The Millions

On a gravel road outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming, I stood before a Little Free Library painted the colors of the Pride flag. How had it arrived here in this deep-red state, so seemingly exposed and yet declaring itself with such self-assurance? This little library, which offered books and their stories for any passerby, must itself be a story.

In 2017, Honey & Wax Booksellers established an annual prize for American women book collectors, aged 30 years and younger. Our goal, at the time, was to expand the popular perception of who book collectors are (and can be) by highlighting original collections built by young women, often without the knowledge or help of the rare book trade. By celebrating their achievements, we hoped to inspire potential collectors to look at their shelves differently, to identify patterns and projects, to think creatively about the aspects of the historical record they might recognize and preserve.

Lauren Elkin ’s debut novel Scaffolding traces the parallel lives of two psychoanalysts living in the same Belleville apartment 50 years apart. In 1972, Florence and her new husband, Henry, settle into their new home. But as Florence delves deeper into her intellectual pursuits, she begins to question whether this life truly aligns with her desires. In 2019, Anna inhabits the same space and senses Florence’s lingering presence. While recovering from a breakdown, Anna reckons with her relationship as new and old lovers enter her life. Cerebral and sexy, Elkin’s novel explores the meanings of monogamy, desire, and motherhood.

A young woman who is not that young anymore hates her sleepy little Swiss hometown but can’t bear to leave it. Her childhood house is big but empty, preserved but in a state of decay. Her parents have moved somewhere else, her siblings have their own families, the neighbors pass her with polite distance. She gets the ominous sense that everybody is waiting for her to move on too—but to what, and where?

Every time I read Jamie Quatro ’s fiction—from her debut collection I Want to Show You More, to her 2018 novel Fire Sermon, to her short stories in the New Yorker —I experience the same edge-of-my-seat pleasure. Quatro’s characters are as alive as flesh-and-blood people; the Southern landscape they inhabit feels solid enough to stand in. But always, thrillingly, the otherworldly eventually slips in, dissolving the boundary between the real and the fantastic.

With the arrival of autumn comes a deluge of great books. Here you’ll find a sampling of new and forthcoming titles that caught our eye here at The Millions, and that we think might catch yours, too. Some we’ve already perused in galley form; others we’re eager to devour based on their authors, plots, or subject matters. We hope you find your next fall read among them.

On the afternoon of 18 March 2018 my family and I visited Book Soup in West Hollywood, CA. We had arrived in town earlier that day, having driven down from the Bay Area, and walked to the bookshop from our hotel. My wife and daughter, who was almost three at the time, went to the children’s section, while I browsed in Fiction, now pushing an empty UPPAbaby stroller.

Our friends at AudioFile magazine recommend the best fall audiobooks, from Sally Rooney’s buzzy new Intermezzo to a delicious memoir from actor Stanley Tucci, plus Earphones Award–winning audiobooks from Rumaan Alam, Liane Moriarty, Rachel Kushner, and more. This is listening to settle in with.

It’s been 10 years since the publication of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, the first book of his acclaimed Southern Reach trilogy. Since then, the mysterious coastal zone known as Area X, where much of the series takes place, has become for many readers a shorthand for a kind of crossover into an unknowable (mind-blowing) realm. Area X resists comprehension and changes everyone who enters it; human attempts at mastery over the environment falter as the seemingly benign natural world becomes alien—and we encounter the wonder and terror of our own dissolution.

In June 2023, McSweeney’s Quarterly put out a call for new work by never-before-published writers; within a month, the magazine had received thousands of submissions. For the 75 th issue of McSweeney’s, guest editor (and longtime former editor) Eli Horowitz picked out 10 of the best stories to come from that call. And get this—each story will be published as an individual booklet and collected in a dossier-style case. To celebrate the release of this unique issue, we asked its contributors to share their favorite places to write.