Week 11 Recap: Magic Wins, Barely
Magic Can’t Save Us claws its way to victory
Magic Can’t Save Us from University of New Orleans Press eked out a narrow win, beating out a strong showing from Happy Bad by just a handful of votes.
Maybe it was the unicorn meat. Maybe the harpies. Maybe the doomed lovers and poltergeist therapy sessions. Either way, this surreal and emotionally raw collection bewitched enough readers to take the top spot in Week 11.
Week 11 Winner: Magic Can't Save Us by Josh Denslow
Congrats to Josh Denslow and the UNO Press team! And props to Happy Bad, which gave us a thrilling, sweaty sprint to the finish.
Week 12: Neon Neoclassical
This week’s covers fuse ancient aesthetics with electric modernism—paintings meet pinks, greens, and yellows. Expect drama, absurdity, and strange elegance. Neon, meet neoclassical.
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin Books, June 25, 2019): A deadpan Manhattan heiress attempts pharmaceutical hibernation to escape her disillusionment. A cult classic with a cover that’s just as iconic.
- Stag Dance by Torrey Peters (Random House, Mar 11, 2025): A lumberjack drag ball. Gender rivalry. Crossdressing on the Las Vegas Strip. Peters goes bold with baroque meets fluorescent.
- Hungerstone by Kat Dunn (Zando, Feb 18, 2025): A feminist reimagining of *Carmilla*, steeped in desire, decay, and moorland moonlight. Gothic meets lime slime.
- The Longest Way to Eat a Melon by Jacquelyn Zong-Li Ross (Sarabande Books, June 10, 2025): Surreal fables and artistic dilemmas with a cat, a snail, and one heck of a title treatment. Vivid, strange, and oddly touching.
Week 12 Lineup
Voting is open now through Sunday at 11pm ET. Channel your inner gallery curator—and choose with your eyes.
Tap Here to VoteSending you color and contrast,
Will Pass
Book Jacket Bracket Guy