Greetings, friends. It’s April and we’re reading books. Sharply written fiction, incisive nonfiction, and a 70s-style photo novel are all on our list; there are debut books here and new work by old favorites. Here’s a look at 10 of the books we’re most excited to check out this month.

Vivian Blaxell, Worthy of the Event: An Essay
(April 1, LittlePuss Press)

You may have checked out an excerpt from this book-length essay when Defector published one earlier this week. In a recent interview with The Stranger, Blaxell said, “I’m much more interested in form than in content. I don’t really give a fuck about the content very much as long as the form is what I want.” All of which is to say: this looks to be an immersive, expansive work of nonfiction.

Daryl Gregory, When We Were Real
(April 1, Saga Press)

Last year, we interviewed Daryl Gregory and he spoke a bit about his next novel. “The premise is that seven years ago, we all learned we were living in a simulation, but none of us got super powers, and everyone’s wondering what the simulators want from us,” he said at the time — and as premises go, that’s certainly gotten our attention.

Anton Solomonik, Realistic Fiction
(April 1, LittlePuss Press)

Publishers Weekly‘s review of this collection hailed its “plentiful philosophical musings and highbrow wit” while also mentioning that there’s a nod to Quantum Leap in the stories contained herein. Can fiction tap into the ethos of both Samuel Beckett and Sam Beckett in the same span of pages? This book might just have the answer.

Jeanne Thornton, A/S/L
(April 1, Soho Press)

Jeanne Thornton’s previous novel Summer Fun included an unpredictable riff on Beach Boys history; her new novel, A/S/L revisits both the early days of online communities and the precarity of modern life. The result is a moving and philosophical look at the internet, the personas found there, and the nature of unfinished art.

Robert Lopez, The Best People
(April 8, Dzanc Books)

In recent years, Robert Lopez has been at work on a trilogy, of which The Best People is the concluding volume. The publisher describes this one as being set in “an uncanny world where linear time is nonexistent,” which certainly has our interest piqued. And if you’re looking to learn more about the trilogy as a whole, this 2022 interview in The Rumpus is highly recommended.

Mike Sacks, This Is How We Love: The Foto-Novel
(April 8, Sunshine Beam Publishing)

If you’re fond of pop culture ephemera, you may well have memories of encountering photo-novels that retell the plots of popular movies using, well, photos from said film. That’s the idea behind Mike Sacks’s new book, except that the hit 1994 film it retells never existed — and the likes of Patton Oswalt, John Hamm, and Amy Sedaris make appearances.

Julia Elliott, Hellions
(April 15, Tin House)

As ardent admirers of Julia Elliott’s past work, we’ve been eager to read something new for her for a while. This month brings with it the release of Elliott’s new collection Hellions, and the likes of Jeff VanderMeer have had very encouraging things to say about it. And hey, there’s an excerpt from it up at Reactor as well.

Wendy C. Ortiz, Hollywood Notebook
(April 15, Northwestern University Press)

Speaking of writers whose work we’ve long enjoyed, we’re also thrilled to see Wendy C. Ortiz’s Hollywood Notebook being reissued in a fancy new addition. This is in tandem with new editions of her memoir Excavation and her haunting, unclassifiable Bruja, all of which are very much worth your time.

Ross Benes, 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times
(April 22, University Press of Kansas)

If you’re finding odd echoes of the 1990s in our present moment, you’re not alone. (See also: the fact that we live in a world with a Creed-themed cruise now.) Ross Benes’s new book revisits the pop culture of a bygone decade and explores what it means for us in 2025.

Naomi Falk, The Surrender of Man
(April 22, Inside the Castle)

Last year, Naomi Falk described her book The Surrender of Man as “an extended rumination on aesthetics, godlessness, womanhood, pain, the subjective experience of art (and what the viewer brings to it), and the practice of writing.” That’s a heady combination, and you can see exactly how Falk puts it all together later this month.

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

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