N. West Moss’s memoir approaches rarely discussed topics with honesty, warmth, and wit. Complete with family stories over cocktails. And a praying mantis named Claude.

"This book became a friend to me." —Jackie Polzin, author of Brood

After debuting with last year's story collection A House Is a Body— a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction—Shruti Swamy is earning rave reviews for The Archer, which has been longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Here's what she says about The Archer:

"Everything I write is fictional . . . Everything I write is true. Long ago the book leapt off the track of my mother’s history and became another book, one that is, yes, about families, about mothers and brothers, but also deeply interested in the creation of art."