From sports and history to mystery and comics, this year featured books for everyone. Our annual roundup features even more Aggie authors than ever before and could keep readers busy for the better part of next year.
Check out ٺƵ Magazine’s full list for 2024.
FICTION
David Starkey ’84 imagines a scenario in which a jet carrying members of a famous rock band plunges into the backyard of a retired insurance salesman who is mourning his wife’s death from COVID in Poor Ghost (Keylight Books, 2024)
Jason Warburg ’84 self-published the third novel in his Tim Green series, as the protagonist searches his family history and discovers his grandfather was a Holocaust survivor in Home Was a Dream (2024).
Mike Maden, M.A. ’85, Ph.D. ’90, carries on the torch for acclaimed author Clive Cussler, who died in 2020, by writing under his name for Clive Cussler Ghost Soldier (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2024).
Mark Wisniewski, M.A. ’91, writes a noir mystery for his latest book, Necessary Deeds (Regal House Publishing, 2024).
Deborah Harkness, Ph.D. ’94, releases the fifth book in her All Souls Series: The Black Bird Oracle (Ballantine Books, 2024). The sixth book, The Serpent’s Mirror, is expected next year.
Joseph Reid, M.S. ’97, writing as Parker Adams, tells the story of a safecracker forced to be a part of a dangerous heist in The Lock Box (Crooked Lane Books, 2024).
Molly Ringle, M.A. ’03, offers book two in her Eidolonia fantasy story, Ballad for Jasmine Town (Central Avenue, 2024), with a secret romance between fae and human.
Sadie Hoagland, M.A. ’09, tells a story of finding yourself through protagonist Sky who is assaulted at work the same week that her mother goes missing in Circle of Animals (Red Hen Press, 2024).
Lauren Kate, M.A. ’09, imagines what could happen if you could go back and protagonist Liv relives prom night in What’s in a Kiss? (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2024).
Rachel Stark, M.A. ’19, presents her debut novel, Perris, CA (Penguin Press, 2024), about a female character’s journey from trauma to healing in a mostly unseen part of America.
POETRY
Jeanne C. DeFazio ’73 collects poems by Terry McDermott for Letting Go (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2024), addressing post-abortion grief.
Eric Paul Shaffer, Ph.D. ’91, marks the recent publication of Green Leaves: Selected & New Poems (Coyote Arts Press, 2024), his eighth book of poetry. Shaffer’s book, A Million-Dollar Bill, once out of print, was reissued in 2024 by Coyote Arts.
Seth Arnopole ’98 self-published It Could Always Be Verse (2024), “from the serious to the silly and everywhere in between.”
Gabrielle Myers, M.A. ’08, publishes her third book of poetry, Break Self: Feed (Finishing Line Press, 2024).
NONFICTION
Don Peri ’72, with co-author Pete Docter of Pixar, shines a spotlight on the history of animation and directors of the past for Directing at Disney (Disney Editions, 2024).
Matthew Kennedy, M.A. '92, has published his fifth book on film history, On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide (Oxford University Press, 2024), a film-by-film critique and appreciation of her entire career.
Patrick Moser, Ph.D. ’97, follows up his previous book about Hawaiian surf culture with a look at cultural appropriation in Waikīkī Dreams: How California Appropriated Hawaiian Beach Culture (University of Illinois Press,2024).
Brandon Bennett ’01, with co-authors Alicia Grunow and Sandra Park, offers a roadmap for teams to experience systems change in education, health care and social welfare in Journey to Improvement (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024).
J. Chris Westgate, Ph.D. ’05, explores the history of the Bowery Boy, a raucous, white, urban character in theater between 1848 and 1913 in Rowdy Carousals (University of Iowa Press).
Aaron Fischman ’11 centers his debut work, A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back (Sports Publishing, 2024), on pitcher Tony Barnette.
Gina Caison, Ph.D. ’12, traces how American authors and photographers have grappled with soil loss, ultimately revealing legacies of settler colonialism, in Erosion: American Environments and the Anxiety of Disappearance (Duke University Press, 2024).
Arielle Johnson, Ph.D. ’14, has put together a guide to the science of flavor and how to use it in the kitchen in Flavorama (Harper Collins, 2024).
MEMOIR
Josh Fernandez ’04 offers an encompassing memoir in The Hands That Crafted the Bomb: The Making of a Lifelong Antifascist (PM Press, 2024).
ٸ鷡’S
Erin Dealey ’70, Cred. ’72, writes about flowers and friendship in her latest work about two neighbors who are “botanically inclined,” Just Flowers (Sleeping Bear Press, 2024).
Elana K. Arnold, M.A. ’98, spins a modern fairy tale for her latest picture book, The Fish of Small Wishes (Roaring Brook Press, 2024), in which Kiki saves a fish and in return is granted a wish.
Cheryl Kim ’03, M.A. ’05, offers a picture book to tell the story of basketball hero Wataru Misaka, a Japanese American who was the first non-white player in the NBA, in Wat Takes His Shot (Lee & Low Books, 2024).
Hannah Holzer ’20 teaches children how to be journalists in Kid Reporter Field Guide (Penguin Young Readers, 2024).
Shamanique Bodie-Williams, M.B.A. ’26, explores how kids can talk about respecting animal habitat in the children’s book, Esther and the Three Bahamian Crabs (The Bahamas Wellness Center, 2024).
YOUNG ADULT
Stacey Lee, J.D. ’96, sets the murder mystery noir Kill Her Twice (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2024) in 1930s Los Angeles Chinatown.
COMICS
Mike Chen ’00 celebrates the 30th anniversary of a TV favorite with an exclusive “lost episode” comic, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — The Dog of War (IDW Publishing, 2024). His latest novel, A Quantum Love Story (Mira, 2024), tells a sci-fi romance.