Melissa A Watkins

(Buy this book at Bookshop, please.) Read time: 3 minutes If it weren’t for religious devotion–specifically, deep study of the Quran while growing up South Asian in an Arab country and …

(This book is available at the Equal Opportunity Bookshop) Read time: 3 minutes They don’t all have to be deep, but sometimes they unexpectedly are. If “just keep going” was a per…

If you liked Marie N’Diaye’s novella The Witch or Samantha Mill’s short story collection Rabbit Test, you’ll probably like Black Arts as well.

Melissa A. Watkins suggests revisiting the Y2K era with this unique, multimodal tale of a lost twin.

(Lovecraft enthusiasts can buy this book here.) 3 minutes read time Mu-Young plans a relaxing beach town getaway with her niece Hyun. At first it’s a welcome respite from her controlling sist…

(Buy this book ethically at Bookshop!) About 3 minutes read time A hostess on the Middle Passage gives grim travel instructions. A Vietnam vet recounts how he helped his fellow soldiers reconcile w…

Melissa A. Watkins recommends The Winter Folk for fans of Charles De Lint’s Newford novels or Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series.

(You can purchase this book ethically here.) 2 minutes read time In the 1970s, a handful of Indian scientists signed contracts for good jobs at West Virginian chemical plants. As people do, they se…

Melissa A Watkins recommends Goldenborn for fans of LaDarrion Williams’s Blood at the Root, Tracy Deonn’s Legendborn, or Wole Talabi’s Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon.

(This book is available on Bookshop.) Read time: 4 minutes Tradwife influencer Natalie Heller Mills seems to have it all. She shows off her successful organic farm, cheerful children, home-cooked r…

(Buy this book here.) 25-year old me would think that 45-year old me is ballin. 45-year old me thinks that I work too hard not to be. Both of us are pissed off. Somehow, the steady rise of my incom…

Melissa A Watkins recommends The Republic of Memory, a SF novel full of twists and turns and detailed world-building.

(Buy this book here.) Read time: about 3 minutes Back in the day, I used to attend poetry performances almost as often as church. (And I went to church a lot!) Unsurprisingly, I was especially draw…

(Buy this book here!) Read time: 2 minutes After her father’s death and her brother’s disgraced exile, Judith Worth is tasked with caring for her three younger siblings and keeping the …

Melissa A Watkins recommends Marie N’Daiye’s novel in translation The Witch for fans of Weapons and Wild Spaces.

(Buy this book here.) One minute Coast Guard meathead Carl is rescuing his absentee ex-girlfriend’s prize Persian cat from a tree in the middle of the night. The next, every building on earth…

Melissa A. Watkins recommends The Girl Who Made a Mouse From Her Grandfather's Whiskers for your next dose of dreamy speculative fiction.

Reviewer Melissa A. Watkins recommends The Hospital at the End of the World for fans of There Is No Antimemetics Division and All That We See or Seem.

Looking for a good addition to the ever-growing shelf of books about Black students in magical schools? Melissa A Watkins recommends An Arcane Inheritance for your next thrilling dark academia read.

If you’re looking for a collection of novellas to speedrun you through some familiar yet well-crafted horror adventures, have a penchant for secret societies, or just want to wrap your inner Grinch around something a little less holly and