The author of Vagabonds! is back with an exploration of queer life in Nigeria today. It follows a rotating cast of dozens of queer people in Lagos as they navigate romantic, familial, friend, and sexual relationships. They find love even while dealing with bigotry. Kaveh Akbar, author of Martyr!, says: “I can’t believe how alive Eloghosa Osunde’s Necessary Fiction is, how supersaturated and smart… Hustle, heart, privacy, sex, yearning so strong it buckles you—it’s all here. The ink practically hovers off the page.” —Danika Ellis

Ruben Reyes Jr. is the author of the short story collection There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven. This is his debut novel about two families in two timelines—Cambridge in 2018 and Havana in 1978—of the Salvadoran civil war. This is a genre-blender exploring displacement and loss, but also belonging and love, and one that asks big questions about what could have been. —Vanessa Diaz

In the description of this book, it is being compared to Murderbot, Firefly, Thelma & Louise, Ex Machina, and This is How You Lose the Time War. Those are some big shoes, and I’m already sold! But if you need to know more, it’s a sapphic sci-fi adventure about a space treasure hunter named Wylla who finds a piece of tech that changes her life. It’s an AI mask, HAWK, and the consciousness of the woman who wore it is somehow still alive inside it. The truth behind how this could have happened sends Wylla and HAWK across the stars in search of answers. —Liberty Hardy

Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s latest horror novel is a witchy tale exploring the story of women from three different areas who get caught up in witchcraft. Minerva is a graduate student, studying the history of horror. When she discovers that horror author Beatrice Tremblay’s most famous novel was inspired by a true story, Minerva becomes obsessed with finding out the truth behind the manuscript. Decades earlier, when Tremblay attended the same university as Minerva, a girl went missing under mysterious circumstances. —Emily Martin

Feminist philosopher Lindsey Stewart tells the story of the Black conjure woman in America, and it is a long one. Since the time of slavery, Black conjure women have used their skill and knowledge as Mammies, Voodoo Queens, and even Blues Women during Reconstruction. They intertwined ancestral magic with ingredients they could source locally in order to support themselves and their communities, often in secret. Their influence, though not talked about, is undeniable—it’s because of them that we have things like Vicks VapoRub, the 2023’s The Little Mermaid, and even American blue jeans.