Your hold is ready! (7.31.26)

Author

Cavar S
July 31, 2026

Hi from Grand Rapids!

What a huge month — this July, I moved to the new apartment from which I now type this message, amid preparations to attend faculty orientations for my new job next week. So far, I’ve had a great time settling in, exploring downtown GR, and working on my writing after a much-needed change of scenery. I’ve even gotten to see Lake Michigan (gorgeous) and go on some delightful runs that have gotten me pretty well-acquainted with my new city.

Unfortunately, all this movement has made recommendations rather slim for this month, but I hope you’ll forgive me given how hectic everything has been. I already feel much more relaxed and comfortable than I did a few weeks ago, so I’m sure we’ll be back to our regularly-scheduled volume of media in no time.

Also, a bit of exciting book news that I can finally share! My novelette, “Children’s Work,” was selected for Radix’s second Futures series of radical/left science fiction, to be published next year and ultimately included in a boxed set with five other stories.

Instagram Post

Housekeeping:

If you want to read about transMad queercrip nonsense as aesthetic and praxis and haven’t ordered a copy yet, check out Differential Diagnosis, which is now available on Northwestern University Press’s website and on Bookshop (or, in Canada, at Another Story or your local indie!) Be sure to request it from your favorite indie bookstore, and add it on Goodreads and Storygraph.

Likewise, you can find my debut experimental-sf- trans dyke body modification novel, Failure to Comply, at featherproof books, Bookshop (+ your local indie), Another Story, Goodreads, and Storygraph.

Also - manywor(l)ds’s third anniversary issue drops 8/15, and we reopen for submissions 9/01!

Now, onto the recommendations.

Today’s Recs:

Books:

Music:

Poetry & Prose & In-Between:

Essays and Articles:

My Recent Work: