Here are some books that I am excited about in 2015. This list is partial and was done without very much thought or research, so feel free to tell me if I forgot any (including your own book).

NOAH CICERO – Bipolar Cowboy (Lazy Fascist)

I read this over two nights in the dark before bed on my Kindle, with Scott (McClanahan) reading over my shoulder. He kept on saying to me as we read, “Promise you won’t leave me for Noah. This is a book you could fall in love over.” It’s that good. (I am also super jealous of the title.)

xTx – Today I Am a Book (CCM)

xTx is one of the writers whose work I most admire on the indie lit scene. She’s completely unafraid to be nasty and ugly and ballsy as hell.

MIRA GONZALEZ AND TAO LIN – Untitled Project (SF/LD)

I asked publisher Elizabeth Ellen what this book was about and she said she didn’t know yet. She said it would involve illustrations done by both Mira and Tao and that it might resemble a flip book. This seems awesome.

NO GLYKON – Numbskull (Dig That Book)

I copyedited this book. I hadn’t read anything by No Glykon before and although I trust publisher Dave Wright’s taste, I was still surprised by how much I loved it. It’s a book about young people doing typical young people things, like going to parties and playing shows, but it is also something that is uniquely itself — dark, tender, magical, and weird.

SARAH JEAN ALEXANDER – Wildlives (Big Lucks)

Sarah Jean is somehow able to take everyday absurdities and neuroses and turn them into something transcendent. Excited to see how a full-length work by her turns out.

MEGAN BOYLE – Liveblog (Tyrant Books)

If I were to assign Megan a blurb, it would say something like MEGAN BOYLE IS ONE OF THE GREAT YOUNG MINDS OF A GENERATION.

SARAH GERARD – Binary Star (Two Dollar Radio)

This book is frantic and terrifying and beautiful, and, as Two Dollar Radio promises, too loud to ignore.

MICHAEL J. SEIDLINGER – The Strangest (OR Books)

Really excited to seeing how Michael interprets and/or dismantles Camus, it’s sure to be \m/

HALLE BUTLER – Jillian (Curbside Splendor)

I’ve heard Halle read from this two times. Both times I LOL’d a lot and felt disturbed by how well I could relate to the protagonist, who in a blurb Chelsea Martin describes as a “self-proclaimed asshole.”

JAMIE IREDELL – Fat Kid (Spork Press)

Jamie is kind of intimidating in person but then it turns out that all he wants to do is give out lots of hugs. Which seems like a good metaphor for his writing.

MIRANDA JULY – The First Bad Man (Scribner)

I kind of hate Miranda July for being able to make cool stuff using so many different art forms.

SEAN H. DOYLE – This Must Be the Place (CCM)

If in five or twenty or fifty or a hundred years, people aren’t including Sean in the Great Literary Canon of the 21st Century… well boy oh boy I will just be rolling my corpse over in my grave!