The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Jemisin departs from her usual original settings in this urban fantasy in a New York you think you know--but is really stranger than you can imagine. She does not depart from her fantastic prose and characters.

-Emily

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

"In the world of Black and White, everyone starts out as Generic Asian Man. Everyone who looks like you, anyway. Unless you're a woman, in which case you start out as Pretty Asian Woman."

This book is so cool. I've never read a whole novel in second person before, and I love that it is written in screenplay format. Yu breaks down the problems with Asian representation in Hollywood in a way that's funny, gloomy, and unique.

-Jenny

Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage

This is one of those books I feel I have to begin my review with: "Just stay with me here." Yes, Daddy is a wild modern gothic ride--part psychological thriller, part queer erotica, part deep and heartfelt tribute to the struggles and strength od abuse survivors. Parks-Ramage doesn't flinch during sexually abusive portions, but they never feel gratuitous. This is a mystery, yes, a steamy novel at parts, yes, but it goes deeper than that in its ambition and scope. Yes, Daddy shines an important light on an oft-overlooked part of the #MeToo movement within the queer community and does so brilliantly. Five Stars.

-Shannon

The Memory Librarian - Janelle Monae, and others

Multi-genre artist Janelle Monae expands her Dirty Computer universe with five SF short stories, each co-written with a different woman of color. Co-authors include Eve Ewing, Yohanca Delgado, and Danny Lore. The themes of the universe cohere around the working out of identity in action, in memory, and in vision. The New Dawn authoritarian state is a monolithic force exiting to quash or remove memory. Central to identity in the world of the stories is sexuality and love—romantic, familial, and platonic. The beauty of the stories lies not only in the explorations of memory and self, but in the easy way fluid sexual orientation is presented as a given.

-Steve