2024 Bestsellers & Collective Picks

“It’s not just that Miranda July’s latest novel is so propulsive you might have to cancel plans or set aside PTO just to scarf it down. It’s that her dazzlingly horny intelligence wrestles with marriage, queerness, and desire by turns sweet and hilarious, making even the smallest pangs of desire sizzle.”
—Vulture

“Behind You Is the Sea illuminates the varieties of struggle, dignity, and steadfast courage in eight interconnected Palestinian-American characters as they seek the precarious balance between self and family, past and future, and their dreams in an America that never guarantees safety.. a vibrant, unforgettable novel about the complexities of this community. Darraj writes from a heart that is not divided between two cultures, but doubled—and her novel will swell your heart, too.”
—Sarah Cypher, author of The Skin and Its Girl

“Created by longtime prison book program activists as a movement resource and source of abolitionist inspiration, this museum quality book deserves a place on every radical's bookshelf. The fact that the editors and multiple contributors have called Asheville home—weaving local stories into the collection—only makes me adore it more!“
—Libertie, Firestorm Collective member

“This beautiful assemblage of contemporary reflections dives deep into the diverse practices of anarchist feminism. Contributors from across the Americas and Europe eschew definitions, blueprints, and easy answers, instead sharing honest stories of experimentation rooted in fierce resistance, care practices, and collective resilience. I'm honored to have been included in the conversation!”
—Libertie, Firestorm Collective member

“[Cuckoo] is gory and horrifying and brash. It is a parable slicked with blood and viscera. It is a condemnation of the ways the world tries to force queer people to become shadows of themselves by abandoning who they are. This book will leave you gasping and yearning, and it will stay on your mind long after you turn the last page.”
—Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist

“Many of these tales will touch your heart, perhaps even break it a few times along the way. It's not an easy read, with stories ranging from gruesome to psychologically terrifying and everything in-between. Don't miss out, the voices in this phenomenal, essential book are to be ignored at your own risk.”
—Ben Walker, Ginger Nuts of Horror

“Defying Displacement does the invaluable work of placing gentrification in its proper global economic and political contexts, without losing sight of its devastating personal and local impacts and longstanding role in settler-colonialism and white supremacy… More than a right to the city, this book shows how a fight for the city can mean the fight for total liberation, and is a needful resource for all those who fight for and dream of a better world.”
—Vicky Osterweil, author of In Defense of Looting

“An expansive and evocative rethinking of Appalachian studies. Beyond challenging metronormative narratives of queer urban-ness or presenting Appalachian cultures and geographies as queered with regard to US national norms, the collection addresses how those dynamics are themselves enmeshed within ongoing histories of settler colonialism in which non-Indigenous Appalachians participate.”
—Mark Rifkin, author of Beyond Settler Time

“The future of cyberpunk is trans! And this groundbreaking anthology is your ticket there with nineteen well crafted tales, ranging from humorous to heartbreaking but all delightfully weird. Quite possibly the queerest thing I've ever read!”
—Libertie, The Firestorm Collective

“Setting is everything in this slow-building nightmare on the high-seas. A whaling ship suggests chilling imagery right off the bat, but it is Nahil's mastery of atmosphere that cements the feeling of inescapable doom. You'll taste the salt on your lips and feel the dread in your own belly in this perfect marriage of ecological and queer horror!”
—Esmé, The Firestorm Collective

“[Coates's] reflections remind us that writing is more than a craft; it is a duty, a means of preserving truth, and a path to liberation. Through his travels and reflections, Coates shows that we each have the power to honor our past and to fight for a just future—whether by sharing stories of resilience from Senegal, standing up to censorship in South Carolina, or bearing witness to struggles in the West Bank.”
—Nikki Keating, The Oberlin Review

“Dark, creepy, and unsettling—not just in a supernatural way. Model Home follows Ezri, a queer Black neurodivergent parent who travels back to the US following the mysterious death of their parents. The novel is an unflinching meditation on the various horrors that manifest inside and outside of the home they grew up in. Check content warnings!“
—Glenda, The Firestorm Collective