Jackson Adams and Anna Weir are publicists at UNP. Today they share their thoughts about a few upcoming titles they’re particularly excited about as readers. The books in this discussion will be published in August.

Anna Weir: Personally, I’ve been looking forward to The Kid and Me since January. In gorgeous prose that doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of gang loyalty and the violence that follows, Frederick Turner takes us back to the old American West in this historical re-imagining of the Lincoln County War. Through a narrator both repelled by and drawn to Billy the Kid and the rest of the Tunstall gang, this story is Bison Books fiction at its finest.

Plus, I can’t get over what Ted Kooser said about it: “The Kid and Me is a masterwork of the imagination that accomplishes more authenticity in fewer words than Thomas Berger’s Little Big Man. This delightful new novel is a compelling means of following a fading trail back into the history of the American West.”

What are you looking forward to, Jackson?

Jackson Adams: One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most in working with the Potomac Books list is seeing how often the imprint delves into untold stories, expanding on mostly forgotten moments of modern history. African American Officers in Liberia is a great example of that publishing ethos. Brian Shellum digs deeply into the story of the officers who left the USA to train Liberian freedom fighters abroad, training soldiers in the name of a country that was, at best, ambivalent about their rights at home. It’s a complicated story, equal parts damning of how African Americans were treated at home at the turn of the 20th Century and complementary of the officers’ role in preserving Liberia’s independence.

AW: And these conclude our 2018 Spring and Summer season of books! A few of our Fall books are already arriving and I’m looking forward to chatting about them next month. (Psst, readers: You can sneak a peek here.)