Literary fiction: August's best-written recent releases II

Read the openings of our picks below ^ Plus Mary Tabor's discussion of prose style

Photo by Sander Copier

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In today’s issue:

— ‘Everyone, it seems, is more desperate than they were before’: our next pick from the recent releases in literary fiction. In our last post we picked Joy Williams’ Concerning the Future of Souls and Mary Tabor’s Who by Fire.

— ‘A de-generation—a degeneration of ideals, yes. What the fuck, we might imagine a future historian throwing their hands in the air and asking—were we to sincerely fathom such a thing as a future, much less come to dwell in one’: our next literary fiction pick, and also the next from our subscribers’ submissions. We’ll soon be publishing the writer’s detailed discussion of prose style.

If you’d like us to consider your own recent release or a work you’ve serialised on Substack, sign up for a paid subscription at the reduced rate above and email a copy of your book to auraist@substack.com. Paid subscriber…