Despite her parents' struggles with addiction, Lilly Dancyger always thought of her childhood as a happy one. But what happens when a journalist interrogates her own rosy memories to reveal the instability around the edges? Dancyger's father, Joe Schactman, was part of the iconic 1980s East Village art scene. He created provocative sculptures out of found materials like animal bones, human hair, and broken glass, and brought his young daughter into his gritty, iconoclastic world. She idolized him—despite the escalating heroin addiction that sometimes overshadowed his creative passion. When Schactman died suddenly, just as Dancyger was entering adolescence, she went into her own self-destructive spiral, raging against a world that had taken her father away. As an adult, Dancyger began to question the mythology she'd created about her father—the brilliant artist, struck down in his prime. Using his sculptures, paintings, and prints as a guide, Dancyger sought out the characters from his world who could help her decode the language of her father's work to find the truth of who he really was.

Featured in USA Today's "Best Rom-Coms" of May 2023 and one of the Washington Post's best romances of the year! "The Stand-In is a charming, engaging rom com that drips in glamour and sparkles with banter. Chu's exploration of multi-racial identity was resonant and nuanced. The Stand-In is truly a stand out romance." — USA Today bestselling author Andie J. Christopher Gracie Reed was just fired by her overly "handsy" boss at the worst possible moment. She's been scraping together every extra dollar to get her mother into a top-notch memory care center. To make matters worse, a paparazzo has mistaken her for a famous Chinese actress in town for a new project and the resulting snapshot's gone viral. Gracie's barely holding it all together...until a mysterious SUV rolls up beside her on the street, and she's offered the opportunity of a lifetime. Gracie can't believe what she's hearing: due to their uncanny resemblance, gorgeous actress Wei Fangli wants Gracie to be her stand-in. The catch? Gracie will have to be escorted by Sam Yao, the other half of Chinese cinema's infamous golden couple. Problem is, Sam is the most attractive—and infuriating—man Gracie's ever met. But if it means getting the money she needs for her mother, Gracie's in. Soon Gracie moves into a world of luxury she never knew existed. But resisting her attraction to Sam, and playing the role of an elegant movie star, proves more difficult than she ever imagined—especially when she learns the real reason Fangli so desperately needs to step out of the spotlight. In the end all the effort in the world won't be able to help Gracie keep up this elaborate ruse without losing herself...and her heart. Readers will delight in this glamourous, swoon worthy enemies-to-lovers romance that is as hilarious as it is heart-wrenching.

Race, sex, and gender.

Ancient myth collides with modern technology in this gripping urban fantasy. London. Present day. Girls are disappearing. And strange things are roaming the streets. When sixteen-year-old Lily is attacked by a two-headed dog, she's saved by hot, tattooed, and not-quite-human Regan. As Guardian of the Gates, it's his job to protect both halves of the City--new and old--from restless creatures that threaten its very existence. But an influx of these mythological beasts has Regan worried that something terrible--and immense--is about to happen. The missing girls may have something to do with the monsters wandering around London, but what do they have in common? Can Lily and Regan find the girls and discover the truth in time to save London from being torn apart?

In The Race of Sound Nina Sun Eidsheim traces the ways in which sonic attributes that might seem natural, such as the voice and its qualities, are socially produced. Eidsheim illustrates how listeners measure race through sound and locate racial subjectivities in vocal timbre—the color or tone of a voice. Eidsheim examines singers Marian Anderson, Billie Holiday, and Jimmy Scott as well as the vocal synthesis technology Vocaloid to show how listeners carry a series of assumptions about the nature of the voice and to whom it belongs. Outlining how the voice is linked to ideas of racial essentialism and authenticity, Eidsheim untangles the relationship between race, gender, vocal technique, and timbre while addressing an undertheorized space of racial and ethnic performance. In so doing, she advances our knowledge of the cultural-historical formation of the timbral politics of difference and the ways that comprehending voice remains central to understanding human experience, all the while advocating for a form of listening that would allow us to hear singers in a self-reflexive, denaturalized way.

Michael Karol, the author of Lucy A to Z, has done it again! Lucy in Print digs deep to give Lucy fans (and who isn't one?) a unique look at Lucille Ball, her TV shows, and her co-stars, as reported by the press over the past 60 years. With commentary and analysis by the author, and visit to Lucy's birthplace in Jamestown, NY, and two lost plays about I Love Lucy!

Overture -- Performance -- Postlude.