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Before QAnon and the Deep State, There Was Iron Mountain

“Report From Iron Mountain” was soon revealed as a hoax. But it was so good a hoax, so deft and deadpan and precise in its aim, that nearly 60 years later, it retains a certain hold on the public consciousness. The story of this report — who conceived it, what they intended and why it endures, like toxic waste leaking from a metal drum — is the subject of “Ghosts of Iron Mountain,” an excellent new book by the British journalist Phil Tinline. His fast-paced account is often entertaining but never loses sight of where it is heading: toward a moment, our own, when conspiracists and crackpots have seized the levers of power. Read more

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‘The Buffalo Hunter Hunter’ is Stephen Graham Jones’ Horror Masterpiece

I said this is Stephen Graham Jones’ masterpiece because the prose is gorgeous and the plot is complex, engaging, and multilayered, but we have seen these elements from him before. Maybe I should say this is the novel in which Jones does all the things he does but even better than before. Basketball legend Michael Jordan had many legendary games; The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is Jones’ version of Jordan dropping 69 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Read it. Read more

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Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa

Ichikawa’s provocative debut chronicles a disabled woman’s sexual awakening. Shaka, a Japanese woman who lives with myotubular myopathy, a genetic disease whose symptoms include difficulty breathing and muscle weakness, is independently wealthy thanks to an inheritance from her parents. She spends her days taking online university courses and writing pornographic stories for money, which she sends to food banks and shelters for homeless young girls. Read more

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Stories by Harper Lee to Appear for the First Time in a New Collection

The book, out on Oct. 21 from Harper, includes eight previously unreleased stories and eight pieces of nonfiction that Lee published in various outlets between 1961 and 2006, including a profile of her friend, the writer Truman Capote, a cornbread recipe and a letter to Oprah Winfrey. Read more

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‘Strange Pictures’ by Uketsu

Strange Pictures is Uketsu’s second novel but the first to be translated into English. It’s a sinister and original book that straddles the line between crime and horror, drawing readers into a dark, unsettling and deeply immersive world of interconnected stories. With its haunting premise and intricate structure, Strange Pictures melds visual and textual storytelling to offer an experience that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally affecting. Read more

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‘Mothers and Sons’ by Adam Haslett

This deeply satisfying novel is a revelation—a thoughtful, psychologically acute, beautifully written examination of intersecting lives. The characters come alive on the page, commanding readers’ attention. This novel is sure to receive accolades, and it richly deserves them. Read more

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