We’ve entered the final weeks of summer. In practical terms, that means that it could turn brisk at a moment’s notice — or that a heatwave might be upon us before long. All of which means that this month’s array of books take a similarly wide-ranging approach, encompassing everything from taut poetry to maximalist fiction. Here are some recommendations to get your fall reading started.

Ashton Politanoff, You’ll Like It Here
(Sept. 6, Dalkey Archive Press)

We’ve published writing by Ashton Politanoff before, and we’re thrilled to see that this month brings with it a new book from him. The fact that this is a formally inventive look at the history of a place — specifically, Redondo Beach — that blends elements of fiction and nonfiction has us even more intrigued.

Kate Beaton, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
(Sept. 13, Drawn & Quarterly)

Kate Beaton’s comics — especially Hark! A Vagrant — make for some of the funniest book- and history-inspired work out there. Her new book showcases an entirely different side of her skills as a writer and artist, focusing on her time working in Alberta in her early twenties.

Saeed Jones, Alive at the End of the World
(Sept. 13, Coffee House Press)

In the time since the release of his first poetry collection, Saeed Jones has written an acclaimed memoir and relocated to a new city. His new collection takes the reader into explorations of cultural histories and societal betrayals, making for an unpredictable and memorable experience.

Ling Ma, Bliss Montage
(Sept. 13, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

How does one follow up a critically acclaimed novel that the pandemic made ubiquitous? In the case of Ling Ma, the answer comes in the form of a short story collection. Bliss Montage ventures into more corners of the surreal, using the uncanny to re-examine some of our most familiar experiences.

Juliet Patterson, Sinkhole: A Legacy of Suicide
(Sept. 13, Milkweed Editions)

Sometimes, venturing into a family’s past can be a source of comfort. At others, it’s a means to reckon with tragic events. In Juliet Patterson’s Sinkhole, the author ventures into an array of loss within her own family, and explores the patterns and legacies within it.

Alyssa Quinn, Habilis
(Sept. 13, Dzanc Books)

Does your penchant for speculative fiction include forays into the very nature of language itself? Well then. Alyssa Quinn’s new novel ventures towards the limitations of language and the nature of origin stories — breaking unexpected ground in the process.

David L. Crane, Making the Movement: How Activists Fought for Civil Rights with Buttons, Flyers, Pins, and Posters
(Sept. 20, Princeton Architectural Press)

When you’re a website with an editor who wrote a book about political signs, a book about the role of signage in the civil rights movement is, for all intents and purposes, catnip.

Tea Hacic-Vlahovic, A Cigarette Lit Backwards
(Sept. 20, Overlook Press)

When you’re a website with an editor who wrote a novel involving 90s punk, a novel about 2000s punk is also, for all intents and purposes, catnip.

Martha Anne Toll, Three Muses
(Sept. 20, Regal House)

Martha Anne Toll’s novel Three Muses brings together a host of grand themes, from the legacy of historical trauma to the struggles inherent in making art. It’s an ambitious and empathic work, and one that plays out over the course of some of the 20th century’s most haunting moments.

Jenny Xie, The Rupture Tense
(Sept. 20, Graywolf Press)

We greatly admired Jenny Xie’s previous book, Eye Level, and we’ve been eager to check out The Rupture Tense ever since it was first announced. Here, Xie explores the legacy of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and explores the roles of artists at times of upheaval.

Peter Christopher, Campfires of the Dead and the Living
(Sept. 27, 11:11 Press)

Author Peter Christopher was 52 at the time of his death in 2008, and had published one acclaimed collection 19 years earlier. This new book brings together that earlier work along with a second volume of stories, as well as an introduction by Chuck Palahniuk. We’re intrigued.

Mark de Silva, The Logos
(Sept. 27, CLASH Books)

We quite enjoyed Mark de Silva’s debut novel Square Wave, and have been eager for more ever since. Now, following a collection of essays, de Silva has returned to the world of fiction, and it’s with a doorstopper. The Logos is a sprawling, ambitious book exploring contemporary life in thoroughly unexpected ways.

Marcel Béalu, The Impersonal Adventure; translated by George MacLennan
(Sept. 30, Wakefield Press)

A haunting novella exploring post-World War II trauma and focusing on a man trying on a new identity in a mysterious city? We’re very intrigued to sit down with a new edition of this novella, first published in 1954 but written a decade earlier.

Note: all cover art and release dates are subject to change.

Follow Vol. 1 Brooklyn on Twitter, Facebook, and sign up for our mailing list.