Mariah Stovall’s Wish List

In fiction, I’m looking for…

  • Difficult or unlikable POC characters especially with mental illness and/or neurodivergence, like POST-TRAUMATIC by Chantal V. Johnson; EVERYTHING HERE IS BEAUTIFUL by Mira T. Lee 

  • Formally playful but accessible fiction, like TRUST by Hernan Diaz; BIOGRAPHY OF X by Catherine Lacey; Benjamín Labatut 

  • Beautifully crafted weird or genre-twisting fiction, like Helen Oyeyemi; Julia Armfield; Jacqueline Harpman 

  • Heady, darkly funny first-person novels, like MILKMAN by Anna Burns; Y/N by Esther Yi; DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD by Olga Tokarczuk  

  • Inventive non-Eurocentric family stories, like THE OLD DRIFT by Namwali Serpell; BESTIARY by K-Ming Chang 

  • 30+ year old protagonists 

  • Straight male friendship 

In nonfiction, I’m looking for…

  • Socially conscious narrative nonfiction at the intersection of the humanities and the social sciences, like FIGHT LIKE HELL by Kim Kelly; WHITE FLIGHTS by Jess Row; WORDSLUT by Amanda Montell 

  • Science writing like ENTANGLED LIFE by Merlin Sheldrake; THE DISORDERED COSMOS by Chandra Prescod-Weinstein; THE JOY OF SWEAT by Sarah Everts 

  • Pop culture and subculture deep dives like EVERYTHING I NEED I GET FROM YOU by Kaitlyn Tiffany; BASKETBALL AND OTHER THINGS by Shea Serrano 

  • Object histories like WORN by Sofi Thanhauser 

I am not considering the following at this time:

  • Prescriptive nonfiction 

  • Memoir 

  • Slavery/lynching/civil rights/police violence fiction 

  • Infertility themes 

  • Romance 

  • Bubbly, feel-good fiction 

  • Covid/pandemics 

  • Hard SFF/anything with extensive worldbuilding 

  • Traditional thrillers/police procedurals/crime fiction/domestic suspense 

  • Childrens/YA/new adult