth, the Egyptian president’s translator Ali pens a letter to his estranged son, telling him of everything that has led him, and his country, to breaking point.

Ali is traveling aboard a cargo ship on a dangerous mission to accompany twenty-four nuclear warheads from North Korea to Egypt, where they will be launched at the Israeli occupation of Sinai. But he has blown the whistle on the operation and now must face the consequences: will he be celebrated as a hero or condemned as a traitor?

Fishere’s powerful storytelling offers an alternative history to events post-revolution in Egypt, hinging on the rupture of the Arab Spring. EXIT creates a compelling, and terrifying, vision of the Middle East, one that both teaches us about the present and warns of coming catastrophe.

“[A] wonderful ‘prophetic’ novel”—Jamal Khashoggi

Ezzedine C. Fishere is an Egyptian novelist, diplomat and academic. A distinguished fellow at Dartmouth College, his extensive diplomatic experience includes the Egyptian Foreign Service and the United Nations missions in the Middle East and East Africa. He has published ten novels in Arabic, two of which have been translated into English: Embrace on Brooklyn Bridge which was nominated for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (often referred to as “the Arabic Booker”) and The Egyptian Assassin which was adapted by Pan-Arab TV into a limited television series entitled, “Abou Omar El-Masry.” He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire.

DOG MOM de Madi Stine

A satirical horror debut perfect for fans of Girl Dinner and Motherthing, about the lengths to which a doting dog mom will go for her bloodthirsty fur baby.

DOG MOM
by Madi Stine
akaStory/Abrams, July 2027

Phoebe has felt alone all her life. She’s the outsider in her adopted family, and she’s always felt her parent’s love is conditional on her being good. Her marriage is no better, and when Phoebe experiences a late–term miscarriage, it destroys any hope she’s harbored of finally finding unconditional love. Until she meets Teddy…

Teddy is a stray wolf dog. Though Teddy’s origins are mysterious, it’s clear he’s all alone in the world too. He’s injured, starving, and needs Phoebe’s help to survive. Although Teddy treats Phoebe’s house like a toilet and massacres her unused baby toys, he gets Phoebe out of bed to tend to his messes. In a way, he takes better care of Phoebe than her husband, Quinn, ever has.

As Phoebe’s bond with Teddy intensifies, he fills that void deep within her. The one that convinced her she was unlovable, unworthy. With Teddy to look after, she feels whole again. Soon, Teddy is the most important part of her life. And nothing comes between a girl and her beloved dog. Not the meddling next door neighbor. Not her family. Not her husband.

Madi Stine is an award–winning writer/director based in Los Angeles. She earned a BA in Film and English from Harvard University where she graduated with honors and was a Fulbright Scholar. As a Fulbright Scholar, she affiliated with the University of British Columbia, researching and writing a historical screenplay set on the Canadian frontier. Madi then relocated to New York where she earned an MFA in Screenwriting/Directing from Columbia University. While at Columbia, her horror–comedy short, Rose & Pinky are Metal, screened in the US and internationally before being acquired by ShortsTV. DOG MOM, her debut novel, is based on her original screenplay of the same name, which was named a 2025 script competition finalist at the Austin Film Festival.