Skip to main content
Cloudy icon
74Āŗ

Fall is bringing fantasy (and romantasy), literary fiction, politics and Taylor-ed book offerings

1 / 35

This combination photo shows cover art for upcoming books, top row from left, "My Last Dream" by Pedro Almodovar, "The Message" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, "Revenge of the Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell, "John Lewsis: A Life" by David Greenberg, and "The Blue Hour" by Paula Hawkins. Bottom row from left, "Patriot" by Alexei Navalny, "Intermesso" by Sally Roomey, "Tell Me Everything" by Elizabeth Strout, "The Barn" by Wright Thompson, and "Slaveroad" by John Edgar Wideman. (HarperVia, One World, Little Brown, Simon & Schuster, Mariner, Knopf, FSG, Random House, Penguin, Scribner via AP)

NEW YORK ā€“ Brandon Sanderson, whose epic ā€œWind and Truthā€ is a highlight of the upcoming publishing season, sees nothing wrong with the idea of ā€œescapism.ā€

ā€œIt's just the ability to go to another world and relate to other people's problems, problems that aren't our problems. It's a really valuable tool in our lives,ā€ the fantasy novelist told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview. Sanderson's fans have waited four years for ā€œWind and Truth,ā€ the 1,300-page fifth volume in his ā€œStormlight Archiveā€ fantasy series.

Recommended Videos



He acknowledges, with mixed feelings, that some will take relatively little time to finish it.

ā€œThey will absolutely read it in two days, which feels both gratifying and a little horrifying,ā€ he says. ā€œYou put your heart and soul into something for so long, knowing that fans are going to be done in a couple of days and say, ā€˜Whenā€™s the next one?'ā€

The presidential election is expected to dominate headlines this fall, but booksellers look to Sanderson and others to sustain the wave of fantasy and the hybrid romantasy novels that have been selling strongly over the past few years. ā€œWind and Truthā€ is among numerous anticipated works that include Jeff VanderMeer's ā€œAbsolution,ā€ Alan Moore's ā€œThe Great When,ā€ Cecy Robsonā€™s ā€œBloodguardā€ and Kerri Maniscalcoā€™s ā€œThrone of Secrets,ā€ the second installment of her ā€œPrince of Sinā€ series.

According to Circana, which tracks around 85% of the retail market, fantasy sales have been growing for the past five years and since last summer have jumped by nearly 75%, driven in part by the million-selling romantasy authors Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros.

ā€œThe fantasy subject is the top growth segment of the total U.S. print book market," says Circana analyst Brenna Conner, who cites the reader-driven sales of #BookTok as a strong factor. "I also believe escapism is a component as more readers seek out stories with elements of escapism to counter daily stress and fatigue of the news cycle."

At Barnes & Noble, senior director of books Shannon DeVito notes that fantasy has expanded and diversified, blending horror and romance and mystery. She cites Maas and Yarros, and such upcoming releases as Frances White's gay-themed ā€œVoyage of the Damned,ā€ John Gwynn's Norse-inspired ā€œThe Fury of the Godsā€ and Ann Liang's mythical ā€œA Song to Drown Rivers."

ā€œIt's event-proof,ā€ DeVito says of fantasy and its offshoots. ā€œIt doesn't depend on news of the day.ā€

Election fallout

President Joe Biden's decision not to seek reelection may have little effect on the fantasy market, but it upended the fall campaign and left a void in the publishing schedule: No one had time to work up in-depth books on the Democrats' new nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. The best chance for revelations likely comes from Bob Woodward's ā€œWar," which centers on Biden's handling of the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, but also promises insights on Harris and the presidential race.

Publishers of anti-Biden books are proceeding with scheduled fall releases, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ā€™s ā€œThe Biden Crime Family." Harris' Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, has a book of photos and anecdotes coming, ā€œSave America," which on its cover has the AP's image of him bloodied and raising his fist after the assassination attempt in July. His wife, former first lady Melania Trump, is releasing the memoir ā€œMelania.ā€ Donald Trump's estranged niece and bestselling author, Mary Trump, returns with more family (horror) stories in ā€œWho Could Ever Love You."

H.R. McMaster, who served briefly as national security adviser during the Trump administration, has written ā€œAt War With Ourselves.ā€ Onetime Trump opponent Hillary Clinton reflects on marriage, faith and politics in the essay collection ā€œSomething Lost, Something Gained.ā€ Project 2025 architect Kevin Roberts' ā€œDawn's Early Light,ā€ for which GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance wrote the foreword, has been postponed until just after the election amid Republican efforts to distance themselves from the controversial blueprint for a second Trump term. But pre-election readers can consider recommendations from Joel B. Pollak's ā€œThe Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 50 Days,ā€ with a foreword from Trump ally Steve Bannon.

Prose and poetry

Sally Rooneyā€™s ā€œIntermezzoā€ is a story of grief and sibling rivalry from the author known for the best sellers ā€œNormal Peopleā€ and ā€œConversations With Friends.ā€ Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk 's ā€œThe Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Storyā€ is the Polish's author variation of the Thomas Mann classic ā€œThe Magic Mountain.ā€ Nobelist Annie Ernaux of France combines memoir and images in ā€œThe Use of Photography" and perennial Nobel candidate Haruki Murakami expands on an early short story for ā€œThe City and Its Uncertain Walls,ā€ which his Japanese publisher is calling ā€œsoul-stirring, 100% pure Murakami world.ā€

Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Powers ā€™ ā€œPlaygroundā€ touches upon everything from climate change to artificial intelligence, while another Pulitzer winner, Louise Erdrich, sets ā€œThe Mighty Redā€ on a North Dakota beet farm during the economic crash of 2008. In ā€œTell Me Everything,ā€ Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout returns to fictional Crosby, Maine, and such friends from ā€œOlive Kitteridge" and ā€Olive, Again" as the elderly title character and the scribe Lucy Barton.

ā€œI never intended to write about them again. I think I keep bringing them back because they are so very well known to me,ā€ Strout says. ā€œThey feel almost as real as actual people. I know they're not real people, but they feel like real people.ā€

John Edgar Wideman blends fiction, history and memoir in ā€œSlaveroad,ā€ and Rebecca Godfrey's ā€œPeggyā€ is a fictional take on the heiress-art collector Peggy Guggenheim that was completed by Leslie Jamison after Godfrey's death in 2022. New fiction is also coming from Richard Price, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Kate Atkinson, Janet Evanovich, Rachel Kushner, Richard Osman, Tova Reich, Paula Hawkins, Jami Attenberg and Rumaan Alam.

Margaret Atwood began her career as a poet and her verse is collected in ā€œPaper Boat: New and Selected Poems: 1961-2023," while ā€œBlues in Stereoā€ features early work from the late Langston Hughes. Prize winners Paul Muldoon, Kimiko Hahn and Matthew Zapruder all have collections coming out, along with new books from Billy Collins, Ben Okri, Frank X Walker and E. Hughes.

ā€œDear Yusefā€ is a tribute to the celebrated poet Yusef Komunyakaa that includes contributions from Terrance Hayes, Major Jackson and Sharon Olds. ā€œLatino Poetry: The Library of America Anthologyā€ compiles verse from the 17th century to the present.

Taylor-ed

Like all pop culture phenomena, from the Beatles to ā€œStar Wars,ā€ Taylor Swift 's appeal isn't confined to a single art form. Her songs and her life have inspired young adult novels, children's books and biographies and the wave continues.

Katie Cotugno's ā€œHeavy Hitterā€ is an athlete/pop star romance based in part on Swift and NFL great Travis Kelce, while ā€œThe 13 Days of Swiftnessā€ is a picture story for holiday shoppers who can chant such lines as ā€œ12 strings for strummingā€ and ā€œ11 bracelets beaded.ā€

The anthology ā€œPoems for Tortured Soulsā€ includes verse from Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay and other alleged kindred souls of Swift's. Biographies/critical studies include the picture book ā€œTaylor Swift: Wildest Dreams,ā€ by Erica Wainer and Joanie Stone, and Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield's ā€œHeartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music.ā€

The famous and near famous

Lisa Marie Presley's ā€œFrom Here to the Great Unknownā€ was nearly done before she died in 2023 and was completed by daughter Riley Keough. In ā€œDidion and Babitz,ā€ Lili Anolik draws upon newly discovered letters as she contrasts the California bards Joan Didion and Eve Babitz, who died within days of each other in 2021 and whose lives, Anolik documents, were more entwined than previously known.

Celebrity books also will include Cher's ā€œThe Memoir, Part One,ā€Al Pacino 's ā€œSonny Boy,ā€ Josh Brolin's ā€œFrom Under the Truck,ā€ Kelly Bishop's ā€œThe Third Gilmore Girlā€ and Connie Chung's ā€Connie." Pedro AlmodĆ³var shares stories-allegories-musings in ā€œThe Last Dreamā€ and Neneh Cherry looks back on her life and music in ā€œA Thousand Threads.ā€

Past and present

ā€œPatriotā€ is a posthumous memoir from imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has written ā€œLovely One: A Memoir,ā€ Malcolm Gladwell returns to famous territory in ā€œRevenge of the Tipping Point,ā€ and Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the power of stories, and misinformation, in ā€œThe Message.ā€

Numerous books draw upon racism in U.S. history and those who fought against it. David Greenberg's ā€œJohn Lewisā€ is a biography of the late civil rights activist and congressman, while Wright Thompson's ā€œThe Barn" promises new information on the murder of Emmett Till. Russell Cobb's ā€œGhosts of Crook County,ā€ like David Grann's ā€œKillers of the Flower Moon,ā€ tells of a white oil man in Oklahoma who seeks to steal Native property. In ā€œThe Black Utopians,ā€ Aaron Robertson tracks a century of planned communities and asks, ā€œWhat does utopia look like in black?ā€

___

This story has corrected ā€œThe Black Utopiansā€ authorā€™s name from Aaron Robinson to Aaron Robertson.


Loading...

Recommended Videos