Sharma Shields & Simeon Mills

Sharma Shields’s The Cassandra (Henry Holt) follows a woman who goes to work in a top secret research facility during WWII, only to be tormented by visions of what the mission will mean for humankind. Inspired by the classic Greek myth, this 20th-century reimagining of Cassandra’s story is based on a real WWII compound that Shields researched meticulously. A timely novel about patriarchy and militancy, The Cassandra uses both legend and history to look deep into man’s capacity for destruction, and the resolve and compassion it takes to challenge the powerful. Simeon Mills’s The Obsoletes (Skybound) is a thought-provoking coming-of-age novel about two human-like teen robots navigating high school, basketball, and potentially life-threatening consequences if their true origins are discovered by the inhabitants of their intolerant 1980s Michigan hometown. Heartwarming and thrilling, Mills’s charming debut is a funny, poignant look at brotherhood, xenophobia, and the limits of one’s programming.