From Rebecca and Dracula to Mexican Gothic, discover 17 Gothic, horror, ghostly, and unsettling books perfect for Halloween reading.

In his introduction to Stephen Collector’s No Do-Overs in Paradise, Terry McDonell offers an insider’s perspective on the author’s photographs and essays of his sporting adventures with writers from…

In Nature Poem, Tommy Pico writes the story of having a body and wanting to be loved.

Natalie Baszile’s sophomore novel contends with the hidden psychological burdens that shape Black life in the United States following the civil rights era.

Read an excerpt from Daniel Duane’s Yosemite Falls, a memoir of climbing El Capitan, confronting fear, and finding connection with his father in Yosemite.

Here are the works by authors on and of the West—including The Occidental Book of the Dead, Off the Reservation, and Passengers—that we’re most excited to see published this month.

In American Hagwon, the third book in a planned quartet, Min Jin Lee reveals the ambitions and fortunes of a striving Korean family from 1992 to 2007.

After 15 years and 1,000 episodes, Brad Listi’s Otherppl podcast still delivers illuminating conversations with prolific authors.

Here are the works by authors on and of the West—including The Occidental Book of the Dead, Off the Reservation, and Passengers—that we’re most excited to see published this month.

Monica Corcoran Harel goes inside the booming audiobook industry to learn what it takes to become a narrator—and how human voices are confronting AI.

Tommy Pico’s Nature Poem finds a language for our present moment.

Journalist and author Mark Arax discusses Fresno, California water, family history, and the extraction and power that have shaped his decades of writing.

In American Hagwon, the third book in a planned quartet, Min Jin Lee reveals the ambitions and fortunes of a striving Korean family from 1992 to 2007.

Here are the works by authors on and of the West—including The Occidental Book of the Dead, Off the Reservation, and Passengers—that we’re most excited to see published this month.

Zoe Kazan’s new adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel stars Florence Pugh as an evil woman bent on destroying those who dare to love her.

What makes a restaurant truly Californian? Four food writers explore the restaurants, traditions, and revolutionary ideas shaping California’s dining scene.

How editing American Flash Fiction restored my focus.

How editing American Flash Fiction restored my focus.

Explore Alta Journal Issue 37, featuring the 25 restaurants defining California dining, plus books, art, culture, travel, and stories from the Golden State.

Poet Tommy Pico shares how dating, heartbreak, and a Tumblr project helped him build a writing practice—and ultimately led to his first book, IRL.

Exposition Park residents weigh in on the director’s billion-dollar project.

Rosanna Xia recommends five essential books about climate change, from the roots of the crisis to conservation, solutions, and our future.

Read two passages from Tommy Pico’s Nature Poem, the California Book Club’s October selection.

Poet Tommy Pico shares how dating, heartbreak, and a Tumblr project helped him build a writing practice—and ultimately led to his first book, IRL.

Historian and activist Susan Stryker traces the evolution of gender as a concept.

Historian and activist Susan Stryker traces the evolution of gender as a concept.

Ahead of Gonzo Neurotic, a new collection of his decades of magazine writing, the author shares his local haunts.

In this newsletter, we introduce our autumn-quarter books: Nature Poem, The Color of Law, and The Man Who Could Move Clouds.

Cherríe Moraga’s memoir is the California Book Club’s September 2026 selection.

Cherríe Moraga’s memoir, Native Country of the Heart, is a powerful portrait of the relationship between a Mexican American mother and her daughter.

Emily St. John Mandel’s Exit Party considers agency and political constraints in connection with a mysterious Los Angeles party in the near future.

Celebrate Latino literature year-round with these essential works by authors whose stories, perspectives, and imaginations are rooted in California and the American West.

Ahead of Gonzo Neurotic, a new collection of his decades of magazine writing, the author shares his local haunts.

Merry Pranksters turned a cross-country acid trip into counterculture mythology. My family lived the less romantic version.

Grace Krilanovich’s Acid Green Velvet reimagines the Western through a feminist lens.

For 27 years, Rose Lowe has been returning visitors’ misplaced treasures—and collecting the stories that come with them.

Claudia Rankine’s hybrid book centers on two friends who develop differing ideas about art and activism.

In this newsletter, we introduce our autumn-quarter books: Nature Poem, The Color of Law, and The Man Who Could Move Clouds.

Our Golden State experts tackle your questions about gold, peanuts, and Mickey Mouse’s money-grabbing schemes.

Here are the works by authors on and of the West—including Under Story, Open the Floodgates, and For Customers Only—that we’re most excited to see published this month.

Cherríe Moraga’s memoir is the California Book Club’s September 2026 selection.

A new survey at LACMA spans five decades of images that blur the line between truth and fiction.

In this newsletter, we introduce our autumn-quarter books: Nature Poem, The Color of Law, and The Man Who Could Move Clouds.

Geologist Dillon Osleger picks five titles that explore the complicated history of America’s national parks and other public lands.

Devyn Defoe’s debut novel, Burnside, offers an atmospheric portrait of contemporary Sacramento.