This second novel by Lambda Literary Award finalist Daniel Allen Cox (Shuck) is an incendiary story about two pyromaniacs who fight homophobia in Krakow, Poland, one of the fronts of the Solidarnosc revolution that eventually toppled the Berlin Wall in 1989. It's 2005, and Poland is grappling with its newfound role as a member of the European Union; the nation dips into moral crisis as Pope John Paul II (a Pole) hovers near death while the country's soon-to-be president makes homophobic declarations. Radek, a bisexual artist and a practitioner of the extreme urban sport parkour, is convinced that fire is the great stabilizer. While creating miniature replicas of the worlds great infernos? Chicago 1871, San Francisco 1906, London 1666?he meets Dorota, a literature student and budding pyromaniac. Driven by rage, sexual curiosity for one another, and Pink Floyd, they buck church, government, and the LGBT community to find sexual freedom, escaping their enemies by scaling the crumbling walls and ideas of the city. Provocative and unnerving, Krakow Melt is at once a love letter and a fiery call to arms.

Sailing in the Tasman Sea Modesty Blaise discovers Luke Fletcher, one of Britain's greatest artists, lost in the middle of the ocean, alone on a raft, and with a strange gap in his memory. It leads her to the mystery of the nest of evil known as Dragon's Claw. Modesty and her loyal lieutenant, Willie Garvin, become involved in a complex of murder mysteries, struggling against the baffling activities of unknown enemies. Only when Modesty and Willie are helpless captives do they discover the identities of those they must overcome. Against them are a group of deadly killers working for an unknown master. The Reverend Uriah Crisp is an ordained minister and the greatest shot with a handgun in the world, and believes that his victims are sinners who deserve their fate. Beauregard Browne is a master of disguise and mimicry, who kills his victims using the famous handkerchief trick, and is accompanied by his county companion, Clarissa de Courtney - Scott. As usual ingenuity and resourcefulness help Modesty and Willie win the day as they escape Dragon's Claw and find themselves in a fight to the death.

Published in 1993, this brave, original novel is considered to be the finest account ever written of the complexities of a transgendered existence. Woman or man? Thats the question that rages like a storm around Jess Goldberg, clouding her life and her identity. Growing up differently gendered in a blue--collar town in the 1950s, coming out as a butch in the bars and factories of the prefeminist 60s, deciding to pass as a man in order to survive when she is left without work or a community in the early 70s. This powerful, provocative and deeply moving novel sees Jess coming full circle, she learns to accept the complexities of being a transgendered person in a world demanding simple explanations: a he-she emerging whole, weathering the turbulence.

Jo Carson lays bare her personal investigation into her own creative process after a spider bite on her back begins a series of life-altering events. Spider Speculations applies cutting edge mind-body science, quantum physics and ancient shamanistic techniques to describe how stories work in our bodies and our lives, and what happens when real stories are used in a public way. Carson, whose ability to capture the spoken word hallmarks her community-based work, sets down this story in her own distinctive voice, interspersing the journey with examples of her performance work. This truly original American book will speak to anyone thinking about art and community or engaging with people's stories.

Paul's epistle to Philemon is one of the shortest books in the entire Bible, and it certainly leaves plenty to the imagination. From the pen of an accomplished New Testament scholar, this vivid historical fiction account follows the slave Onesimus, fleshing out the lived context of first-century Ephesus and providing a social and theological critique of slavery in the Roman Empire.

A serial killer is stalking through Sydney, hell-bent on recreating scenes from the Fabrica, the 16th-century foundation text of modern anatomy. The spate of cold, methodical attacks has the city on edge, but the serial killer may not even be the darkest player in this story. Desperate for a breakthrough, decorated homicide detective David Murphy draws into the case his art historian sister, Joanna, and Sylvia, his wife. Unravelling the mystery of who is behind the killings pushes each beyond the limits of what they thought possible. The Tribute is a subversive take on modern masculinity and misogyny told through an irresistible crime narrative. Dark and unpredictable, chilling but sympathetic, it weaves a tapestry of narrative threads towards a mesmerising climax that will challenge the way you think about everyone you meet. Meticulously researched, hugely ambitious and superbly crafted, The Tribute is the most outstanding thriller of 2021.