The Best New Book Releases Out October 22, 2024

Ten years after the publication of the unforgettable weird horror sci-fi book Annihilation, we’re returning to Area X with the surprise fourth book in the series. In it, we follow three more expeditions into Area X, including the first-ever expedition. This sequel answers some questions posed by the original trilogy, but also raises new ones. Absolution is part prequel and can be read directly after Annihilation.

A new story set in the world of the award-winning fantasy Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell! It’s real, I promise. This illustrated tale is about a young girl who talks to animals and the mysterious shadowy figure she encounters on a walk in the wintery woods. Also being released today is a new paperback edition of Clarke’s story collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories. —Liberty Hardy

Consider this representative of all the Best American anthologies out today, which are great ways to get introduced to some of the best authors writing today. The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024 is edited by one of the biggest names in mysteries and thrillers right now: S. A. Cosby, author of Razorblade Tears, All the Sinners Bleed, Blacktop Wasteland, and more.

Some of the other anthologies out today are The Best American Short Stories 2024 edited by Lauren Groff, The Best American Essays 2024 edited by Wesley Morris, The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2024 edited by Padma Lakshmi, and The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 edited by High Howey.

It’s comforting to imagine our therapists as people who have it all together, but that’s not entirely realistic. When therapist Magda’s best friend Sara dies, some cracks start to show in her facade. Sara had planned for the two of them to take a road trip for Magda’s seventieth birthday, so Magda decides to follow her itinerary, urn in tow. Along the way, she gets into all kinds of adventures—and confronts truths about her sexuality and her relationship with Sara that she’s been repressing all this time.

Where the Dead Brides Gather is set in Nigeria and focuses on Bata, a ten-year-old girl who is haunted by terrible nightmares. In her dreams, she battles the ghost bride who was once engaged to her cousin Keziah’s fiancé Bongo. Keziah will not be able to marry Bongo until the ghost is defeated. Bata eventually becomes possessed by the ghost bride and will have to enter Ibaja-La, the realm of the dead, to defeat the evil spirits. —Emily Martin

This is a non-linear memoir in which Joyner recounts what it was like to grow up in the ’90s and ’00s in the U.S. as a Black transmasc person. From trying desperately to fit into a Tennessee church as a closeted eleven-year-old to baffling the 2014 New York City Dyke March committee with their pronouns to the painful journey of publishing their first book, Juniper Leaves, Joyner chronicles the journey of discovering the “constant shape of me.”