Fantasy fans can look forward to reading “Shriek,” in which Jeff VanderMeer describes the city of Ambergris and its history, complete with the genocide of its early nonhuman inhabitants. In nonfiction, you might want to check out the memoir of an emergency telephone operator in “Answering 911: Life in the Hot Seat,” by Caroline Burau. In case you missed it in hardback, Anthony Shadid’s look at the lives of ordinary Iraqis these days is revealed in the new paperback, “Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War.” Country music fans can look forward to “Johnny Cash: the Biography,” by Michael Streissguth, which will be out next month.
FICTION
Shriek, by Jeff VanderMeer, Tor, 245 pages, $24.95|The author returns to the fungus-filled world of Ambergris, first brought to us by the author’s “City of Saints and Madmen.”
Every Visible Thing, by Lisa Carey, HarperCollins, 320 pages, $24.95|Carey’s fourth novel takes a hard look at the trials of a family that goes through tragedy, then fights its way through it.
The Man Who Smiled, by Henning Mankell, New Press, 336 pages, $24.95|Mankell’s continuing protagonist, Detective Chief Inspector Kurt Wallander, is struggling after having to kill someone in the line of duty.
NONFICTION
Answering 911: Life in the Hot Seat, by Caroline Burau, Borealis, 216 pages, $19.95|The author, a 911 emergency operator, tells what it’s like to answer calls that can mean the difference between life and death – or not.
Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long, by Richard D. White, Random House, 384 pages, $26.95 |It’s hard to go wrong reading about Long, Louisiana governor and U.S. senator with a populist bent and a reputation for roughhouse politics.
Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New (and Improved) American Way of Death, by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, HarperCollins, 240 pages, $24.95|An eye-opening look at the ways Americans are changing the rules and rituals of death.
PAPERBACKS
Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War, by Anthony Shadid, Picador, 507 pages, $15|The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter talks with everyday Iraqis about their lives during the final days with Saddam Hussein, the American invasion and the subsequent occupation.
The Constant Princess, by Phillipa Gregory, Simon & Schuster, 400 pages, $16|Gregory returns to the Tudor England of her “The Other Boleyn Girl” with the story of Katherine of Aragon, the 16-year-old daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.
The Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly, Warner, 528 pages, $7.99|Mickey Heller is a lawyer who generally represents lowlifes. He’s having second thoughts about representing a rich real-estate agent who is charged with assault.
COMING UP
Johnny Cash: The Biography, by Michael Streissguth, Da Capo, 368 pages, $26, Sept.|Here’s the story of the Man in Black, from humble beginnings through drug addictions and finally redemption.
Home to Big Stone Gap, by Adriana Trigiani, Random House, 336 pages, $25.95, Oct.|The next chapter in the Big Stone Gap story and the family of Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney.
Lost Songs and Last Chances, by Chris Ransick, Ghost Road Press, 108 pages, $13,95, paperback, Sept.|Earlier this year, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper named Ransick the city’s second poet laureate. Here is his latest collection of poetry.
